As electric vehicles become more mainstream, you might wonder how you reach customers who tend to be more likely to buy electric vehicles. We’ll discuss some of the methods most commonly used to attract buyers who are interested in battery-powered vehicles. We’ll also talk about who today’s electric buyers are, and who they will be in the future.
Getting to Know the EV Customer
Speaking purely demographically, the average electric vehicle buyer so far in 2023 is between 18 and 34 years of age and comprises 40% of electric car owners. Trailing but still developing are 35-49-year-olds who represent about 25%, These numbers dip a fair amount headed into ages 50-64 at under 20% and people aged 65 or older tend to still want to use gas and are under 10%.
Characteristics of electric vehicle buyers
The leading factors bringing most new electric vehicle buyers to purchase a battery-powered vehicle over an internal combustion engine-powered vehicle are fairly clear:
Read more: Most electric vehicle buyers have a primary concern with helping sustain or improve Earth’s environment since electric vehicles don’t have emissions – at least while the driver owns them. Another major factor from the same survey concludes that lower overall operating costs have become a significant factor as some drivers feel the sting of doing regular service on a gasoline engine.
There are other answers that were less prominent motivators, like having a quieter car or the most recent technology. Concepts like unique features were also less heavy motivators.
So far, the clear indicators show us that electric vehicle customers respond best to messaging that indicates how electric vehicle shoppers care more about long-term costs than upfront costs and that the environment is a major concern for them. You’ll also notice by looking at the marketing campaigns for any electric vehicle manufacturer from Tesla to Polestar, that messaging about sustainability and the environment is at the forefront.
How to Reach Electric Car Buyers
We have a few suggestions regarding how to get your message in front of electric car buyers, though there are certainly more possibilities:
In Video Ads
You can run more than a few types of video ads on YouTube. We suggest video ads on YouTube because all-electric vehicles generally have a striking and highly visual design, and because people of all ages – and especially from the most common electric car buying ages, tend to learn things and watch lots of YouTube videos. Including this writer!
Social Media and Social Media Engagement
Electric car buyers tend to be on social media, whether we are talking about TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. This is a prime place to at least ensure that they know your dealership has electric vehicles available.
Posting engaging content on a regular basis is also a great way to connect with these customers. We have one basic hint for developing both a social media following and getting engagement: Ask questions. You might not get many answers, but the more you get, the more people have the potential to join.
Read more: Why automotive marketers should leverage short-form video content + 5 practical strategies
Read more: In-Person Marketing
One challenge in selling and marketing electric vehicles is getting a customer to see one. Find local events that don’t mind sponsors and bring an electric vehicle to show.
The brand Polestar also has a fairly unique dealership space system that shows a car and makes a stress-free environment. Bringing electric vehicles to events might be a little easier than carving out part of your dealership.
Online Ads
Yep, online ads are pretty general. Our suggestion here is to put advertising dollars into both search engine marketing like Google Ads and Bing Ads and to also focus on search engine optimization programs. Paid ads are good for people who are in the market while someone in yourself or a marketing agency can readily write good pages that rank high on search engines for when people research more general or specific info about the electric cars you offer.
Conclusion
While our findings are based on some significant research done without the electric automotive world, you’ll also want to keep an eye on trends happening as more auto manufacturers make fewer gasoline-powered cars and more battery efforts. Knowing what these customers are doing now is also essential to keeping their interest in the long run because they will be talking to their friends about electric cars – and word of mouth is the best! We hope that our recommendations for advertising methods help you jump-start traffic for electric cars or at least give you some ideas about what to pursue in the future.
