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Automotive Vendor Ratings

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#2
I figured this would be first on your list.
I love the feature, I think the DS reviews are gamed like every other review system and I would be surprised if many dealers use them as an actual authority.

I do think a vendor directory is a great idea though - something that lets us index vendors, possibly even having each vendor have their own discussion space to answer questions, announce products, etc.

Aesthetically, this is not what I want, but functionally I love what Wordpress did.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/

Every plugin gets a support forum, ratings, key meta data, description, screenshots etc.
I think it's a great model.
 
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#3
craigh said:
I figured this would be first on your list.
I love the feature, I think the DS reviews are gamed like every other review system and I would be surprised if many dealers use them as an actual authority.

I do think a vendor directory is a great idea though - something that lets us index vendors, possibly even having each vendor have their own discussion space to answer questions, announce products, etc.

Aesthetically, this is not what I want, but functionally I love what Wordpress did.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/

Every plugin gets a support forum, ratings, key meta data, description, screenshots etc.
I think it's a great model.
Click to expand...
Yeah totally in agreement here. I bet those are gamed as hell. I don't think many dealers use them, but it would be interesting to have a system that was honest. I'd love to see an index. It would be helpful to a vendor's SEO (build a quality backlink and content) and bring even more legitimacy to this platform.

Don't even ask the vendors, just document all of the players and then let them update their properties. That's how it's done anyway. You could scrape them from a number of sources, etc.

How many threads are dedicated to questions about vendors, a load of them?
 
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#4
@craigh

We just got rated top SEM provider at Driving Sales and we don't sponsor any of their events in any form.

We work hard at providing the services and we ask ALL dealers to review them. Driving Sales calls the dealers to verify that the reviews are true.

So while I strongly encourage @Jeff Kershner and @Ryan Gerardi to add a review system to this site, I can also say that Driving Sales reviews are not gamed.
 
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#5
yagoparamo said:
@craigh

We just got rated top SEM provider at Driving Sales and we don't sponsor any of their events in any form.

We work hard at providing the services and we ask ALL dealers to review them. Driving Sales calls the dealers to verify that the reviews are true.

So while I strongly encourage @Jeff Kershner and @Ryan Gerardi to add a review system to this site, I can also say that Driving Sales reviews are not gamed.
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I think you're misunderstanding "gamed" because what you described is exactly what I'm referring to.
It's like DealerRater - the top rated dealer is the one that asks every customer to leave feedback.
It is in no way a 1:1 correlation to the "top rated vendor" if the top rated vendor is not asking for reviews. (Not suggesting your company isn't #1 obviously, just speaking in general).

I get emails from vendors all the time offering me a chance to win an iPad in exchange for writing a 5 star review of their business on Driving Sales. They're gaming the system, just not cheating it.
 
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#6
craigh said:
I think you're misunderstanding "gamed" because what you described is exactly what I'm referring to.
It's like DealerRater - the top rated dealer is the one that asks every customer to leave feedback.
It is in no way a 1:1 correlation to the "top rated vendor" if the top rated vendor is not asking for reviews. (Not suggesting your company isn't #1 obviously, just speaking in general).

I get emails from vendors all the time offering me a chance to win an iPad in exchange for writing a 5 star review of their business on Driving Sales. They're gaming the system, just not cheating it.
Click to expand...

I think is the same as saying that the fastest runner in the Olympics may not be the fastest runner in the world because not everyone tried for games.

The system may not be perfect, as a matter of fact some vendors may be growing at what they consider sustainable pace and not need more exposure. Last year at the AWA Awards just before NADA a vendor received the top award in one category and didn't show up to pick up the award. It is free. Free exposure. Maybe they just didn't care, maybe they just didn't need it. I have some business like that, they grew to the perfect balance and they are very profitable, growing means investing and risk and because they are not easy to sell as a business we like to keep them just as they are. Good cash flow.

So while the system is not perfect if you take these considerations, the system is not gamed when it offers the same tools and chances to everyone and it is widely advertised.
 
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#7
yagoparamo said:
Last year at the AWA Awards just before NADA a vendor received the top award in one category and didn't show up to pick up the award
Click to expand...
AWA is a paid submission program in which almost every vendor that pays to submit receives a award.
If you don't get "Best Website Provider" you'll get "Most Innovative Website Provider" or "Best New" or "Top Rated".

yagoparamo said:
So while the system is not perfect if you take these considerations, the system is not gamed when it offers the same tools and chances to everyone and it is widely advertised.
Click to expand...

I'm not suggesting the ratings are useless or that it's not a fair system, but I wouldn't put much weight in the final scores as much as I would the written content.

I've looked through the ratings and although many seem accurate, there are a few outliers for sure.
 
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#9
Alexander Lau said:
I can tell you this much, I don't trust a rating, when the number of reviews are all positive and outrank the closest vendor by many, many reviews. It does make it seem as if it is loaded. What process is being used to garner the all positive reviews or is it being done by employees, etc.?
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Well yeah. Like in the SEM section there are multiple vendors that have 100% positive reviews.
What makes 1 100% better than the other? The quantity of reviews.
So again, size of customer base and how aggressively you're willing to comp your employees to ask for reviews has a big impact on the rating, which is intended to be a representation of how good or bad a product or service is.

If Dealer.com emailed all their clients tomorrow asking for them to review on Driving Sales, would that make them the best website vendor overnight? It would certainly make them the top rated.

I don't have a better system, but I think the awards might be what changes things.
 
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#10
@craigh

I believe that AWA does their own research and if you have a product that they don't pick you can pay for them to review it. I don't particularly like the process but again, who else is spending the time to review systems for others? In the case that I described the company that didn't show up to get their top award hadn't paid to be reviewed, it was one of the companies that the AWA people decided it was important to review.

@Alexander Lau

Sometimes you have to use the best available source until something better is available. While no review site is perfect and every dealer should do further research it still a valid resource.
 
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