ISSUE THREE

HONESTINSIGHTS
M A R K E T T R E N D S G O O G L E A N A LY T I C S W H AT S N E W A S K H J
THE SITE IN NUMBERS

20,478,987
PAGE VIEWS

2013 Analysis
2
User and editorial activity
013 will go down as a bumper year for HonestJohn.co.uk. The site has seen impressive year-onyear growth and served a total of 82,800,000 page impressions to 14,500,000 unique users. Thats 41% up on 2012 for impressions and 20% up for users. So, what are people looking for? Weve found that users remain as cost-conscious as ever. Theyre looking for their money to work hard for them. Theyre looking for the best all-round package. That doesnt mean plumping for the cheapest, it means getting the best deal and making smart savings. Our users do their research on price and look for models that come with long warranties or servicing, have a good reliability record or offer good real-world fuel economy. Its no surprise that our Real MPG section which crowdsources real life fuel economy figures has been such a runaway success. The past 12 months saw users looking for crossovers and small cars more than any other, continuing a trend that has been developing over the past few years. Theres now more choice than ever, with several key launches in 2013 continuing to generate interest among car buyers. Mobile use continues to grow and were seeing more traffic from phones and tablets than ever before. For the second year in a row we saw a particular flurry of activity on mobile and tablet over Christmas, as users were playing with their new toys. Traditionally the period between Christmas and New Year has been a quiet one for car sites, but as it has become easier to access the internet without firing up a computer, we have seen larger levels of traffic. We also saw increased dual-screening in 2013, traffic spikes show people research potential buys after watching TV ads or seeing cars featured in programmes. With this in mind, well further strengthen and improve our mobile offerings during the coming year.

5,597,129
CAR REVIEW IMPRESSIONS

UNIQUE USERS PAGE VIEWS VIA SOCIAL VISITS VIA SOCIAL OWNERS REVIEWS TABLET USAGE NEW YEAR
* 1st Oct 31st Dec

3,731,652 63,984 15,567 2,633 16% 1

TOP 10 HJ SECTIONS OF 2013 1] Car Reviews 2] Ask 3] Real MPG 4] Home Page 5] Pricing 6] Top 10s 7] Cars for Sale 8] HJ Road Tests 9] News 10] Good Garage Guide

GROWTH IN THE NEW CAR MARKET AND HOW THIS BENEFITS MANUFACTURERS ON HONEST JOHN

600

2,264,737
cars registered in 2013

up 10.8%
on 2012and exceeding SMMTs 2.25 million forecast for the year
www.honestjohn.co.uk

2013 hits highest annual registration total since 2007

as December achieves 22ndconsecutive monthly rise

On average, an additional

600 extra cars registered per day

in 2013 than in the previous year

2014 expected to stabilise with sustainable growth of around 1% over the year

Q3 2013
HonestJohn.co.uk New Car searches

were up 20%
on Q3 2012

UK rmly secured as Europes second largest car market and only one to grow consistently throughout 2013
Winter 2013/2014

01

MOST POPULAR

SUV DOMINANCE ON THE SITE

SMMT

Vs.
2) Ford Fiesta 4) SEAT Leon

USER ENGAGEMENT

A large percentage of HonestJohn.co.uk users are families who are nancially comfortable, and looking for practical purchases which will provide value for money. For this reason many users to the site are searching in the SUV sector. Heres how they fare up on the site. The table on the right shows the % share of page impressions for each car in the SUV category.
Skoda Yeti 13.09% Honda CR-V 12.38% Nissan Qashqai 10.59% Dacia Duster 10.12% Hyundai ix35 10.11% Mazda CX-5 9.03% Peugeot 2008 8.78% Kia Sportage 8.75% Land Rover Freelander 2 8.66% Nissan X-Trail 8.5%
0 5% 10% 15%

HONESTJOHN.co.uk
HONEST JOHN TOP 10
1) Volkswagen Golf 3) Honda Civic Tourer 5) Skoda Octavia vRS 6) Skoda Yeti 7) Dacia Sandero-Stepway 8) Skoda Octavia 9) Mazda 3 10) Honda CR-V

