Kia reacts to the changing car purchase process by choosing a full social commerce solution from Reevoo

12th February 2012

London, UK

Kia Motors UK is moving to adapt to the customer purchase process of today’s car buyers with a proactive, verified review collection system. The car company has chosen Reevoo, one of the world’s top social commerce companies, to provide the verified, authentic reviews and other social features now expected by car buyers. Latest research shows that the purchase experience for car buyers is increasingly ‘social’, with 59% of consumers always or often reading reviews before buying.

The car buyer’s purchase process has changed hugely in recent years. It is now highly social and involves recommendations or car reviews from friends, family and ‘trusted strangers’. But for today’s buyers, verified reviews carry significantly more credibility and weight than unverified reviews – where the motivation for writing a review or even ownership of the vehicle may be open to question.

Lawrence Hamilton, General Manager Marketing Communications for Kia, said: “The typical 2012 car buyer is very internet-savvy, and knows there’s a lot of information online to help them choose their next car. But they will select – and value – trusted information.”

“Visitors to Kia.co.uk will be reassured that they are reading the opinions of real people by the presence of the ‘Reevoo Mark’ displayed alongside each and every review.
Knowing that the content they are reading is from verified vehicle owners will boost customer confidence in the Kia brand, give them the information they want and need, and deliver the purchase experience they expect,” he explained.

Reevoo’s portfolio of managed solutions will initially be deployed on kia.co.uk, with plans in place to extend the service to dealer sites later on. This solution includes:

• Reevoo Mark, which engenders customer trust by guaranteeing the authenticity of reviews collected and managed by Reevoo.

• Reevoo Reputation, which enables customers to provide feedback and reviews on the performance of Kia dealers – a factor that Kia views as a key selling point.

• Reevoo Social Reach will ensure that reviews are also published to Kia’s Facebook page, increasing the number of fans and their engagement with the brand, and intensifying the advocacy effect.

Recent research by Reevoo shows the extent to which consumers rely on recommendations and reviews before they decide which car to buy. Friends’ recommendations are the most important influence on someone deciding what to buy, ranked as important by 74%; the importance of reviews written by strangers is 65%. 59% of consumers always or often read reviews before buying a car.

“With a majority of car buyers turning to reviews and recommendations before making a decision on which car to buy, it’s clear that the automotive industry must embrace social commerce in full,” said Richard Anson, founder and chief executive of Reevoo. “A proactive collection system, where all content is from verified owners and no content is censored or modified in any way, is the only credible system for building real customer trust – and it’s trust in reviews that leads to increased sales.”

Notes to editors
Research was carried out on behalf of Reevoo by Fly Research in September 2011 (n>1000).

-ENDS-

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