We Buy Any Car

Insight

The huge TAM (total addressable market) of 7.5m used cars p.a. was (is) sizable and gave an excellent target.

The issues stunting growth needed a clear understanding of why.

• Product friction points were well documented by the OFT, the clear driver was targeting the salesforce on margin resulting in driving the wrong behaviours, notably trying to deduct as much as possible form the online car valuation resulting in lack of trust and a poor reputation.

• The brand reputation was further tarnished by the advertising which, through it’s very catchy 140bpm rave earworm, had driven very impressive awareness but very low consideration as the manic delivery combined with lack of clear messaging on why WBAC was right for the customer.



• The online valuation process was a very leaky journey with only one in five users getting to the online valuation page; scaling on this ratio would be very expensive. Coupled with this a direct response TV strategy primarily of daytime spots, a disparate agency framework and a lack of a central attribution model were blockers to proper scale

We Buy Any Car TV Advert 2010

Execution

• The sales team commission model was changed to conversion rate, not margin generation, which catalysed ever improving customer service.

• The lid was lifted on the black box processes in the customer experience to give transparency and help drive consideration, with one of the key items being the damage matrix, so customers better understood what constituted each element of damage and their impact to the valuation of the car.

• A car value additive element was also built so cars with extras that increased the value of the car (sat nav, leather, air conditioning, pan roof etc) were passed back onto the user to increase consideration further.

• The key elements of the customer experience were transposed into advertising benefits vs. the negative perceptions of private selling and using dealerships, such as 20-minute appointments, convenient locations, money transferred straight your bank account etc.

• The brand repositioning was designed to make the brand more likeable and drive consideration by taking ownership of the 3rd way to sell your car: We Buy Any Car, The UK’s Favourite Car Buying Service and clearly describing the benefits of this route vs. the pitfalls of the alternatives. Whilst, crucially, growing awareness levels even further.

• The creative was calmed down but heavily branded, the sonic branding device remained but evolved to a calmer glockenspiel version, coupled with a well-liked voice over from James Corden.

• Online valuation funnel rebuilt using customer insight with conversion transforming from 1 in 5 to 1 in 2 users getting an online valuation.

• World class in-house team built to scale digital acquisition via an attribution model.

• TV moved to a brand response model utilising prime time coupled with bringing media planning inhouse.

Results

• Online Valuations grew from 40k a week to 225k a week



• EBITDA growth from £2m to £14.5m

We Buy Any Car Site 2011

20% conversion rate

We Buy Any Car Site 2014

50% conversion rate

Warwick Ley

Investor & Business Leader

“As Marketing Director, Phil has led and delivered an enormous step change for Help-Link in its digital marketing strategy and brand development in an exceptionally quick timeframe. His impact at both a strategic development and execution level has been significant. " 

Richard Harrison

CEO at Switch2 Energy Ltd

“Phil is a highly talented marketer, with a deep understanding of how to design & execute an effective marketing strategy. He has an exceptional ability in Digital marketing - probably the best I've witnessed!"

Mark Pegler

Managing Director at ParkVia

“Phil joined us on an interim basis as marketing director, following Mercia Technologies' investment in July 2018. During his time with ParkCloud, Phil brought energy to the team, and helped us to move the business forward. Phil is a strong change agent, who facilitated a clearer vision for our B2C strategy.”