Many customer issues escalate not because there is no resolution, but because there appears to be no one listening. As consumers we tend to become frustrated when we are disempowered and blogs put a small amount of power back in our hands.

Negative feedback, "Floging" is what businesses are most afraid of. Your customers can say it to you, or about you. However by addressing these issues you show you care and you learn something in the process.

There's an art to addressing negative feedback you can say "good point, thank you!" and then write a post praising the customer and showing what you are doing to improve. This will make the customer happy, maybe. You can also take a poll to see if, indeed, others are experiencing the same issue. It makes you look more heroic and a heck of a lot more accessible.

Once a company has dealt with negative feedback it gets easier to go from the "fear" of what customers might say to the "freedom" to improve products, services and relationships. Basic and simple stuff, stuff you learn in college that our parent paid good money for.

Negative feedback is really a gift from our clients letting us know what is going on, how do we know that some lot jockey is not switching tires unless there is a client telling you. You just need to know how to package it and act on it.

Feedback can often contain profound seeds of truth. Companies pay consultants big money to unearth problems; blog feedback can offer them this information free of charge. The best approach, as you've said, is to respond to them kindly and humbly. That usually defuses the flog's negative respondents. It keeps the tone of the conversation civil and acknowledges everyone has been heard, and their comments are appreciated, no matter if they are negative.

Companies like LLBean do this as a part of the way they do business and have done this since they opened. LL Bean has operated this way for over 100 years. Offer quality products and service at affordable prices with total concern for customer satisfaction.

Some dealerships have been abusing customers for so long they have no other way to do business. This opens doors for "Boutique Dealers" who will go into a community and steal away the business by servicing the clients like they should be serviced.

There are many examples of these quality companies through out the business world and it is "Standard Stuff"

Embrace the "Flogger" and hold them close. Thank them and let them know when they come into your store they are valued as a preferred client, like all your clients are.

Excellent video... I would also setup Google Alerts... Google Alerts - Monitor the Web for interesting new content to keep tabs on sites like ripoff reports, dealer rater, yahoo answers, answers.com, supperpages, google maps and others...

one way to resolve this is to spam blog... and start your free mini sites... and just post content on that for the keyword that is triggering bad review to come up... make sure to get some links to them... submit to google, yahoo, blog directories to index and in month or two you can get that bad review off the first page... not entirely gone but it still helps.

We have recently embarked on this area with our business. We currently take professional photographs for dealerships.

What if you had the ability to produce a 640 x480 Flash Video with Audio at 30 fps in two minutes, have it available to you Inventory Management Consolidator/Content Delivery company like Homenet in seconds ready for distribution? The process has been streamlined and a solution does exist.

Not dreams or speculation anymore: Login to view embedded media View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS5biOQMPtQ

The website is www.automax.tv in regards to my previous comment.

I've been doing videos for the past 6 months.
I've got everything setup for my Australian market, videos will be huge, but take much in preparation.

I'm late to the dinner table here, but may I offer a few thoughts? I just so happen to operate several video classified ad sites (http://www.usedcarvideoshowcase.com) now and even though it is just now a start up business I can tell you that the dealers I have spoken to are excited about the prospect of featuring their inventory on video.
As mentioned in one of responses above, allowing the car buyer to sit back in the comfort of his/her home or office and view videos of the make and model of car that they are interested in is the wave of the future in internet used car marketing. According to Wards Auto.com, 60% of all used car buyers start the search for a used vehicle on the internet with 70% of the new car buyers using the same.
Will videos bring more business to dealers? It’s too soon to tell. But it will allow dealers to showcase their inventories to the shoppers, whom with the price of gas these days, are hesitant to drive from dealer to dealer in search of a car.

Doing a test right now means nothing. Wait until all of your competitors have videos on their site, in youtube, google, autotrader, ebay. Then do your test. This will be like avoiding the VCR move from tape to dvd. Or try avoiding the move from telegraph to telephone. Or how about the typewriter. Television is the best form of advertising because it involved moving motion graphics, sound and words. Now you have the opportunity to do this online for a fraction of the cost. Add to that the majority of people don't read anymore. So how will text be effective? This conversation is over. Until then enjoy my show.

