FUTURELAB

Home   -   Services   -   About us   -   Team   -   Business and Games Blog   -   Publications

« Wal-Mart's Solar Energy Vision | Main | The Ten Most Read Futurelab Articles in 2006 »

Portal Strategy - Part I: Engaging Green Consumers on Yahoo!

by: David Wigder

Yahoo Auto’s Green Center is a powerful auto buying portal focused on hybrid and other eco-friendly vehicles.  Its web pages are packed with engaging content, tools and community features that help users evaluate, compare and find the green car that is right for them.   

Site features target consumer needs at every stage across the purchase funnel – from building awareness of green cars and technology to enabling comparison of available choices to facilitating purchases at the dealerships.  Moreover, Yahoo built the site using relevant proprietary applets such as Yahoo Answers, Groups and News that are used across its portal, while forming partnerships to do the rest.  In doing so, Yahoo is able to integrate best-of-breed tools within the site experience.

 

Yahoo Auto’s Green Center

yahoo-auto-center_screen-shot_3.jpg

Green Center Site Features and Partners

Features

Partners/Yahoo Applets
Content 
 Car information including pricing (MSRP and invoice), rebates and incentives, features & specifications, performance reviews, photos and videos JD Powers
Exclusive “Green Ratings”Environmental Defense
Federal and state purchasing incentivesHybridCars.com
Gas saving tips; Hybrid newsletterHybridCars.com
Relevant news articlesYahoo! News, del.icio.us
Tools 
 Car comparison 
 Gas mileage impact calculator (consumption, costs, emissions)HybridCars.com, ACEEE’s Green Book
 Alternative fuel gas locatorUS Department of Energy
 Financing (rates + quotes)CapitalOne, CarsDirect, Bankrate.com
 Insurance (quotes)Allstate, Progressive, GEICO
Community 
 GroupsYahoo! Groups
 Q&AYahoo! Answers
 Opinion polls 
 Most popular/viewed cars 

One of the most engaging tools is the Gas Mileage Impact Calculator which enables direct comparison of vehicles based on gas milage, fuel costs and emissions.  Here I have provided a direct comparison between the Camry and the Camry hybrid.  Note the 2,500 lb reduction in carbon dioxide emissions when shifting to the hybrid.

Gas Mileage Impact Calculator
gasmileageimpactcalculator.jpg

One of the best community features on the site is Yahoo Answers which allows users to pose questions and others to provide answers. Users then select the best answer through popular vote.

Yahoo Answers on the Environment & Ecology


yahooanswers.jpg

Original Post: http://marketinggreen.wordpress.com/2006/12/28/targeting-green-on-yahoo/

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.futurelab.net/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1688

Leave a comment

Creative Commons License
This weblog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.