Gift Cards as a Dealership Visit Incentive

[JD Rucker]

After completing a lengthy study of the chat providers in the automotive industry, I thought that I would take on a smaller but equally debatable topic - gift cards as incentives to come to the dealership.

As far as I know, there is Hook Logic, Showroom Magnet, and Intice. Am I missing any? If you've used any of these, what was your experience?

I'm a big fan of the concept but I have never really taken a deep dive into the process and results. I am going to be meeting with two of the three next week for certain and if I can nail down a time with the third, it's on. This is going to be quicker than the chat exploration because of the limited number of companies involved, but it might be even harder. From what I've heard so far, all three seem like excellent choices.

If anyone has any insight into any of these services or if you know of others out there, please let me know via email or here in the comments. Thanks!

 

[JesseJ]

We have been using Hook Logic for about a year. There is no denying it drives showroom traffic but I'm still having a hard time assessing the quality. It is truly amazing to me that half a dozen people a month seem to show up to the dealership looking for a gift card and shamelessly admit they have no interest in a car. I guess this is unavoidable but it's frustrating none the less. I can't help but wonder what they were even doing on our website.

We also run into an issue with repeat customers or people who have already purchased. I get a pretty large number of people who just purchased a car from us and go home and happen to see the incentive on our website and sure enough submit for the gift card. I also have repeat customers showing up with these constantly. No matter what disclaimers we attach or how big we make them, customers ignore them. Of course we don't want to tell a repeat customer no over $25.

That said, we do have some customers that are leads exclusively from hook logic. I would assume a handful of these may have submitted a lead regardless but it's tough to say for sure. I think it has definitely led to some sales we wouldn't have otherwise had but it's very tough to track that. If you simply attribute every customer who requested a gift card to Hook Logic ROI, you are skewing the statistics in my opinion.

I think the best thing it has done for us is it makes sure that we get the first shot in a lot of cases. We are surrounded by 10+ Ford Dealers in reasonable driving distance. If all things are equal, the gift card can be enough incentive to drive to us first. It's not a bad program. It just does come with many of the headaches I assumed it might.

 

[yagoparamo]

Of course we don't want to tell a repeat customer no over $25.

Perhaps there is something good to say about the persuasion the gift cars may be adding to the repeat customer that already likes you.

Everything stacks up, right? Good coffee at the dealer, cookies, great service, and a gift card.

A friend of mine that works at a Honda dealership always tells me: "you come to visit me more often because I have the nicest bathroom in the street".

 

[ddavis]

I hate free stuff!

Years ago, I arrived at the dealership to find a guy sitting in front of the door. It was eight in the morning and the guy said, "were are the hot dogs?" "That's false advertising"! He was screaming at me. We had a radio remote scheduled later in the day and they mentioned the free hot dogs. Today, you can't get away with what I told this guy.

For the record, I don't like rubber monkeys and balloons, either.

 

[Cady Henglefelt]

A points program is a great way to get customers to come back to the dealership with out giving away free things. Let the customers earn points and rewards that they can use towards future purchases. It eliminates those people coming to the dealership only for the free gift card and leaving. A points program creates loyal customers who tell their friends and family how awesome the dealership is.

 

[jcvance22]

My dealership just started using Hook Logic and I've gotten a great response personally with advertising the gift cards in my calls and emails as an internet manager. It's definitely a value proposition to offer the customer something just for giving you a shot at their business than you're typical "call me and I'll beat the other guy."

After completing a lengthy study of the chat providers in the automotive industry, I thought that I would take on a smaller but equally debatable topic - gift cards as incentives to come to the dealership.

As far as I know, there is Hook Logic, Showroom Magnet, and Intice. Am I missing any? If you've used any of these, what was your experience?

I'm a big fan of the concept but I have never really taken a deep dive into the process and results. I am going to be meeting with two of the three next week for certain and if I can nail down a time with the third, it's on. This is going to be quicker than the chat exploration because of the limited number of companies involved, but it might be even harder. From what I've heard so far, all three seem like excellent choices.

If anyone has any insight into any of these services or if you know of others out there, please let me know via email or here in the comments. Thanks!