If you are a dealership - How can you ignore it?! Fastest growing medium in the history of media, 50,000,000 viewers in under 2 years. First mover advantage to those that do it right. I understand dealers by and large do not like change as it requires more investment but this is another opportunity to make decisions that if implemented properly will be rewarded with 20x gains. Web user knows what you sell. What they care about is WHO you are and video is the most effective way to inform and entertain. We help dealerships produce, edit, package and syndicate video. Optimized video site and optimized search in both text and video.

Vanessa Interactive

I may be late coming to this party, but I can't help but feel video will be a big benefit if not already. Consider using video if you are selling a Z06? What if I can't afford a Z06? What if I am looking for a nice Cobalt or Accord? Would you give me the same walk-around in person on a Cobalt as a Z06 or would you short that customer because he is only spending $15, 20, 25,000?

If a customer is interested in a vehicle in your lot, budget providing, I would put a video on it if at all possible, and preferably not a stitched video. When we started using it at our store, my viewership was low, but they pretty much watched the whole thing. Additionally, I noticed trends on WHEN people were watching particular vehicles. For example, Cobalt/Cavalier "hoopties" were more viewed in the mid-morning (10) and night times (10-12). Vans, trucks were seen more before 10, 2, and after dinner around 7.
Don't sell video short. It also provides a pretty good reporting tool.

Hey guys the main reason we came up with our pan and zoom player was to give the video effect without the background noise, jitter, image quality and bandwidth. One thing I did like about hot swap was the narration, we currently offer text to speech which everyone seems to be doing these days so we are going to offer audio narration via telephone. I think it will add a personal touch to our current offering and look very professional!

Jim writes:
Zero value?
Waste of bandwidth? (even though it's free).
Wait for Download?
Picture, specs, pricing are all that are needed?

Do you have any idea how incomplete your used car specs are now? (an industry wide problem). Jim, You're in the car biz, you can't tell me that a well prepared killer walk around on the lot won't work on the net.

Just one example...
If there are 145 used Chevrolet Impala's in a shopper's 10 mile radius and yours needs help to "stand tall", you tell me how you're going to communicate why your's has OnStar and that 95% of the other Impalas are prior rentals that have OnStar deleted (and we all know how risky a prior rental can be...wink, wink). Oh... did I mention that it's GM Certified? As part of the GM Cert. process, it has NEW rubber (stick fingers in tread) and on and on...

Don't we preach to the men in the trenches to sell something OTHER than price. Isn't that why we're all afraid of the 'net? Price, Price, Price?

What about lady shoppers?
We all know that they fear the experience. You can't tell me that a well planned video process can make the fearful shopper more at ease.

You mentioned Excess Bandwidth (read: higher hosting costs) and a slow Load time. Visit YouTube. You and 100 million other users are loving the free fast video site. Yea it's grainy, leave that to your still photos.

I have no financial position in video, no product or service to offer, IMO, consumers will appreciate a well executed video walk around.

I am in Sean's camp. Text is flat. Video "breaks the plane" and reaches out (when it's executed properly).

Joe

Videos do not sell cars -- it is a waste of time and bandwidth and cost -- it adds zero value to the buyer. A good picture with specs and pricing are all that are needed. Online users click quickly through process -- they won't wait for a video of the same image.

Hotswap got funding and they may succeed because the economic buyer is the dealer, not the customer. Ego will drive dealers to the latest technology, just like they like to see themselves on TV. Most won't be able to measure change in conversion, so they will keep buying.

Most sellers are product and brand and seller-centric in their thinking, not buyer-centric, so they won't think through the lack of value add to the buyer.

Umer,
Been following your posts, Awesome work and awesome heat map! It confirms...

#1). The home page is the "fly over" page where "Folks arrive to find". No selling can be done there.

#2). Kill all home page auto-audio. Look at the traffic records, all those cube surfers at work get upset when the ad comes busting out! Let the surfer opt-in to the running video!

Keep it up!
Joe

Hi Everyone,

So, thanks Sean for the Mile One shout out, even if you got the name a little wrong. Yep, we are dabbling in the google video world and completely agree that it will be first page soon.

