Fueling growth: How car leasing brands perform across the content funnel

The UK car leasing market is fiercely competitive, with multiple brands vying for attention. But in a sector where customers don’t make instant decisions, success hinges on guiding potential buyers from awareness to consideration to conversion through a well-structured content funnel.

We’ve analysed the performance of leading leasing companies at every stage of the marketing funnel, by analysing organic performance using Ahrefs traffic estimates, and removing branded keywords for a fair representation. 

So, what is each stage of the funnel? Top of the Funnel (ToFu), focuses on generating brand awareness; Middle of the Funnel (MoFu), where users are actively researching leasing choices; and Bottom of the Funnel (BoFu), is where conversions happen through strong deal pages, clear CTAs.  Which brands are excelling? Who’s missing out on crucial traffic? Let’s dive into the data.

Content funnel: winners vs stallers 

Our analysis reveals a clear hierarchy in content performance based on total monthly visits across all content stages. 

Who’s on the podium? The best performers in the content race 

Select Car Leasing leads the pack with 248,114 monthly visits, leveraging strong content across the funnel to attract, engage, and convert customers. Nationwide Vehicle Contracts follows with 120,864 visits, maintaining consistency across all funnel stages. LeaseLoco (57,719 visits) rounds out the top three, performing well in both MoFu and BoFu content.

Who’s stuck in the pit lane? The brands losing ground

Fleet Alliance (1,455 visits), Pink Car Leasing (4,803 visits), and Arnold Clark Leasing (9,269 visits) struggle to make an impact. With significantly lower traffic, these brands are missing key opportunities to capture potential leads and guide them through the leasing journey.

Let’s break it down stage by stage.

Vanarama is a driving force in top of the funnel content

At the top of the funnel (ToFu), potential customers are learning about car leasing for the first time. Blogs, news articles, and educational content are critical for visibility. Vanarama leads the way with ToFu content gaining an estimated 6,715 monthly visits. Most of Vanarama’s top of the funnel content is digital PR campaigns tailored to consumers and those with a keen interest in automotive. 

Vanarama could maximise the amount of traffic they get from awareness content if they had continued to publish this type of content. But, unfortunately, these PR articles were created a while ago and it doesn’t appear Vanarama is regularly updating its blog. This highlights the long-term value of digital PR and engaging content; when done well, it continues to drive visitors long after publication.Synergy and Arnold Clark miss out on 2,618 monthly visits

Synergy car leasing and Arnold Clark leasing bring in an estimated zero visits to their website a month through top of the funnel content. Arnold Clark leasing has no ToFu content on their website, which explains the absent traffic. However,  Synergy car leasing does have a dedicated awareness hub. The majority of their top of the funnel content is news related to Synergy. Whilst, this type of content is important for users to get a better understanding of the company before committing to their service, it’s unlikely new customers will be searching for these topics. The average traffic for ToFu content across the websites analysed is 2,618 monthly visits, which means Synergy and Arnold Clark are missing out on thousands of potential customers. 

Who is accelerating the middle of the funnel content?

At the middle of the funnel (MoFu) users are actively researching leasing choices. They might be comparing providers, and evaluating offers. That’s why content should address key concerns, provide detailed comparisons, and build trust. So, who’s bringing in the most customers with MoFu content? 

Vanarama stands out as the winner for MoFu content, bringing in 19,682 monthly visits. Vanarama have a strong mixture of guides that are well-written and clearly answer customer queries. However, Select Car Leasing also stands out for its MoFu content, pulling in 13,483 monthly visits. Select Car Leasing have created visually engaging hubs around each guide category, such as personal leasing, van leasing, electric leasing and more. These hubs not only make it easy for users to find relevant information but also showcase the depth and detail of their content offering. 

Arnold Clark Leasing and Fleet Alliance fall behind for MoFu content

Intelligent Car Leasing has recently merged with Fleet Alliance, with car leasing services being provided from the Fleet Alliance website. As Intelligent Car Leasing’s website doesn’t exist anymore, we decided to look at Fleet Alliance and its leasing content. We uncovered that leasing content is thin, and MoFo content specifically only brings in 26 monthly visits. Whilst the merger happened at the start of January, Fleet Alliance could have published relevant guides on leasing close to this time to help potential customers.  

Arnold Clark Leasing also ranks low, bringing in no traffic at the MoFo stage due to having little awareness content. 

Select Car Leasing gains 228,965 monthly visits from BoFu

Bottom of funnel (BoFu) is the final stage in the funnel, and where a potential customer becomes a buyer.  Content at this stage is around product, leasing and deal-focused landing pages.  Select Car Leasing is the clear winner in BoFu content, it ranks first in our analysis with 228,965 monthly visits. Each model page is packed with detailed specifications and feature breakdowns, making it easy for users to compare options. Additionally, Select includes its own expert reviews on each model, reinforcing authority and E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). The straightforward layout and well-placed CTAs ensure users can effortlessly move towards conversion.

Carparison misses out on nearly 40,000 customers

Carparison ranks the second lowest in BoFu performance, with 3,412 monthly users. On average websites at this stage of the funnel bring in 38,989 monthly users – that’s 91% less than Carparison. While the necessary information is available, it lacks the persuasive elements that differentiate it from competitors. There is little to convince users why they should choose Carparison over other leasing websites, with model details and deals presented in a way that doesn’t maximise engagement. To improve, Carparison needs to refine its content strategy, making its offerings clearer, more engaging, and tailored to address user pain points effectively.

Fleet Alliance ranks the lowest in BoFu content, bringing in just 27 monthly visits. However, this could be partly due to the recent merger, and deal pages only recently being published. 

So, what can we learn from this? For those leading the pack, the challenge is staying ahead, consistently keep on top of content and monitor performance. For those falling behind? It’s time to rethink content strategies, and create a seamless journey for potential customers. Want to improve your leasing business’s content? 

Get in touch and see how automotive marketing experts at UpShift can help with onsite content and boost your SEO performance.