J.D. Power: Subaru Canada ranks highest in customer satisfaction with manufacturer website

Cites effective re-design for improved new-vehicle shopper satisfaction

MISSISSAUGA, ON, May 23 /CNW/ - According to the J.D. Power and
Associates 2008 Canadian Manufacturer Web Site Evaluation Study, Subaru
Canada, Inc. (SCI) ranks highest among auto manufacturer websites in
satisfying Canadian new-vehicle shoppers. The 2008 study is based on
evaluations provided by 3,639 new-vehicle shoppers who said they intend to
purchase a new vehicle within the next 12 months.
In what Subaru believes is a first for the industry, the SCI corporate
website, www.subaru.ca, and the sites for its network of 89 dealers are
managed, developed and hosted entirely in-house.
“My thanks and congratulations to our talented and dedicated team of
developers who have worked so hard to make Subaru the new standard for
excellence in this important area,” said Katsuhiro Yokoyama, president and CEO
of SCI. “The fact that Subaru’s satisfaction scores improved significantly
during a downward trend in the industry is a real testament to their hard work
and the success of their efforts in meeting and anticipating customer needs.”
The survey looks at four important elements that affect customer
satisfaction with websites: information and content, ease of navigating
throughout the website, appearance of the website, and the speed at which
pages load throughout the website. Subaru ranks highest among 25 auto
manufacturer sites, increasing 73 index points on a 1,000-point scale to
receive a score of 840. Overall, however, the study finds that satisfaction
with manufacturer websites has decreased for a second consecutive year-down 12
points since the study’s inception in 2006.
“It’s interesting to note that the few manufacturers that redesigned
their websites in the past year were some of the only automakers to achieve
improvements in satisfaction among new-vehicle shoppers,” said Adrian Chung,
manager of automotive syndicated research at J.D. Power and Associates.
“Subaru, in particular, recently completed a total redesign of its website,
which has played a notable role in their overall performance improvement since
2007.”