• Stop being a LURKER - join our dealer community and get involved. Sign up and start a conversation.

Google Review Success Tips?

ra6209

Full Sticker
Jan 12, 2012
16
6
Awards
1
First Name
Pete
There is a store in Alabama called Serra Toyota in Birmingham. The number of Google reviews for the store has exploded in the last year, and it has over 1400 reviews now.

This seems to be improving its search engine performance with Google search. Our stores' experience is that getting customers to submit Google reviews is not easy. I am curious if anyone is aware of best practice methods for getting customers to leave Google reviews?

Is there a third party vendor that helps drive google reviews from your customers?

Do some dealerships use internal BDC techniques to encourage customers to leave Google reviews?

Has anyone out there seen other dealers grow Google reviews like this and know the secrets to that success?

Do Google reviews help with natural search engine position?​

Like to get the community's opinion on whether reviews on certain review sites are more important than other review sites.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Kershner
This is a dealership that really "Gets It". They understand that reputation is a determining factor in being chosen by consumers.

Serra%20Toyota.png


Clicking into their staff page there is not only a picture and a bio, but a link to the individual salesperson's reviews.
 
This is a dealership that really "Gets It". They understand that reputation is a determining factor in being chosen by consumers.

Serra%20Toyota.png


Clicking into their staff page there is not only a picture and a bio, but a link to the individual salesperson's reviews.
Ha! I used to work on their Paid Search accounts and our team their reputation management / review work. Yes, it does matter!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ed.brooks
There are plenty of dealerships that utilize reputation management (3rd party) services, but very few have someone dedicated to it internally (but they should = broken record). If they are, it's someone that wears many hats (digital marketing person or glorified secretary).

I used to white label Vendasta (great company), which has a specific automotive arm @ https://www.vendasta.com/marketplace/reputation-management and pitch it to dealers. I had about 75 tops on it.

Their listing distribution service is great too and push to the large aggregate groups @ https://www.vendasta.com/marketplace/listing-builder/business-listing-distribution (granted, there are many like this, but it takes into account automotive-centric 3rd party sites).

rep-3up.jpg

brands-3up.jpg
 
Step 1. Export last 30 days of sales and service
Step 2. Exclude all email addresses that do not contain gmail.com (optional, many people have google accounts without gmail)
Step 3. Send Mailchimp email with thank you message and 5 stars graphic, linking the Stars to your Google review page
Step 4. Repeat weekly/monthly moving forward

Make sure you use the most direct URL so there are as few steps as possible for customers.
ie: https://www.google.ca/search?q=oakridge ford&lrd=0x882ef1cb66c7ed23:0x97f20457c04ca516,2&cad=h
 
Make sure you use the most direct URL so there are as few steps as possible for customers.
ie: https://www.google.ca/search?q=oakridge ford&lrd=0x882ef1cb66c7ed23:0x97f20457c04ca516,2&cad=h

Awesome advice @craigh

Here, take it a step further and prefill the 5 star rating for the customer as well!! This link will show you how.
https://www.webworksofkc.com/blog/g...ss-reviews-by-giving-customers-a-direct-link/

Once you grab the link, it will contain info like mobile, device, etc... Just remove the extra stuff from the link like this and then use a shortner

This is what I got when I used my phone and a incognito browser
https://www.google.com/search?q=bea...lrd=0x8864668d585a502f:0xbf32cf8deaddbc67,3,5

Strip out everything between "beaman+toyota&' 'Ird=" so you have something like this
https://www.google.com/search?q=beaman+toyota&lrd=0x8864668d585a502f:0xbf32cf8deaddbc67,3,5

Then plug that into a shortner here https://goo.gl/

and this is what I came up with

https://goo.gl/2JxJcH


For me it works on mobile and desktop in Chrome and IE in both normal and incognito modes. If the user is logged into Google, it works seamless. If not logged in, they will be prompted to login and they may have to refresh their browser depending on which browser they're using!!
 
Awesome advice @craigh

Here, take it a step further and prefill the 5 star rating for the customer as well!! This link will show you how.
https://www.webworksofkc.com/blog/g...ss-reviews-by-giving-customers-a-direct-link/

Once you grab the link, it will contain info like mobile, device, etc... Just remove the extra stuff from the link like this and then use a shortner

This is what I got when I used my phone and a incognito browser
https://www.google.com/search?q=bea...lrd=0x8864668d585a502f:0xbf32cf8deaddbc67,3,5

Strip out everything between "beaman+toyota&' 'Ird=" so you have something like this
https://www.google.com/search?q=beaman+toyota&lrd=0x8864668d585a502f:0xbf32cf8deaddbc67,3,5

Then plug that into a shortner here https://goo.gl/

and this is what I came up with

https://goo.gl/2JxJcH


For me it works on mobile and desktop in Chrome and IE in both normal and incognito modes. If the user is logged into Google, it works seamless. If not logged in, they will be prompted to login and they may have to refresh their browser depending on which browser they're using!!

