The automotive aftermarket is increasingly reliant on rich content to differentiate products and satisfy consumers with the best match between need, value and performance.
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Today, more than 50 percent of product selections begin with online research, making digital product content a critical component of any marketing strategy. In addition to electronic catalog listings, marketing copy and product information, digital assets are the images and other form of media critical to increasing sales of all categories.
Experience in the aftermarket has demonstrated that an online product listing with a high-quality image is twice as like to sell as one without an image. And listings with rich product content, including video clips, and other digital assets are 17 times more likely to sell.
The days when customers relied on a parts professional as the sole source of all product knowledge are over.
Today, the decision about what product to choose and purchase is made from the information decision-maker can glean from the screen – whether they are standing behind the counter in a parts store, or behind the service desk of an automotive shop or sitting at the kitchen table planning a driveway project.
Digital assets increase the probability that a product will sell. Digital assets help upsell and differentiate the differences between economy grade and premium product. And digital assets help ensure that the correct product gets sold the first time, thereby reducing returns.
As suppliers and their distribution partners continue to reduce reliance on paper as a cost-cutting strategy, everything from the catalog to product brochures, MSDS sheets, installation instructions, Planogram drawings, engineering drawings and much more must be rendered, managed and distributed electronically.
Increasingly, video assets, audio files, multiple product views and even 360 degree images are raising the bar for what is considered the minimum digital assets required to remain competitive.
Best practice recommendation
The Technology Standards Committee of AAIA has taken into account a wide variety of technical standards defined by other associations, private companies and government agencies to comprise a Digital Asset Best Practice Guideline for the automotive aftermarket. The Digital Asset Best Practice Guideline represents the conclusion of hundreds of decisions and selections from among alternative methods and technical formats.
The guidelines present the best recommendations for capturing catalog product images, digital documents, audio and video content. Industry-wide adoption of the recommendations found in this document will save countless hours of “reinventing the wheel” and save valuable business resources. The latest version of the guidelines are found at http://aftermarket.org/Resources/Tech/imaging.aspx.
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