Automotive manufacturers need look no further than their own website owner's lounge for the next big online brand building opportunity.

It is a well-recognized fact that brand perceptions are built over the long term, and are impacted at all customer touch points. iPerceptions' many automotive website customer satisfaction studies confirm that a compelling and useful owner's section will be repeatedly visited over a three to five year period, providing website marketers with an opportunity to reinforce branding initiatives over the long term. From a visit frequency perspective, the owner sections of a website therefore provides a more powerful brand building opportunity than the selling tools or other sections of the site.

In a recent iPerceptions aggregated study of over 4000 actual visitors to five different OEM websites, we see that 50 percent of visitors said that the owner section is an important aspect of an automotive website, yet only 12 percent are very satisfied with what they have experienced.

Source: iPerceptions

Based on the reality that an owner's section or lounge is a great opportunity to reinforce branding, this low level of satisfaction is an issue that automotive web marketers should not be ignoring. Owners visiting a section of the website dedicated to their needs don't feel they are being taken care of. Requests for more detailed warranty information, parts and accessories information, and owner-manuals as well as recall notices are prevalent in the open-ended feedback from these site visitors.

When it comes to owners needs from an interactive perspective, they would love to have far more flexibility to manage requests for maintenance and service. Maintenance scheduling and vehicle diagnostics present a huge opportunity to interact in a positive way with customers.

As I wrote in a recent iMedia article, the aspect of the visitor experience that requires the most attention according the actual customers has shifted from navigation issues to interactivity issues, so these new finding are extremely timely. General Motors seems to have a big lead here with their OnStar initiative, already providing leading-edge services like onboard vehicle diagnostics that transmit data to central servers, which in turn generate reports that are delivered via email and the web.

There are many auxiliary marketing benefits beyond long-term brand building that these types of initiatives create. Opportunities to up-sell owners on new products, parts and accessories and promotions are just some of the ways an enhanced owners section can drive revenue and ROI.

Thinking a bit further, there is no reason that an environmental impact report based on vehicle performance -- whether it's engine efficiency related to optimal tuning, tire pressure or driving behavior -- could not be delivered online via the owners lounge.

Imagine the ability to produce and deliver directly to owners a record of their driving habits -- city miles vs. highway miles, for example -- together with a complete maintenance and service record.

In this era of user-generated content, giving owners an opportunity to talk to with other owners in a space you can monitor could be invaluable-- and it's going to take place one way or another, so why not be part of the solution.

As the playing field in the automotive industry levels out in terms of products and quality within all categories, service and customer relationships are becoming the biggest distinguishing factors in creating and sustaining brand loyalty.

So remember you heard it here first-- owner sections of websites will be the next big marketing opportunity for automotive manufactures, allowing them to provide value-add services by engaging in and conducting ongoing conversation with their customers.

Duff Anderson is VP of research, development and knowledge delivery for iPerceptions. Read full bio.