Consumers & Their Never-Ending Research Process

If we’re being honest, we would all love for the buyer’s path to purchase to be as short as possible, right? The sooner we can get them into the dealership, the sooner you can close the deal. But because there is so much information available online, consumers are now putting off that trip to the dealership, turning online to research and decide what’s going to work for them. The questions is, how long should you realistically expect to wait for a consumer to complete their pre-purchase research?

A while.

64% of consumers shared that they research for more than four months before buying - and of those consumers, 36% will research for more than a year. A year! But this is a big purchase for them so they are willing to take their time.

And if they are planning to research for more than a year, you can bet they aren’t just looking in the spring and summer months. That would be impossible based on that timeline. In fact, 90% of consumers said they search throughout the year for their next unit. This statistic is really important to keep in mind because we often hear from dealers that consumers are not in the market in the winter months, but the research shows they are.They are searching and thinking about that purchase they plan to make in the next 4-12 months.

And because we work in a passion industry, consumers genuinely like looking at units at all the time, which is why 84% said they search available inventory even when they aren’t ready to buy. They’re just seeing what’s out there, and while that might not seem like the most motivated buyer - 83% said they would buy if they found the right unit. These are buyers who weren’t planning to purchase, but because you have the unit they’ve been dreaming of, they decide to go ahead and pull the trigger. That’s powerful! They are like bonus customers.

The path to purchase can be long, and it’s hard to be patient waiting for the right customer to come along.