Product reviews are a popular place for future consumers to read information about quality, performance and value. Reviews can sway the opinion of potential consumers to a certain product based on other people’s opinions. According to SEMA’s 2007 Automotive Lifestyles Survey, the following are the top five ways consumers gather information prior to purchasing specialty equipment:
| Automotive magazines | 80% |
| Catalogs | 64% |
| Internet-manufacturer's website | 53% |
| Internet-automotive forums: | 46% |
| Car/Truck shows | 42% |
Automotive magazines accounted for the means of 8 of 10 enthusiasts finding information for future purchases. Magazines are important places for public relations, advertisement and hopefully an industry expert’s review of your company’s product. Forty-six percent of enthusiasts claimed that they use online forums for information about future purchases. Online forums are important because the average enthusiast generally will believe the aggregate voice of other enthusiasts that they can identify with.
For more original SEMA market research, visit www.sema.org/research.