CitNOW, a pioneering company in the field of automotive trade video, says that use of its app based system is growing dramatically and that increasingly consumers are coming to expect video as part of their customer experience.

CitNow Video is an innovative product that enables motor trade businesses to make and present personalised videos and email potential customers in minutes. The app system has many applications in the car sales sector, but is also increasing used by workshops, bodyshops  and service departments to produce video reports for customers to show work that needs to be carried out. CitNow says that these videos can increase conversion rates for critical work by 50%.

The company believes that 2016 is the year when businesses must positively adopt video or fall behind the pack. It says the number of personalised videos created using its app and software in 2015 reached three million, an increase of over 182% on 2014. In the UK the number of CitNOW apps in use also increased by 142%, with 65,000 hours of video created and an average of more than 8,000 videos a day made by dealerships, workshops and bodyshops.

CitNOW Chief Executive, Alistair Horsburgh, said, “Last year saw an unprecedented phase in the adoption of video technology, as automotive businesses switched on to the tangible benefits it could provide. Our customer base is littered with stories of how video raised the bottom line, increased red work conversion and extended the reach of dealerships and their workshops.” He added, “Now that the technology has made its mark and proven its worth, 2016 will be the ‘Year of the Video’. With more than 50% of the UK’s franchised dealerships using video in sales and/or aftersales, we are at a tipping point for the industry. Those dealers not using video are already being left behind; given the sheer volume of videos being produced, we will see consumer expectation driving demand by the end of the year.”