Online Dealer Reviews - Are They Ready For Prime Time?

[Mitch]

The thing about consumer opinion is that, when it's negative, it doesn't matter whether it's correct, or unwarranted, or out of date. Other consumers will value it because it's in our nature to heed negative opinion... especially when related to the automotive industry, where consumers are desperate to find out which dealers to avoid. They'll only get more important.

Can a brother get a shameless plug? ReviewLimbo.com is a blog I just started that focuses exclusively on the effects of consumer review sites on SEO, traditional marketing, and reputation management. I'll be addressing a lot of the issues Amit brings up here in the posts to come. Many of you here seem to already have an interest in maximizing your review exposure, and I suggest you stay tuned to the site to stay ahead of the curve. //end shameless plug

 

[Mark Dubis (blog)]

The reality whether you like or dislike rating sites is that consumers will come more and more to rely on them for advice. You have covered a lot of them above that provide feedback for books, shoes, restaurants, travel, hotels, etc. More dealer rating sites are inevitable. Selling cars is getting more personal and online auto shoppers know that any dealer can meet or beat any legitimate price, so they are now looking for a dealer and a salesperson that can provide a great buying experience. CarFolks.com (a new Internet social network and rating site) provides a new take on things and builds on the foundation established by Dealer Rater but improves it by being a dealer advocate to help promote dealers who do the right thing every day. CarFolks offers sales folks free microsites and they start hitting prime positions in the search engines within weeks. No matter what rating site a dealer watches or participates in, every dealer needs to have a strategy and policy on how to manage their online reputation and determine how they want to encourage all their customers to provide feedback whether it is good, bad or ugly. Without that in place a good dealer will be blindsided by online negative feedback.

 

[Joe Pistell]

Mark,
I can tell this must be your 1st blog post, 'cuz only a noobie would post blatant self promotion.

"blah blah blaaa...CarFolks offers sales folks free microsites and they start hitting prime positions in the search engines within weeks...blah blah blaaa"

You gotta moderate the self promotion, it makes readers vomit. Remember, a good Doctor never let's his patient SEE THE KNIFE (you'll probably need help with this analogy)

C'mon, improve your game!
Joe
p.s. sorry, you asked for it.

 

[DownTown]

Have you guys heard that one of the industry leaders in online advertising and consumer research will be entering this arena soon? I also heard that they will be spending big bucks to drive people to their review site. Why would they? What's in it for them?

 

[ian.statler]

Joe, I'll second that! Mark might need some reputation management in the future.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

I’m torn here. I see both sides of the coin.

If dealer rating websites were/are ever going to be something, why has it taken so long? Consumer rating websites for just about everything else have been live for years. Dealer rating or even consumer rating websites like insiderpages.com (rating dealers) have not really come to light until just the last year or so (and I have to wonder if that’s not our own fault). Yes they have been around but no one was really talking about them until now.

The other side of the coin, I have to agree with Matt and Mitch. I have a few dealers that are taking a pro-active stance with the consumer rating websites by asking their customers to comment about their experience. It has no doubt given them a nice advantage in their market.

At the end of the day, I say jump on it and get your customers to comment on the dealer rating sites. Why not? It can only help and it gives you a great WBFM message.

This will be a posting/conversation we will look back at 3-5 years from now be like “oh shit”.

Jeff

 

[Joe Pistell]

There is an enormous potential for a Dealer Rater brand to establish itself. So far, no one's got it figured out (like TripAdvisor.com does). You'd think that Edmunds or KBB would step it up, or, partner with Chip at DealerRater.com to speed the process. It seems like a no brainer to me (both parties win).

In the mean time....
SEO drives our industry, ergo Consumer Rating Sites.

Dealer sites and 3rd party classified players get good SEO ranks because GOOGs algo's makes it happen. My guess is Dealer Rater sites have a more difficult time getting hot local SERPs due to GOOG's engineers -lack of- assistance.

Results? Spotty Dealer Rater results.
GOOG could throw a switch any time and change all of the above.

just my $0.02
Joe

 

[Mark Boyd]

Joe,

You clearly are an Blog-Pro and have some great insite, but please don't be too hard on Dubis. I'm the President of CarFolks.com and have somewhat of a bias as well. Also I'm a semi-virgin blogger; 2nd time post'er on Jeff's site.

I think what Dubis was trying to do was simply "chime-in" with a different twist to the entire discussion related to rating dealers online. I DO believe ratings are here to stay and will only grow stronger. However, I also believe that if you look at every rating site out their including DealerRater, it looks like dealers are all pretty much horrible with 80% of folks who buy or service a car having a negative experience, yet we know for fact, most dealers have 80-90% positive experiences.

I always thought that consumers were seeking truth, and until the Name brands and smaller wantabee sites change their model, they will contine to be "DRDS" Dealer Rating Deception Sites.

Mark Boyd
www.markboyd.com

 

[Craig Belowski]

Having worked with Matt Lamoureux at Acton Toyota and being largely responsible for providing the customer experience Matt has promoted very successfully with Dealer Rater.com. I can say that these types of tools are like anything we use to sell cars. If you have the ability and knowledge to use something effectively than it becomes effective. I love being able to use DealerRater to back up the experience customers recieve at Acton Toyota. Our success with the program could not have come without first being a fully commited, progressive dealership with both our employees and customers interested in our success. However having customers "sell" this experience for us has become way more effective than paying customers to refer their friends and family, which by the way we have never done. I apologize if this is self promoting, I just thought I should chime in.

 

[amitishere]

Acton Toyota is clearly a great example of a dealership being proactive in its marketing and using whatever tools are out there. More dealers could and should do the same.

But it does not change my opinion that the average shopper going to DealerRater.com is unlikely to get enough information, because there just aren't enough ratings overall. For whatever reason, consumers will spend huge amounts of time on the vehicle research process and then move directly to buying without considering dealership ratings/reviews. Maybe we'll get there someday.

btw, Mitch's observations on his review limbo blog (mentioned earlier) are damning if true.