we ask if they are willing to do one and if so if they would mind doing one now, and usually they pull out the phone and do it right there...If anything you can use it to keep them a bit occupied while the car is getting preped or you are finishing up paperwork.
I was looking for a way to work the phrase "50 shades of gray" into a post for pop-cultural relevance. I don't have 50 shades for you, just 2.
This is my opinion only, but I think you are somewhere in the gray spectrum with this strategy Matthew. You don't have to agree, but I do hope you'll consider the following.
Gray area number 1: Google's TOS implicitly suggests that a business should not take extra steps to insure that reviews are written in the brick and mortar. Asking them to write it now could be interpreted that way.
If you're a business owner, don't set up review stations or kiosks at your place of business just to ask for reviews written at your place of business.
Google clarified this point in their TOS around Dec 2012 after a bloodbath of review removal in August. Search the forums for "Spammy" and you'll find some lengthy discussion around review stations. I know, you aren't implementing a station or using your own devices to collect the content, but if you have an open WIFI for consumers to use it may not matter that they are on their own device from Google's perspective. Frankly, I think Google is smart enough to determine the location of the device when the review is submitted and could take action on that information in the future if they start seeing patterns they don't like. One thing we all learned about Google's TOS in August of '12 is that they apply changes retroactively. Again, I'm not trying to beat you up, but I think we all need to look at our current process through the lens of Google's past behavior. They didn't have any problem taking a ton of content down when they revised their TOS in 2012.
Gray area number 2: Requesting that a consumer write a review about their purchase experience BEFORE the experience is complete is...well...awkward at best.
There are really two things to consider. First, when does the purchase experience complete for the consumer? Is it their perception that they are "done" after negotiating a price with sales, after sitting with F&I, after being introduced to the service manager, or after the wheels go over the curb? We may feel "done" sometime before delivery, but that doesn't mean the consumer does. It isn't over for them until they pull away, so from their perspective, why would you ask them for a review of your performance before you've finished performing?
What other industry would do this? Ever get asked for a review mid-filling at the dentist? Would it be a little strange to have the front desk attendant at the Marriott hop in bed with you at 3 am with a survey request about your stay? Could a food critic review a meal having just eaten the appetizer? Could Siskel and Ebert submit a movie review on just the trailer? You get the point. Asking for a review at any point before the consumer perceives the purchase experience to have ended is asking prematurely.
Second point, and this doesn't seem to be the case with your reviews, but the VAST majority of reviews that are written in store are little more than "everything was fine." They are written hastily and provide very little actual content. Those 5 star reviews are useless white noise. We have a "was this helpful to you" button on every review on DealerRater. Guess what? Consumers that are reading reviews to help determine who they want to buy from show a strong preference for recency and written content that correlates with the star count. In other words they want an explanation for the score.
If your process isn't collecting a story as well as a star count you need to rethink your process. I'd take a 4.5 aggregate score with stories that will translate to prospects over a 5 that amounted to little more than "Randy was great."
Last thought: Sorry this got so long and I hope you don't feel like I am being negative, just trying to offer a different viewpoint for you to consider. There is a treasure trove of comments on review collection process here on Refresh to search. It was an interesting trip down memory lane to read through some of the old threads from 2010. The more things change the more they seem to stay the same. The quickest and easiest answers seldom result in the best solutions.
