Digital Dealer - April 2019 - 30

Road Trip to DD26 | April 9-11, 2019 | Orlando

DD26

M A R K E T I N G & A DVERT ISING: Re p u ta tio n & L oyal t y

Digital Wordof-Mouth: The
Overlooked Hero
During a Slowing
Auto Economy
According to a recent
survey, 59% of auto
buyers said dealership
reputation was the most
important factor in selecting
where to visit. Understanding that car buyers visit less
than two dealerships before
making a purchase, it's
imperative to make your
dealership their first choice
- especially in a slowing
market.
So, how do we leverage
powerful reputation management to put ourselves in
a position to win?

CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE & THE
PRESSURE TO PERFORM

Every manufacturer
has customer experience
standards that need to be
supported at the dealership
level. We understand from
the manufacturer perspective what boxes should be
checked in the buying process and delivery. Millions
of marketing dollars are
spent demonstrating what
that buying experience
should be like and setting
30

APRIL 2019

high expectations in consumers' minds. Dealers then
pay even more money to
train, manage, and support
every way possible to meet
those expectations and

the front lines. As strong as
our processes and support
are for those customer-facing employees, bad reviews
will happen. The tone is off,
a word is left out of an email,

THE BIGGEST PITFALL
OF PERFECTION IS THIS:
YOUR CUSTOMERS DON'T
TRUST IT; A LONG LIST
OF FIVE STARS WILL BE
SEEN AS FABRICATED.
IT'S ACTUALLY BETTER
TO HAVE A COMBINATION
OF STELLAR REVIEWS
AND LESS THAN
STELLAR."
increase customer satisfaction scores. These scores
can mean additional money
from the manufacturer,
better vehicle allotment and
other incentives for dealers.
All of these consumer experience requirements then
trickle down to our associates who are delivering on

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

there was a long wait for
F&I, or the shopper simply
had expectations that could
not be met. Whatever the
reason, let's explore how to
manage through the reality
that exists, to achieve the
online reputation you need
in order to thrive in this
slowing market.

FEATURED SPEAKER
By Carol Marshall
VP of Operations,
ActivEngage, Inc.
REPUTATION
MANAGEMENT: KNOW
YOUR AUDIENCE

First, we need to understand how today's consumers view reviews and the
importance of responding.
The biggest pitfall of perfection is this: your customers
don't trust it; a long list of
five stars will be seen as
fabricated. It's actually better to have a combination
of stellar reviews and less
than stellar.
As for responding to
feedback, take time to
respond to all reviews while
understanding that the
true audience is the one
who hasn't done business
with you yet. Clearly, you
want to assist anyone who
genuinely experienced poor
service with you. However,
the real audience, and who
you should keep top of
mind, are those customers
you hope will choose to visit you in the future. In your
response, you can let them
know what your standards
are, as well as how you
view your customers and
business. This is how you
can win more hearts and
minds.
GETTING MORE
REVIEWS IS EASIER
THAN YOU THINK

As for the scoring, it's
simple math. In order to
mitigate the effect of a poor
score, you need to increase
the volume of ratings you
receive. This is especially
true now that Google has
dropped its requirement
that there be at least five
reviews before they publish
any. Today, if only one
review has been made, it's
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Digital Dealer - April 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - April 2019
