Gold Coast car servicing marketplace AutoGuru sees massive 60pc revenue lift thanks to focus on women

GOLD Coast technology company AutoGuru, which calls itself the ‘Tripadvisor’ for people looking for a mechanic, finds favour with female customers.

CAR servicing marketplace AutoGuru is seeing a surge in popularity with “savvy female consumers” driving a massive revenue boost.

The business, which is based in Surfers Paradise, enables consumers to find and compare quotes online from workshops for car servicing and some specialist mechanical repairs.

CEO and founder Eden Shirley said its research shows female AutoGuru visitors convert to making bookings at double the rate of men.

“Recent research has shown that we’re one of the few brands to speak directly to women,” he said.

Eden Shirley founded AutoGuru in 2009.

“Most brands don’t talk directly to them, but we see them as high value. They are really important to us.

“We see them as high value because they are good researchers, they want to know what is involved, how much it costs, and they want to know they are getting a good deal.”

Mr Shirley, who changed the name of his company from Fixed Price Car Service to AutoGuru last year, said that higher conversion rate is most noticeable after the age of 25.

“What we find is that between 18 to 25, they convert at the same level, male or female,” he said.

GET A NEW SET OF HEADPHONES WITH YOUR DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION

“As they get older, we find that we start to see a real difference between the likelihood of them booking online.

“The older men get, the less likely they are to book online, and the older women get, the more likely they are to book. In fact it is almost twice as likely.”

Mr Shirley said that is because older men, aged in their 40s and 50s, believe they know more about car servicing than people in their 20s.

Therefore they are more inclined not to book through a comparison website.

The research comes as AutoGuru launches a new marketing campaign after raising $6 million in cash earlier this year from Youi Insurance owner OUTsurance for its campaign titled ‘Who’s the Guru’.

The new ads, which feature on outdoor, television, radio and digital advertising platforms, show Kate, a “quirky female character” encourage consumers to become a ‘guru’ of car servicing by using the AutoGuru marketplace.

Mr Shirley said the marketing campaign, which began late last month, is a test to see if it is worthwhile commencing another funding round to take the marketing national.

“We get these incredible reviews but no one knows about us,” he said.

“Six million dollars is not enough to go national so we doubled down on southeast Queensland, which is a top-performing market for us. Based on that, we will develop a funding strategy to take the campaign national.”

He said initial reports indicate a 60 per cent boost to revenue in the first two weeks.

“I’m hoping it grows significantly. Things are looking positive so far.”

AutoGuru has a network of more than 1700 workshops and mobile mechanics across Australia.

They include corporate clients such as Midas, National Roads and Motorists Association, Bridgestone and a number of franchise stores and independent workshops.

Workshops pay an annual fee of $1440 to be part of AutoGuru, which includes services such as professional photography and business support.