Transforming the Dealer Attitude Survey from data tables into industry insight
Reimagining the NFDA’s twice-yearly survey publication—bringing dealer sentiment into focus through clear visual storytelling, redesigned reporting and dedicated brand summaries.
United Kingdom
Twice-yearly
Industry sentiment publication
Three formats
Designed around different audiences
Press-ready
Visuals adopted by automotive media
Overview
The NFDA Dealer Attitude Survey is a longstanding barometer of sentiment across the UK’s franchised dealer community. Published twice a year, it helps dealers, manufacturers and prospective franchise holders understand attitudes towards automotive brands and the issues affecting their relationships. Metryx was commissioned to overhaul the publication’s format, styling and approach to communicating its findings. The aim was to make a comprehensive survey easier to interpret and more useful to its different audiences, while preserving the detailed results that established readers valued.
Business challenge
Although the survey contained valuable information, its presentation had changed little over time. Basic charts and detailed tables placed much of the responsibility for identifying themes, interpreting changes and drawing conclusions on the reader. The NFDA wanted a modern, accessible publication that brought the findings to life and strengthened the survey’s value as an industry resource.
Operational issue
Different audiences were approaching the same publication with different needs. Dealers wanted to understand how their franchise compared with others. Manufacturers needed to identify concerns, strengths and areas for action within their networks. The NFDA needed clear evidence to support its representation of members, while journalists needed accessible findings and visuals for publication. A single reporting format made those needs difficult to serve equally well.
Approach
Metryx began with a User Delivery Audit, mapping the needs of dealers, manufacturers, the NFDA and the press against the existing report and a desired future experience. Drawing on its automotive expertise, Metryx translated those findings into three complementary reporting formats. Each offered a different route into the same survey results—from headline themes to detailed question-level analysis and brand-specific insight. UX and UI design guided the work throughout. Wireframes, initial layouts and high-fidelity prototypes were developed and reviewed with the NFDA before moving into production.
How we delivered
Phase 01
Understand the audiences
Identified the questions each stakeholder group needed the survey to answer and assessed where the existing publication made those answers difficult to find.
Phase 02
Design the experience
Developed layouts, visual treatments and prototypes that balanced clear storytelling with the detail and familiarity established users needed.
Phase 03
Build the reporting
Re-engineered charts, introduced headline metrics and contextual comparisons, and assembled the three reporting formats around a consistent visual approach.
Phase 04
Prepare for publication
Combined analysis, visualisation and publication design to produce a coordinated release, with material suited to NFDA communications and automotive media coverage.
Three complementary reporting formats
Insight storyboards
Visually led summaries that bring key themes, changes and topical findings into focus, with ready-to-use graphics for communication and publication.
The main survey report
A redesigned presentation of the detailed results, retaining familiar content while adding headline KPI panels, clearer charts and context to aid interpretation.
Brand performance summaries
Dedicated brand-level views that help manufacturers and dealers identify strengths, gaps and priorities for action without assembling their own analysis from the wider report.
Scope
- Stakeholder research and User Delivery Audit
- Survey analysis and interpretation
- UX and UI design
- Visual storytelling and data visualisation
- Detailed question-level reporting
- Brand comparisons and performance summaries
- Publication design and release preparation
Delivery capabilities
Outcome
The Dealer Attitude Survey was relaunched as a clearer, more accessible publication, giving readers multiple ways to understand its findings. Feedback from the NFDA and wider stakeholder groups highlighted ease of use and clear, actionable insight. Automotive media also used the redesigned visuals directly in their coverage, demonstrating their usefulness beyond the report itself.
Industry impact
Dealers and manufacturers can more readily identify the findings relevant to their franchise relationships. The NFDA has clearer material to communicate the concerns of its members, while the press can draw on accessible themes and publication-ready visuals. The transformation gives an established twice-yearly survey a stronger voice—making its findings easier to understand, communicate and act upon.
“The survey already held valuable insight. Our role was to make that insight easier to see and use. By understanding what dealers, manufacturers, the NFDA and the press each needed, we created reporting that brought the findings to life.”
“The redesigned Dealer Attitude Survey makes it easier for our audiences to understand the findings and identify what matters to them. It combines the depth of the survey with clearer analysis, stronger visuals and focused brand summaries.”
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