As for Video, I am in the "pro" group and will leave it at that. We have enough reasons why.

As for Video Players, we have been looking at Vimation and are really impressed with their company thus far. The founders, Peter and David seem extremely bright and have been in this game for a while. They aren't video novices and they are doing some awesome interactive pieces with their video. I will see if I can get them to post some test links on here.

I have to agree that informational videos are excellent to have on your site... I have a heat map of dealership website located at http://www.autojini.com/blog/images/heatmap_vidoes.jpg that shows that visitors are actually clicking on the videos and playing them... and looking for more videos... or may be they are trying to mute it since it auto plays but the clicks on the video button below counters that perspective... (I blurred the dealership name in that jpeg)

Chrome just introduced the wheel TV videos for new vehicles... and they are bit addictive... reminds me of motor week on PBS... so this is going to stick around and I think for younger generation it is no longer images but videos.

I wonder if someone can run a quick Craigslist test... by posting one inventory with link to a video and one without... any clearly mentioning it in title. Since it has the traffic and just costs time and effort...

A Video Zelot weighs in...

Shoppers are out there sitting in chairs for hours and hours in a sea of flat, lifeless, 2-d information.

Video Commerce is coming!
The more complex and expensive the product, the more valuable video is. Car sales are the poster child of video commerce.

Fact:
Would a good, personal video walkaround by a knowledgeable rep. help you pick up the phone?

CONSIDER... If we're here to sell something OTHER THAN PRICE, can anyone tell me a better way to get a shopper off of price than a good walk around video??

I can't even believe there is any debate on this topic. The "dark side" of this debate is rooted in the production... I agree, It's a PIA to do video right!

Video helps make the net personal!
Can you overlook google's jillion dollar buy of YouTube?

Video adds another dimension to the shoppers experience and we all know the best customer is the one that is tired and ready to end the process, video appeals to the EMOTIONAL side of the brain.

Joe

Look at the activity in this post. WOW! 13 comments since this post has been sent live and I am scouring the comments looking for the answer to video for my clients. I want to know who, how, and is there and efficient and effective way to streamline this process right now?

And wow, Sean Bradley is all over it!

Someone tell me . . . . or us . . . where do we go to get simple, streamlined service for videos that will produce better results that 30-40 quality, high resolution images will do on its own? That is really what I am hoping to take away from the time invested in reading this excellent "theory".

I agree with Sean Bradley, and disagree with everyone who is looking at the now results on video. I think that the results that have been realized thus far are because we as a group of automotive internet folk have not tapped into the true channel of how video will produce sales for us, or our clients if we are vendors.

What needs to be done to really find the place for video in this market?

I think that is what Sean is pointing out to us all . . . that regardless what has happened thus far . . . it is coming and will be part of how we market vehicles to the online customer. We have to tap into this medium and make it an effective way to do what we all do . . . which is drive the #2 driving force of this economy. I just want to know how??

Springer
Blu

The piece everyone is missing is the delivery of the content (streaming video) through the network of servers. The dealer must have their media files properly managed within their website, and have a quality CDN providing them a solution that will deliver the videos quickly, clearly and consistently. If the video lags, and jumps and basically looks amateur, then it isn't worth the dealers time and money. Think of the early days when dealers had websites built by their cousin who dabbled in HTML coding...bad news. The dealers who spend money to do all the things listed above (essentially, video production) and dont have a quality content delivery network set up (not done on their own website servers) for the delivery of these streaming videos,will be wasting their money...period.

Then there are some other important factors...

First, people dont care about the dealer story or anything else. If they got video, it needs to be about the specific car they are looking at on that page. The only video should be car video.

Second, lets make this part pretty clear. There is a TON of research supporting this fact...anytime you have a streaming video clearly explaining a product, like a car, a home, or any consumer good, that video will improve the conversion of users to leads and leads into sales. People would much rather find what they want and watch and listen, VERSUS having to read and click through pictures. (even though quality pictures are ESSENTIAL in todays current environment.)

BUT....