That's slick @Rick Buffkin - thanks for sharing that. I'll be passing that along to my Account Rep at Prime. I'm not sure if they're doing this already or not.

You could possibly set up campaign in your CRM to automatically send all customers X days after purchase an email inviting them to review/share their experience, while directing them to your Google Review page using the process that Rick shared.

The easiest way to accumulate reviews is by tapping into your Service traffic. If you have a solid service department, go after those customers for reviews. I would bet you already have an after service / service retention program in place (mandatory by most OEM's) that emails the customer after their vehicle has been serviced. See if you can customize the "after service" email communication and solicit for the review. You may even be able to use your CRM to accomplish this.

Find out if your service retention program or CRM has the ability to recognize the email address so if the customer has a @gmail.com email it will automatically change the link and/or email template, pointing the customer directly to your Google review page.

I've been using Dominion's "Prime Response" for reputation and review management since it was released. Before Prime existed, I had my dealers on @utoRevenue, which was a service marketing and retention program that Dominion eventually acquired. I was using @utoRevenue to email EVERY customer 1 day after Purchase or Service. The email came from the Sales or Service Manager asking the customer to review their experience. This is when our reviews really took off!! That feature of @utoRevenue morphed into Prime Response and is now a full on Reputation Management and Social Marketing platform. When I came back here to MBH, it was one of the first services I insisted we partner back up with.

1154 reviews on DealerRater - http://www.dealerrater.com/dealer/Mercedes-Benz-of-Hagerstown-dealer-reviews-15971/?__v23=1
531 reviews on Cars.com - https://www.cars.com/dealers/152876/mercedes-benz-of-hagerstown/reviews/
100+ reviews on Google
100+ reviews on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mercedeshagerstown/

Of course our DealerRater and Cars.com reviews are now combined.

So to answer your questions directly --

I am curious if anyone is aware of best practice methods for getting customers to leave Google reviews?
Ask EVERY customer to rate and review their experience. Be prepared to handle some negative reviews but if you're a solid dealer, you'll be just fine.

Is there a third party vendor that helps drive google reviews from your customers?
I use Dominion's Prime Response

Do some dealerships use internal BDC techniques to encourage customers to leave Google reviews?
Reinforce / remind the customer to review during the after Sale or Service phone call. Get some POP material, postcard size hand out with some visual cues to explain where and how to leave reviews.

Has anyone out there seen other dealers grow Google reviews like this and know the secrets to that success?
ASK EVERYONE!

Do Google reviews help with natural search engine position?
I sure it does to some degree.
 
A post on Refresh about reviews? I'm in! ;)

@Jeff Kershner, this forum is undoubtedly the best repository of information on rating and review strategy on the interwebs. I've been out of that game for a few years now so I did a quick search. I couldn't believe how many pages are dedicated to the topic. I re-read a 16 page thread that started on June 17th, 2011.

I started thinking of all of the changes that have occurred since 2010 when I started officially posting on behalf of DealerRater: 3rd party indexed, 3rd party removed, 3rd party reinstated, G+ birthed, G+ fizzled,Facebook reviews, Review Stations in store touted as a Best practice, Review syndication, review farms, Edmunds suing Humankind out of existence, Review boost, the bloodbath of Aug 2012 and Google's revamping of their TOS in Nov of the same year. DealerRater's acquisition by Cars... I could go on and on. Despite all of that, and in some ways because of it, I think it is crucial to remind readers of the ONE thing that has stayed constant.

Socrates wasn't wrong: “The way to a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” The best strategy for getting excellent reviews is to provide excellent service! Focus efforts there first.

On a personal note, as I took a little trip down memory lane today rereading all of the old posts I thought it appropriate to say thanks. I've told you in person before, but it bears repeating. I owe so much of my career and so many of the friendships and relationships that I value most to these forums. You assembled some of the best and brightest, but also some of the most caring and compassionate representatives of this incredible industry. I recognize how privileged I was to see both sides of that same coin. Thank you.