Online Dealer Reviews - Are They Ready For Prime Time?

[Ryan Gerardi]

Having skimmed through these comments here I did not see any suggestions on the idea of the dealership website itself offering reviews and/or customer testimonials. I am surprised by that.

You can argue that it might bring in to question the validity of a customer rating/review but if third-party sites aren't cutting it then there must be a reason why customers are not compelled to utilize this.

Could also just be a socio-cultural thing too that requires more time.

 

[Jamie (blog)]

We utilize our ratings on ebay and on dealerrater with our customers once we have established a rapport with them. Some times we use it to back up our service, and other times we've been able to bring in customers who got quotes that were lower from other dealers pointing out our good history and it's probably not worth trying to save $200 elsewhere in the long run.

For the most part, we use ebay to sell parts as our website doesn't get much search engine traffic, and adwords was getting to be a little too much money for our margins. It seems more of a culture thing at ebay for customers to leave feedback, however, when we ask our customers to rate us online, they are happy to. We have a testimonial section on our website, but it is just snippets of reviews customers left on dealerrater. If our website supported it, we would just frame it in!

As it is, customers can learn a lot about dealers online, but that also means dealers who know how to use it to their benefit will also see success in it. I suspect with the way it's growing, Amit, you'll see the number of reviews grow to what you might consider valuable enough, quickly. I just hope we have given ourselves enough of a lead. A bit of a chicken and the egg thing. We have 80 or so reviews on dealerrater and our competition is still in the 20s and 30s. I think that's enough to make an opinion on, but not near our 300+ ratings we have on ebay. A lot of our ebay reviews look like school grades (A+++, well ok, not MY school grades...) and don't provide much substance, but then again, we're selling parts on it, not cars so there's less to talk about process wise I guess. When it comes right down to it though, it's fairly easy to get customers to write a review if you just remind them to.

For bad reviews, when they come in and they will as no one's perfect, being able to answer to it quickly is the answer, especially if you can fix the problem before CSI, make right with the customer, and have them update their review. That might not always work, but you have to try.

Sorry, just saw the customer-rater.com idea, haha that would be a great parody site - or even a good learning tool for new sales people...if blocked to the general public of course!

OK, enough procrastinating Generation Kill is almost on,

Jamie

 

[Rob (blog)]

What is interesting to me about this post is where it is coming from. If we look at JD Powers, they are the largest "ratings" company in the world. They rate everything. Dealer Rater is focused on one industry and is doing it very well.

I am a big fan of Dealer Rater and have encouraged many of my clients to sign up and leverage what it has to offer. It is my belief that online rating sites such at Dealer Rater are going to make a huge impact on the purchasing decisions of our consumers. Ask yourself what the best form of marketing is. It's word of mouth. Dealer Rater does just that. I recently purchased a TV. I was doing all sorts of research online. What swayed my decision were the blogs I read by other consumers. Not write ups by the manufacturers or one 3rd party that rates products, but those write ups by my peers who have experienced the product first hand. Next, I had to decide where to purchase it. I scanned the blogs and decided, after reading the reviews, where to go. And WOW! They were right! I had a great experience over all.

I think it's time. Dealer Rater is positioned well and is ready to make a huge impact.

 

[Brian (blog)]

I have been reading this interesting thread discussing the merits of and challenges with Dealer Rater/Review sites on this site and others. I have this concept for a Dealer/Consumer Social Networking Website and I am doing market research to get feedback on it. I would appreciate it if you could take 5 minutes to complete this survey re: the concept, especially if your are a Sales or Internet Sales Manager/Director or General Manager for a dealership: Click Here to take survey. Your participation in this survey is completely anonymous and your answers will be used for market research purposes only. We will not share this information with marketers or other companies. Your survey answers will help provide important feedback re: this concept. This is for an MBA Business Feasibility class. Again, your participation would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time and participation.

 

[jackiekalinowski]

I love my hyundaitucson and lisa klimaitiswas
very nice and friendly

 

[Jason Mattia]

There is no doubt that these type of sites are growing in popularity. eBay founded a business based on "Feed Back"......

Almost 40% of AIU's are researching the "Dealers Reputation" prior to making a decision on where to shop. This is the future!!!! And It's here...

Does anyone out there buy anything on-line that has a Poor rating or Zero Feedback?

Put yourselves in a consumers shoes.... Who would you do business with?

 

[Thomas W Gardiner]

I just purchased a 2009 VW Jetta at Volkswagen of Freehold. You couldn't ask for better service. The following are all rated 10's for their service,help,knowledge and friendliness, they make you feel like old friends.

ROBERT MORFFI JOHN LYNCH
JAMES LONZORA and BRIAN BAINUM
All rated EXCELLENT.

 

[Alan Denenberg]

I just purchased my mother-in-laws Toyota Camry which was being turned at lease end. She leased a 2009 Camry,her third one.Both of us were totally satisfied with the sales staff, business dept. and the whole mgmt. team.Freehold Toyta gets a five star rating straight across the board.I would recomend them to anyone thats wants to be treated like royalty which is a rareity in the car business. Keep up the good work!!!

 

[Craig Belowski]

This was the first thread I ever commented on here at DealerRefresh......thought it would come full circle if I posted here how we just became the first DealerRater.com Dealer to hit 1000 reviews!

http://www.dealerrater.com/dealer/Acton-Toyota-of...

DealerRater.com remains one of our best lead sources, providing "low in the sales funnel" customers every day.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

That's awesome Craig, huge accomplishment! I've been at my Toyo dealer for a little over 3 months now and we just over 200. We have our service marketing/retention service plugged into the process. EVERY service customers gets asked to review their service experience. WOW - talk about being transparent. Not every review is favorable but 95% are. Amazing!