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FordDirect Lead Quality

DanRank

Rust & Dust
May 22, 2014
25
6
First Name
Dan
Does anyone have issues with FordDirect lead quality? They send third-party leads they purchase, OEM leads from Ford.com, and vehicle-specific leads from the required ClickMotive dealer sites. We pay a flat monthly fee and cannot opt out of the third-party leads only (those are the primary problem). Roughly 20-25% of the leads have both a bad email address and phone number. Close to half of all leads have disconnected phone numbers or the person that answers is not the same as the person listed in the lead.

We constantly get responses from customers stating that the vehicle we quoted them is not what they requested, even though we sent them a vehicle that matches the lead information.

FordDirect does not disclose on the lead where it came from (Edmunds, etc.). Many of the new car leads that we are able to contact are looking for used cars under $10,000, which we do not commonly stock. There are also a lot of people that say they thought they were filling out applications for personal loans (not auto) to pay bills.

I googled something like "bad credit low car payment" and clicked on the first paid search result. It was a site that had very little information on it and was clearly created to generate revenue off of forms. Pretty sure it said something about a $100 car payment. I put my info in and within a few minutes I showed up in the CRM as a new FordDirect lead on a 2014 Expedition King Ranch two-wheel drive.

I am certain FordDirect makes vendor decisions (like lead providers) based on profit and not quality. FordDirect is well aware of the problems; they've met at the dealership with us. No results or solutions.

Here are some examples that are very common (several times per week). On all of these, the customers never respond or has bad contact info. So we never know what they were actually looking for.

The car in the lead is Mustang GT (V8), but it shows a V6 engine as a selected option as well as the V6 Pony Package. This combination cannot exist.

Option Name Man. Code Price Currency Type Stock Weighting
-----------------------------------------------
Options:
Convertible GT
Race Red PQ
Charcoal Black 89W
6-Speed Auto 443
3.7L 4V Ti-VCT V6 Engine 99M
Shaker? Pro Audio System 918
V6 Pony Package 54P

Here's another where a customer built a Shelby (V8) and the lead has the V6 Pony Package as an option, which is not an option on this car:
Option Name Man. Code Price Currency Type Stock Weighting
-----------------------------------------------
Options:
Coupe Shelby GT500
Ingot Silver UX
Black Accents 89X
5.8L 4V SC V8 Engine 99Z
6-Speed Manual 44X
Shaker? Pro Audio System 918
SYNC? AppLink? 17D
Mustang Club of America Special Edition Package54B
V6 Pony Package 54P
Voice Activated Navigation with SiriusXM? Travel Link?58Z



Below are a couple where the car is built with multiple exterior colors; I've never seen a site that allows this so it has to be a data error.
----------------------------------------------------------
Options:
Titanium 5-Door
Tangerine Scream LP
Performance Blue L1
Blue Candy Z9
Charcoal Black with Performance Blue 89R
6-Speed Automatic 44W
Exterior Protection Package 90C
Reverse Sensing System 60R
----------------------------------------------------------
Options:
Coupe Shelby GT500
Race Red PQ
Ruby Red RR
Gotta Have it Green HD
Oxford White YZ
Saddle 89N
5.8L 4V SC V8 Engine 99Z
6-Speed Manual 44X
Shaker? Pro Audio System 918
----------------------------------------------------------
 
Yes, we have the same problem. After several "I was just trying to make my car payment" remarks from customers, we've started to contact them simply as a courtesy call instead of treating it like a lead. The vehicle that shows up in the lead is usually incorrect 80% of the time, and so where we used to go ahead and have brochures, window stickers, and vehicle-specific information prepared for the customer...we now just try to make contact "on behalf of Ford" to make sure they had all their questions answered online.

They will usually immediately tell you why they submitted their information which can lead into a constructive conversation.

Once we stopped treating them like our other leads, we've had a little more luck with them.
 
Thank you for your feedback, Dan. Your discussion yesterday with Howard was very helpful – please feel free to reach out to us directly regarding any future questions.


Does anyone have issues with FordDirect lead quality? They send third-party leads they purchase, OEM leads from Ford.com, and vehicle-specific leads from the required ClickMotive dealer sites. We pay a flat monthly fee and cannot opt out of the third-party leads only (those are the primary problem). Roughly 20-25% of the leads have both a bad email address and phone number. Close to half of all leads have disconnected phone numbers or the person that answers is not the same as the person listed in the lead.

We constantly get responses from customers stating that the vehicle we quoted them is not what they requested, even though we sent them a vehicle that matches the lead information.

FordDirect does not disclose on the lead where it came from (Edmunds, etc.). Many of the new car leads that we are able to contact are looking for used cars under $10,000, which we do not commonly stock. There are also a lot of people that say they thought they were filling out applications for personal loans (not auto) to pay bills.

I googled something like "bad credit low car payment" and clicked on the first paid search result. It was a site that had very little information on it and was clearly created to generate revenue off of forms. Pretty sure it said something about a $100 car payment. I put my info in and within a few minutes I showed up in the CRM as a new FordDirect lead on a 2014 Expedition King Ranch two-wheel drive.

I am certain FordDirect makes vendor decisions (like lead providers) based on profit and not quality. FordDirect is well aware of the problems; they've met at the dealership with us. No results or solutions.

