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Driving Progress Online
Trader Media Group worked with digital agency Fortune Cookie to develop Trader Connect, designed to help commercial vehicle traders manage their stock online. The result won in the Automotive category at the 2010 BIMAs. In an in-depth case study the team behind Trader Connect tells Figaro Digital how the project evolved
How do you launch an online service in an area still dominated by traditional media channels? That was the challenge faced by Trader Media Group and digital agency Fortune Cookie when they began work on Trader Connect, TMG's campaign to reach the commercial vehicle sector. It was an area which, explains Rob Morphet, Senior Product Manager at Trader Media Group, had been slow to make the move online.
"The majority of dealer response has been driven through magazines which dictated where most of the dealer’s effort was focused," he says. "Adverts placed online were basic and photos were thin on the ground. Our research and experience showed that the two key response drivers are description and photos, and these were mainly missing. The slow digital uptake was also underpinned by old search technology and advertising tools that were not as aligned to the commercial vehicle market as they needed to be. The real opportunity was to build a new search platform to enable this market to move forward and create an advertising tool more aligned to our commercial customers and their market – quick to list, easy to learn, capturing the relevant search fields and - most importantly - very accessible."
"As with most of the projects Fortune Cookie works on," says Dan O’Connell, Lead Project Manager at the digital agency, "our role was to understand the businesses objectives and end users’ needs, and work with Trader Media Group to develop the effective way to deliver on both. Being a full service digital agency and a Microsoft Certified Partner means we had access to the knowledge and technology to develop a solution that ticked all the boxes, and were effectively improving TMG’s digital offering to make the day-to-day lives of traders better."
TMG, of course, know all about the motor market. But, explains Morphet, developing an app for the commercial sector meant taking slightly different issues into account.
"Car buyers love to browse," he says. "They really enjoy the shopping experience, so scanning pictures is par for the course; it is also more about aspiration. B2B customers, on the other hand, are short on time and want to find the van, truck or equipment fast."
What the app needed, then, was a simple and efficient search function in which all the key features – from engine power to payload – were highlighted. "Our approach was based around the idea of 'a tool to do a job'", says Morphet. "And if that leads to the right vehicle, then a B2B buyer is less bothered about its tailgate badge."
So, TMG and Fortune Cookie had a very clear idea of what users wanted. The next step was working out how to deliver that. TMG used their existing relationships with 1,500 commercial customers and spoke directly to over 200 of these in an attempt to learn more about their online experiences, business requirements and other expectations.
"The core objective," explains Morphet, "was to provide a simple advert upload tool that could be used in any yard or office. The simplicity means dealers can teach themselves how to use it, enabling them to switch from magazine upload to self-serve painlessly. The flexible on/offline system gives dealers a way of ensuring a dropped connection wouldn’t lose advert details, something that was identified as a major frustration - as time is money! Trader Connect enables a dealer to list stock in the yard without wifi and then upload when at home, ideal for those smaller operating dealers."
"Once we had the businesses objectives and the end users’ needs we embarked on a definition phase of the project," says Fortune Cookie's O'Connell. "We spent time working out what exactly the proposition was going to be, how it was going to work and what features it was going to incorporate. We also looked at the various software that was available and which would help us achieve our goals. At this stage we actually did a technical proof of concept working with Microsoft and TMG to confirm a bunch of technical points that only Silverlight 4 could deliver. Microsoft’s array of software offered the perfect solution and Trader Connect was built using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft Expression Blend 4 and Microsoft Silverlight 4.
This was an app designed for users who wanted to get the job done, no messing, so TMG also built in their own ad-quality meter, which lets dealers measure the effectiveness of an ad according to the amount of information it contains: the more – and more relevant - info added, the better its chances of standing out against other ads for similar vehicles.
Once development was underway, the creative team kept selected users in the loop with wire frames, mock ups and POCs, and their feedback on UX was taken on board. Pre-launch there was a phone, email and postal campaign, explaining what TMG and early adopters saw as Trader Connect's benefits.
Having a great new, tailor-made online service is all well and good of course, if you're operating the latest hardware. Morphet was well aware, however, that brand new apps and battered old PCs don't always get on. "We were concerned that Trader Connect would create some install issues on older machines," he says. "However in reality, we have had very little noise around install and usage as the flexibility of the system has enabled dealers to install on their laptops, leaving the aged office machines to continue warming the cabin. In other markets, with similar releases (ie bikes) we have seen dealers using the new tool as a reason to replace aged machines with shiny new laptops!"
So, for TMG and for users - job done. "Early indications," says Morphet "are that customers using Trader Connect are already seeing improvements in response and although we know dealers hate change, there is a noticeable swing towards the new tool, underpinning the dealer value we offer."
The judging panel at the BIMAs agreed. Fortune Cookie won in the Automotive category against stiff competition from Lida's Mini RC email campaign and 4D Digital's Peugeot RCZ It Chooses You. The moral of the story: nothing ensures commercial success better than a deep understanding of what users really need.
Article by Jon Fortgang
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