5,902,009
VISITS COMMUNITY FORUM THREADS

90,513 18,949 3,625 3,210 1,901

NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTIONS*

NEW REGISTRATIONS

GOOD GARAGE REVIEWS

SMMT TOP 10
1) Ford Fiesta 2) Vauxhall Corsa 3) Ford Focus 4) Vauxhall Astra 5) Volkswagen Golf 6) Vauxhall Insignia 7) Nissan Qashqai 8) BMW 3 Series 9) Nissan Juke 10) Fiat 500

QUESTIONS ASKED
* Average taken from 1st Oct 31st Dec

Winter Tyres Trend

Seasonal Trend
It is no surprise to nd a denite seasonal trend for winter tyres on the site. September to November sees interest rise by 57% for users searching for winter tyres. The number drops in December as people become preoccupied with the holiday season, but increases again in January. Weve noticed November being the stand out month for winter tyres and in Ask HJ
Pageviews

26% of all winter tyre questions were asked during this peak month. The fact that interest picks up as early as August shows that Honest John users are savvy consumers, taking time to ensure they make the correct buying decisions. According to Google Trends Car Batteries and Tyres dominated the top rising and new searches in the rst week of November.

April 2013

July 2013

October 2013

Winter 2013/2014

02

www.honestjohn.co.uk

FOCUS ON

Targeting Electric Car Buyers

Thursday November 7, 2013, H&H Series 29

Sarah Thomas, Commercial Director, HonestJohn.co.uk, unveils a new partnership with London24.com that will benefit manufacturers of electric vehicles
s one of the primary destinations for car buyers researching the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles, here at Honest John HQ we are familiar with the challenges manufacturers and their advertising agencies face when looking to target car buyers in this sector. Unsurprisingly, the research we have into the behaviour of visitors in and around our EV content identifies that the primary audience with the highest propensity to buy an EV are city dwellers. And among the UKs big cities, London is the place where car buyers are most likely to choose an EV. For that reason, Honest John is delighted to have forged an intelligent partnership with Archant - Londons biggest Local newspaper publisher. Archant publish 14 local newspapers in London, plus London24.com Londons second-largest London-centric newsmedia brand. In total, Archants brands are read by 2.2m Londoners each month. Henry, ve, and Nicola Howe Davies with their 1902 De Dion Bouton Each month, we will be providing a monthly City Motoring column and an electric car review to Archant London, which will be published in London24 and across their 14 newspaper titles. This partnership brings is the opportunity to help EV manufacturers promote their new cars to the most relevant audience, within trusted brands. HonestJohn.co.uk provides the quality, trusted expert reviews; London24.com brings audience scale to a relevant audience for prospective EV buyers. We are confident that this is a partnership that will help electric vehicle manufacturers deliver intelligent, target marketing, and we look forward to plugging in to charge up your launch campaigns.

COLUMN
Dan Powell, managing editor of motoring website Honest John, writes for London24 about the growing affordability of electric cars

Electric vehicles now practical and affordable

NISSAN LEAF
increase in trafc the week of the London24 column

46%

ELECTRIC VEHICLE DOMINANCE ON THE SITE:

Nissan Leaf Aline 42% Smale, ve, from Hampstead, sits on a 1904 Humber Olympia
Tandem

es: Matt Alexander/PA

ight up to the carsRenault Zoe ming our city cen21% es to come. shining for most Renault Fluence so much to enjoy 15% it was no surprise e street absolutely Twizy mix of serious Renault car d clearly curious 14%

r, director of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV Association, said: 3% w provides a great s who can not only Citroen C-Zero ure from the splent also appreciate 3% tes recent investStreet which has Peugeot iOn nto the best shop James2% Froomberg, 57, from Edgware, looks the part e West End.