Here are some examples that are very common (several times per week). On all of these, the customers never respond or has bad contact info. So we never know what they were actually looking for.

The car in the lead is Mustang GT (V8), but it shows a V6 engine as a selected option as well as the V6 Pony Package. This combination cannot exist.

Option Name Man. Code Price Currency Type Stock Weighting
-----------------------------------------------
Options:
Convertible GT
Race Red PQ
Charcoal Black 89W
6-Speed Auto 443
3.7L 4V Ti-VCT V6 Engine 99M
Shaker? Pro Audio System 918
V6 Pony Package 54P

Here's another where a customer built a Shelby (V8) and the lead has the V6 Pony Package as an option, which is not an option on this car:
Option Name Man. Code Price Currency Type Stock Weighting
-----------------------------------------------
Options:
Coupe Shelby GT500
Ingot Silver UX
Black Accents 89X
5.8L 4V SC V8 Engine 99Z
6-Speed Manual 44X
Shaker? Pro Audio System 918
SYNC? AppLink? 17D
Mustang Club of America Special Edition Package54B
V6 Pony Package 54P
Voice Activated Navigation with SiriusXM? Travel Link?58Z



Below are a couple where the car is built with multiple exterior colors; I've never seen a site that allows this so it has to be a data error.
----------------------------------------------------------
Options:
Titanium 5-Door
Tangerine Scream LP
Performance Blue L1
Blue Candy Z9
Charcoal Black with Performance Blue 89R
6-Speed Automatic 44W
Exterior Protection Package 90C
Reverse Sensing System 60R
----------------------------------------------------------
Options:
Coupe Shelby GT500
Race Red PQ
Ruby Red RR
Gotta Have it Green HD
Oxford White YZ
Saddle 89N
5.8L 4V SC V8 Engine 99Z
6-Speed Manual 44X
Shaker? Pro Audio System 918
----------------------------------------------------------
 
FordDirect is committed to driving high-quality leads to our dealers. Howard Witzke, who leads are support team, will be calling you today to discuss your experience.

Yes, we have the same problem. After several "I was just trying to make my car payment" remarks from customers, we've started to contact them simply as a courtesy call instead of treating it like a lead. The vehicle that shows up in the lead is usually incorrect 80% of the time, and so where we used to go ahead and have brochures, window stickers, and vehicle-specific information prepared for the customer...we now just try to make contact "on behalf of Ford" to make sure they had all their questions answered online.

They will usually immediately tell you why they submitted their information which can lead into a constructive conversation.

Once we stopped treating them like our other leads, we've had a little more luck with them.
 
Yes, we have the same problem. After several "I was just trying to make my car payment" remarks from customers, we've started to contact them simply as a courtesy call instead of treating it like a lead. The vehicle that shows up in the lead is usually incorrect 80% of the time, and so where we used to go ahead and have brochures, window stickers, and vehicle-specific information prepared for the customer...we now just try to make contact "on behalf of Ford" to make sure they had all their questions answered online.

They will usually immediately tell you why they submitted their information which can lead into a constructive conversation.

Once we stopped treating them like our other leads, we've had a little more luck with them.

Ricky, does your dealership pay attention to the 5 Key Drivers (made direct contact, showed interest, price quote, confirm availability, contact more than once) in the survey and mystery shop? I like your response but am guessing you do not send a quote or confirm availability in the first response. We always send a quote in the first email but I think it causes problems frequently since it is not what the customer is expecting.
 
I wanted to follow up on my initial post, now that I have some answers from FordDirect. It turns out that a customer can select multiple models/trims, colors, etc. on Ford.com under "Request a Local Quote." Previously I was told by FordDirect that the leads with unbuildable/multiple combinations were coming from Third-Party sources. So now we know that a customer that uses this tool and selects multiple trims or models is likely very high-funnel and we can follow-up accordingly instead of trying to drill down to a quote on a specific vehicle in the first email.

An easy enhancement would be to disclose where the lead came from. Dealer.com shows the URL click path on each lead so you can see where the customer has been. We know if they looked at new or used inventory, entered the site through the homepage or directly to an inventory link, visited the finance page, etc.

If we know what the customer sees leading up to and when submitting a form we can better answer their request. For example, we often get FordDirect leads on new vehicles, but for past model years that we do not have in stock. Is the customer looking at a site that has closeout offers on end of model year units? Are they looking at a no-money down lease offer when they submit their information? Customers rarely leave comments (comments are the first indicator it is a mystery shop) so we cannot rely on them to tell us how we may best help them. It would also be nice to know if they are on a desktop or mobile device.

I appreciate the call and felt we had a productive conversation.
 
Ricky, does your dealership pay attention to the 5 Key Drivers (made direct contact, showed interest, price quote, confirm availability, contact more than once) in the survey and mystery shop? I like your response but am guessing you do not send a quote or confirm availability in the first response. We always send a quote in the first email but I think it causes problems frequently since it is not what the customer is expecting.

We don't send a price quote anymore until we've determined what the customer is interested in. Our initial contact is to hopefully make direct contact, determine interest, and let them know that we do have what they're looking for in stock. I can easily quote a price on the phone once contact is made with the customer. We just found we were quoting prices that didn't even matter yet.