How could you better engage women with EVs?
“There’s probably loads of really great things about EVs that I don’t know about because I look online and only read the negatives. It’d be nice to hear an actual owner tell me what her life looks like with one.”
In order to help more women feel connected with electric cars and ensure women aren’t left behind, we need to understand what women value and what they want. We need a tailored approach in order to address the right selling points for each distinct demographic, and crucially, acknowledge the equal importance of each segment.
There’s plenty of opportunity to turn this around, and a variety of tactics and solutions available, to ensure women are not left behind on the electric journey.
1. Take a tailored approach.
When consumers arrive on your forecourt, it’s vital you take a personalised approach to understanding both their interests but also their concerns. Not only will they arrive at varying levels of purchase-readiness, but they will also have a personal take on what questions need answering and the approach required – perhaps they’re not interested in the technology but would rather focus on the safety features. Or maybe they’re really keen for a test drive and are less interested in discussing running costs.
2. Focus on affordability.
Many women are totally unaware of the lower running costs of EVs compared with their petrol or diesel counterparts. It’s crucial we help them understand this financial benefit, in order to mitigate the higher purchase price of an electric car.
3. Leverage social proof.
Women are more influenced in their next car purchase by their friends and family than men, so one female EV convert is worth her weight in gold. Women love the performance, low running costs and waving goodbye to smelly fuel forecourts.
The reality of EV ownership is nearly always far more positive than the perceived fears during research. It’s all about persuading reticent women to take test drives, and that resulting eureka! moment.
4. Reduce fear and eliminate risk
We must all start talking about the battery health of used EVs - a lot of women aren’t even aware used EVs are a thing. It’s also important we find new ways to discuss electric vehicles that don’t rely on jargon like kWh.
5. Simplify home charging
A lot of women cannot believe that, having done all the hard research into the right electric car, they then have to begin the process again to choose a home charger. We have to simplify the process for them and pull both conversations into one easy journey.
Electrification isn’t a slow evolution of motoring: it’s a radical revolution and requires commensurate action from the industry to ease consumers through the transition.
We cannot continue to tread the same path, in terms of language, jargon, the media platforms we use, the advertising images we create, the proactive campaigns we dream up or the way we talk to female drivers. We need to respond to the data in this report, and start thinking outside the box, or women will be left behind on the road to 2030.
Car brands have created some truly exciting, gratifying, gorgeous electric cars which are a delight to drive and own, and which, crucially, don’t contribute to air pollution. The designers and engineers have done their bit.
Now it’s time for the rest of us, who provide that vital link between product and consumer, to forge a new way of communicating with female drivers. With a new tone of voice, a genuinely empathetic approach, and a willingness to go out to female consumers and talk to them where they exist, about the worries they have, we can turn around the negative sentiment, the anxiety and scepticism. We can make researching, choosing, financing and owning electric cars the truly enjoyable experience it should be.
These suggestions are taken from our recent report “No Driver Left Behind: Women and the journey to electric”, to read the report in full, visit www.nodriverleftbehind.co.uk