top someone in the street and ask them to think of an electric vehicle and youll probably get a description of a car that costs a fortune and looks like a Sinclair C5 with a roof bolted on to it. For years, electric vehicles or EVs as theyre now known were infamous for being too expensive and too impractical for everyday use. To be fair, this view had some basis. Today , however, the EV landscape has changed beyond all recognition. Not only are the latest cars practical, comfortable and safe, theyre also affordable. Take the Nissan Leaf for example; its attractive, practical and tted with all the accessories youd nd in any modern car. It packs a punch too, with its 109PS electric motor which will propel it from 0-62mph in 11.5 seconds. Whats more, if you do your homework and shop around, you can buy a new Nissan Leaf for less than 10,000 thats cheaper than a petrol-powered Ford Fiesta. Online brokers are always a good place to start. For instance, I found the latest Leaf in Visia Flex trim for 9,879 thats a huge 6,000 saving off Nissan list price and 150 less than the cheapest petrol-powered Ford Fiesta. Technically , the Nissan Leaf is very good, although its range is limited to just 124 miles. However, the capital has one of the largest charging networks in Europe, with 13,000 stations available. The Leaf uses a lithium-ion battery that can be replenished to 80 per cent in just four hours, using a 32A home charging unit, while a full charge will take around 12 hours. Depending on your energy tariff, the Leaf will cost between 2p and 3p per mile. As with many EVs, there is the lease of the battery to consider 70 a month but when you factor in that EVs cost nothing to tax and are exempt from the Congestion charge, the costs of buying an electric car dont seem so great.

RENAULT ZOE
increase in trafc the week of the London24 column

44%

RENAULT FLUENCE
increase in trafc the week of the London24 column

51%

For more motoring advice and reviews from Honest John, visit www.london24.com/lifestyle/ motoring

For more information please contact emma@honestjohn.co.uk

0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

www.honestjohn.co.uk

03

Winter 2013/2014

USER INTERACTION

Website Engagement
Usage & Referrals

Who is the Honest John CAR BUYER?

Money Saving

What our readers want to know

89%

11%
TWO CARS

t Honest John were dedicated related services. Its really struck a to helping our readers make chord with our readers and is already the right choices when it comes seeing steady traffic. to buying a car and ensuring their money goes as far as possible. With that in mind, weve recently launched a brand new money saving section that gives daily updates on the best deals around, from which supermarkets are cutting fuel costs, to where you can get the best deal on breakdown cover. We also let our readers know when additional Tesco Clubcard or Nectar points are being awarded on motoringSee more at www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/money-saving

Social & Mobile

In 2013 Honest John saw a notable increase in mobile and tablet use as more and more people use them for research over the traditional laptop or desktop. Ofcom reports that tablet ownership has more than doubled in the past year (from 11% of homes to 24%), which is echoed in this graph.
Destop 20m Mobile Tablet

SOCIAL REFERRAL TRAFFIC

FACEBOOK

Predominately a UK audience

ONE CHILD
(at least)

70%

TWITTER

28%

80% are 35 years

and above
Visits (per million)

15m

YOU TUBE
10m

6%

CO-HABITING WITH SPOUSE/ PARTNER

HOME OWNER
Annual household income in excess of

5m

LINKEDIN & PINTEREST

12%

0 2012 Year 2013

40,000

THE GOOD GARAGE GUIDE

5731 Good garages in the database 3210 Independent reviews submitted

Winter 2013/2014

04

www.honestjohn.co.uk

USER INTERACTION

Owners reviews
OWNERS REVIEWS SUBMITTED
SUBMISSIONS WERE UP 14% on 2012 and from the graph below you can see figures show continuous growth at an average of 40% year on year.
3000 2500 Submissions 2000 1500 1000 500 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 Year Submissions

REAL MPG 61,049 REAL MPG SUBMISSIONS

Real MPG submissions have continued to increase year-on-year. With an average growth of 45% wed expect to see the number rise to 87,000 by year end 2014.
70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 2011 2012 2013 Year

BEST OVERALL PERFORMER FOR 2013

LAND ROVER DEFENDER 28.5mpg(104% of official figure)

MOST MILES FOR YOUR MONEY

MINI COOPER DIESEL 56.6MPG

User submissions

48,369

STAMP OF APPROVAL
THE NEW HONDA CIVIC is rated 4.4 out of 5 by its owners, and is one of the highest rated new cars in this section.

