Women quick to click on Auto Guru
CAR-SERVICING marketplace AutoGuru is seeing a surge in popularity, with “savvy female consumers” driving a massive revenue boost.
The $60 million business, which is based in Surfers Paradise, enables consumers to find and compare quotes online from workshops for car servicing and some specialist mechanical repairs.
CEO and founder Eden Shirley said its research showed female AutoGuru visitors converted to making bookings at double the rate of men.
“Recent research has shown that we’re one of the few brands to speak directly to women,” he said.
“They are really important to us.
“We see them as high value because they are good researchers, they want to know what is involved, how much it costs, and they want to know they are getting a good deal.”
Mr Shirley, who changed the name of his company from Fixed Price Car Service to AutoGuru last year, said that higher conversion rate was most noticeable after the age of 25.
“What we find is that between 18 to 25, they convert at the same level, male or female,” he said.
“As they get older, we find that we start to see a real difference between the likelihood of them booking online.
“The older men get, the less likely they are to book online, and the older women get, the more likely they are to book. In fact, it is almost twice as likely.”
Mr Shirley said that was because older men, aged in their 40s and 50s, believed they knew more about car servicing than people in their 20s.
Therefore they were more inclined not to book through a comparison website.
The research comes as AutoGuru launches a new marketing campaign after raising $6 million in cash earlier this year from Youi Insurance owner OUTsurance for its campaign, Who’s the Guru.
The new ads, which feature on outdoor, television, radio and digital advertising platforms, show a “quirky female character” encouraging consumers to become “gurus” of car servicing by using the AutoGuru marketplace.
Mr Shirley said the marketing campaign, which began late last month, was a test to see if it was worthwhile commencing another funding round to take the marketing national.
“We get these incredible reviews but no one knows about us,” he said.
“Six million dollars is not enough to go national so we doubled down on South-East Queensland, which is a topperforming market for us.
“Based on that, we will develop a funding strategy to take the campaign national.”
He said initial reports indicated a 60 per cent boost to revenue in the first two weeks.
“I’m hoping it grows significantly. Things are looking positive so far,” he said.
AutoGuru has a network of more than 1700 workshops and mobile mechanics across Australia.
They include corporate clients such as Midas, National Roads and Motorists Association, and Bridgestone, and franchise stores and independent workshops.