There is a March piece on the Think With Google blog about a car shopper — 32-year-old Stacy — who had more than 900 “digital interactions” during three months of vehicle research.

The story, written by Lisa Gevelber, considered interactions to be “searches, website visits, video views, and clicks.”

The massive amounts of data points involved with Stacy’s process speaks to what Chad Bockius and the team at CarStory are trying to accomplish through the company’s Market Reports: take the heap of research, data and information that consumers would otherwise have to sift through, and present it in a way that provides context.

In other words, make the research process simpler for the shopper.

The challenge in the auto industry, says Bockius, is that “there’s a lot of data, but very little insight.”

CarStory Market Reports are designed to take the data and package it together to simplify the car research process, while providing some context. 

“Turning data into insights is what is working for us,” Bockius said during an interview at this year’s NADA Convention & Expo.

The reports were launched at last year’s NADA Convention Since then, more than 15 million consumers have tapped into the merchandising reports and more than 6,000 dealers have begun utilizing the reports.

They’re designed to help dealers turn more website visitors into buyers by boosting consumer engagement with the vehicle details page.

In a news release, Bockius — CarStory’s chief marketing officer — said: “Research shows that the more car shoppers engage with a VDP, the faster a vehicle will sell.”

In the convention interview this year, Bockius explained how the Market Report can help simplify vehicle research and contextualize the wide swaths of car research data. 

“It starts with price. You find a car that you’re interested in, the first thing you want to know is, is it a good deal?” he said.

But determining that requires the shopper to go out and find cars just like it, account for variances like mileage, etc., and then compare the prices.  Bockius said CarStory does that work for the shopper and in its Market Report would share broader context about vehicle’s price, for instance (i.e. the report might note that 90 percent of cars just like it are more expensive, he said).

“The consumer now has this sense of confidence,” Bockius said.

In talking with consumers, Bockius has found that they’re not trying to squeeze money out of the dealer; they’re really just safeguarding themselves against the same thing.

“They just want to know that they’re getting a fair deal,” he said.

The second most importance piece of information is condition, Bockius said, and CarStory shares some context here, as well. For instance, a Market Report might note that the car was driven half as much as other cars like it, Bockius said.

And the list of insights goes on from there.

“The point is, we are helping build confidence in the decision and we are eliminating a lot of research that they would otherwise have to do,” Bockius said.