MOST REVIEWED MODEL

CITROEN C5 23 OWNERS REVIEWS RANKING 3.3 OUT OF 5

MINI Live Unveil

n the 18th November 2013 HonestJohn.co.uk covered the launch of the new MINI via a live feed. In the run up to the event we executed a series of teaser campaigns posted within the Honest John home page carousel and via social media to encourage readers to sign up for the live launch. It was a huge success. The live event received 1,560 user interactions which included commenting on photos as and when they

Proves popular with users

Increase in Cars for Sale, post launch

31%

were posted, and asking questions about the upcoming model. This interaction continues to grow as new users read the coverage via the replay function. Page Impressions in Google Analytics show The MINI Live Launch makes up 43% of all New Car News on the website. Which translates into an increase of purchase consideration on the site including, 31% in Cars For Sale the week before the launch and 41% in Reviews, on the previous month.
Winter 2013/2014

www.honestjohn.co.uk

05

HJ CLASSICS

CLASSICS IN FIGURES

The Classic Car Review 2013

1,438,177
PAGE VIEWS

314,354
VISITS GROWTH IN CLASSICS FOR SALE NEW VISITS
* 1st October 31th December

63% 58%

TOP FIVE CLASSIC SECTIONS 1] Classics for Sale 2] Classic Reviews 3 Classic Top 10s 4] Classic News & Events 5] Classic Insurance MOST POPULAR MANUFACTURERS 1] Mercedes 2] Ford 3] BMW
Financially comfortable with investments WORKING OR RETIRED

ith 2014 well underway, now is a good opportunity to take stock and consider what an amazing year 2013 was for the classic car scene. The past 12 months have seen records fall and a significant rise in people joining the classic car movement. Weve also seen a fundamental change in the way enthusiasts are using their historic cars. The big news was that the classic car market is in rude health. The record sale (for almost 19m) of the ex-Fangio Mercedes-Benz W196 Grand Prix car during the Bonhams sale at the Goodwood Festival of Speed stole headlines, as did Canadian auction house RMs 18m sale of its Ferrari 275GTB/4 NART Spider, with all proceeds going to charity. But all through the year, it seemed new records were being broken for the blue-chip classics, while the quieter news was that two 20m-plus Ferrari 250GTOs changed hands for more than 20m in 2013 and according to industry
Mechanically minded with a passion for how things work

BMW M3

Who is the Honest John CLASSICS USER?

85%
are 35 years and above

94%

6%

Annual household income in excess of

40,000

MARRIED 1+ CHILD

AT LEAST TWO CARS

(one is a classic)

analysts, Historic Automobile Group of visitors 65,000 ventured to a International (HAGI), values of top cold Birmingham. But increasingly, end cars bearing the prancing horse theres a growing number of classic badge rose by no less car-themed tours more than 62%. enthusiasts than ever Across the rest of now want more from the market, things were their social gatherings sale of ex-Fangio much calmer, suggesting than just parking up in Mercedes-Benz that any super-heating a field. W196 Grand is limited to a very small Trends for 2014? Prix car number of transactions. The rise of the 1980s Mid-range classics in the classic or Youngtimers 10,000-100,000 group as theyre known in Ferrari 275GTB/4 rose gently, while those Europe shows no sign NART Spider below that point pretty of abating, so its a shoemuch stayed static aside in that cult cars of the from a small number of era such as the Sierra mood-of-the-moment-cars. Weve Cosworth and BMW M3 will reach certainly seen a big rise in interest in new heights in terms of popularity. the 1980s retro market, with these As for market values if the global cars now hitting the nostalgic high economy continues to improve, or note, and most being more than the interest rate rises, we might see capable of keeping up with modern a slow down in value inflation, as traffic conditions. the investor market takes stock of On the events side, more people previous strong rises. As for the real than ever were bringing themselves world conversely, prices should and their cars along to the big ticket continue to rise as they did during gigs. Goodwood, Brooklands and 2013. Beaulieu expanded their calendar And, of course, Honest John of events for 2013 and all reported Classics will be following the stories, a rise in visitor numbers. The tracking the market and going to the end of year NEC Classic Motor events throughout 2014 to give you Show also saw a record number the full picture.

19m 18m

CLASSIC OF THE YEAR 2013

The most searched for car in the HJClassics reviews section by a country mile was the 1984-1995 Mercedes-Benz W124. The mid-sized saloon, estate, coupe and convertible has been sat at the top of the monthly Top 10 charts since HJClassics launched in April 2013, often doubling the second placed car in terms of searches. Its one of the few genuinely classless cars of the 1980s alongside the Volkswagen Golf GTI and Range Rover and even today, a tidy one will look equally at home on the driveway of a millionaire or at a McDonalds car park. A truly worthy Car of The Year, and indicative of the inclusive approach that HJClassics has to cherished, collectable cars.
Winter 2013/2014