Third, it all depends on the value the solution brings the dealership, just like with anything in internet marketing. So if the dealership is selling into a market that has solid broadband penetration, then it probably is worth the time looking into these types of solutions, because the investment will improve conversions, and improve sales, while generating a positive profit ROI.

Hope this provides a different piece of info that is critical to this piece... A solid CDN needs to be taken into account... doing it on your web servers won't do.

Hotswap ReviewParty

I’m late to the Hotswap review party, I know. Frankly, after reading about them on TechCrunch I was surprised they raised 2 million dollars. 2 million? For sales videos of cars? That must have been a great presentation. I think most dealers are sligh...

Clients learn more about a car by seeing it in a video, particularly if the video is well narrated by a person with a clear pleasant voice and if the video does close ups and shots of the interior, which all helps to streamline the grinding search for a used car.

The video should only be 30-60 seconds depending on the uniqueness of the vehicle, interior and exterior footage. The image does not have to be professional, just well done. With the quality of digital cameras with electronic stabilization today priced at $5-600.00, software available at affordable prices and computers that can take the download from the camera who can say no to the technology?

There are even site providers today that offer the dealer ISM a notice to know when the client opens the email and will notify the dealer ISM when it happens so you can call the client while they view the vehicle and do your sales presentation. How cool is this? If you’re not at your PC it will notify your smart phone.

Video search is the choice of the smart dealers who are wary of, traditional, antiquated advertising. “The Boutique Dealers” will embrace this new way of using technology and increase their margins at the same time.

The majors will continue to use the “cookie cutter” systems and pound away at the margins, pushing more metal at lower prices.

Hi Everyone,

A comment on Steve's experiences during the video test. It would surely seem that a 90 day test would be enough to provide a gut feeling as to whether or not there was any benefit to using video. Dividing the inventory randomly seems to be a good idea, but I wonder if a more effective test would be to have a pair of identical or almost identical cars and video one and not the other and see which one moved the fastest. Just a thought.

Another thought, I think there would be some benefit in having a nicely done video presentation available for specific cars that might be hard to keep in stock. For example, in our dealership we are sold out of the new BMW 328 Hardtop Convertible until November and have none to show an interested prospect. I think it might be a good idea to film a walk around and post it to be able so show interested prospects. Anyway, that's my theory and as soon as the camera gets here next week that I've ordered, I'll be testing it to see how it works. I'll keep you posted.

I agree 100% with Sean that video can be incredibly effective, but the way it's used is the determining factor, at least at this point in time. Sean's examples are more of a branding use: customer testimonials, commercials, owner messages. I can see these being extremely valuable today and even more so down the road, especially as video search becomes more and more mainstream.

My previous post (and I think Jeff's, for the most part) was with regard to videos of individual vehicles. I think Steve's experiment over a 3-month period is a good indicator that customers can get as much information as they want with traditional photos of vehicles. Sure, video could be a good supplement to specialty pieces, but in general, is it any better than having 20 or 30 photos of the car? You can cram more content into a video but I think for the purpose of generating web leads, just having photos is equally as effective.

Hi all,

I would like to throw in my two cents, based on experience, of course.

About six months ago a company singing the praises of this very same concept approached my dealer group. They absolutely had great technology, but would it work as advertised and drive incremental leads/customers to my store...

I decided to run a test.

I chose two stores from my group who typically did a very good job when it came to their eCommerce initiatives. So as not to appear biased, we randomly chose half of the used inventory at each store and created quality videos with good audio walk-arounds and posted them to our site marked with easy to see and understand icons denoting that a video was attached.

I ran the test for 90 days.

Conclusion...

At the end of the day its all about moving metal.

We found that customers were looking at the videos, some through to finish and some for only a few seconds, however, we saw absolutely no increase in the turn rate of the vehicles with video vs. the vehicles that simply had multiple pictures, and no overall significant increase in number of units sold in the internet department or the store as a whole.

My personal opinion, and it's just that, is that the consumer will respond just as favorably to quality pictures and good, relevent text descriptions of a vehicle as they will to video...

Just my opinion.

Best regards and happy selling to all,

Steve