06

www.honestjohn.co.uk

HJ VANS

VANS IN NUMBERS
PAGE VIEWS

584,677 78% 56%

GROWTH IN VAN INSURANCE

NEW VISITS
* 1st October 31th December

Impressive growth in all areas of the site

Vans continues to grow

Custom was the most read review in 2013. Our Van Top 10s have also proved a big hit. After all, everyone loves a list, with our Top 10 Most Economical Large Vans and Top 10 Most Economical Pick-Ups showing that our van users, like our car users, are focussed on vehicles that will save them money. The other big highlight of the past 12 months was our Van Crime story. Along with the Car Crime data, it was picked up by national and local media, giving us plenty of coverage and helping boost site traffic too. Van Insurance page impressions rose by 78% in December and van owners were clearly keen to know whether their van was at risk of theft as our list of the top 10 most stolen vans proved particularly popular. Unsurprisingly pick-ups proved the most attractive target.

he vans site shows no signs of slowing down and since its launch in February 2013 it has continued to grow in both content and users. By the end of last year we had a monthly audience of 30,000 unique users and were serving in excess of 200,000 page impressions. So what are they looking at? Apart from a copy of The Sun and the menu at the local greasy spoon, its no surprise to see that our van reviews are proving hugely popular with our users. The new Ford Transit

MOST POPULAR VAN REVIEWS OF 2013 1] Ford Transit Custom 2] Volkswagen Transporter 3] Volkswagen Caddy 4] Nissan NV200 5] Toyota Proace

VANS OWNERS REVIEWS LAUNCHED

ere very pleased to reveal the launch of Vans Owners Reviews, and even more pleased that it has been a big hit with our users. Given van owners and drivers are very different from car buyers; we knew that this section would be a challenge in terms of not only getting our users to review their vans, but getting them to include something worthwhile. However, weve been impressed by the in-depth reviews from van owners out there covering everything from loose clips and hoses to the ability to spin the rear wheels in third gear. Dont try this at home people. And its not just the likes of the Ford Transit and Renault Trafic that have been reviewed. Weve also had reviews from owners of the Hyundai iLoad and the new MINI Clubvan too, proving that our audience is a diverse one. Its a section we expect to grow even more in 2014.

TOP 10 VAN SECTIONS 2013 1] Van Reviews 2] Van Top 10s 3] Vans for Sale 4] Vans Home 5] Real MPG 6] Pricing 7] Specs 8] Insurance 9] Ask HJ 10] Van News

DID YOU KNOW?

Van MoT showed an increase of 76% between Sept and Oct

Renault Trac

www.honestjohn.co.uk

07

Winter 2013/2014

HJ TRENDS

HJs most popular this Q

The lowdown on trending topics at HONESTJOHN.co.uk
Most popular searches in site wide search box
Winter Tyres Ford Focus Tyres Mazda 6 Ford Fiesta

Silliest questions asked

Is it possible to drive an automatic in neutral? Can I drive avehicle after the death of the policy holder and still be covered by the deceaseds insurance policy? The engine has failed in my car after I forgot to put oil in it. Am I right in thinking that the dealer should pay for the repairs?

Most popular tags for published questions asked

Technical Issues Winter tyres

Wheels and tyres

Legal and consumer advice

Diesel engines
maintenance and servicing

Buying a used car

Small Cars

Most popular on YouTube

BMW X5 F15 Video Road and Off Road Test 18,035 Views

Buying a new car

Most popular news stories

Winter Tyres Live The New MINI Launch Winter Tyres - Do you need to inform your insurer? Round up of the latest manufacturer deals Top 10 cheapest new cars

Honest John community forum threads with the most recently added posts
5 cyclists in 9 days 221 Diesel Additive 93 Are current VED rules simply

killing old cars? 49

Honest Johns Volkswagen Polo Road Test 12,600 Views Skoda Rapid Spaceback video demonstration 11,213 Views

STAY UP TO DATE WITH HONEST INSIGHTS AND FOLLOW OUR LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGE OR TO ADVERTISE ON OUR SITE CLICK HERE IF YOUD LIKE TO SEE SOMETHING COVERED IN OUR NEXT ISSUE PLEASE CONTACT, EMMA@HONESTJOHN.CO.UK
Winter 2013/2014

HONESTINSIGHTS
08

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