A lot of time, dollars and efforts are put into engineering the auto dealer websites, but not in the website’s online reputation management. Most often, the dealers overlook how many with how many stars the dealership is rated online.
But, why it is not measured and kept up-to-date? The reason is a plenty of dealers don’t know how much ignoring the online reputation would cost to them. Exactly, the online reputation means either business or no business. See how?
The online reputation is an invaluable asset to the dealership that decides whether people are going to visit your dealership or not. When the users search for the best dealership they first look at with how many stars the dealership offerings and services are rated by. High review count, 5-star rating and positive feedback are the parameters that indicate the customers are kept on the top priority for the dealership. It strengthens the customer’s trust in the dealership and builds the credibility.
Moreover, when the customers are shopping from the local auto dealers, the online reviews play a vital role. It implies making the business listed on Google’s My business had a great impact on improving the overall SERP because the number of times the dealership is searched, viewed or clicked by the customers, it creates a positive impression online. Besides, it’s a number one source of free automotive advertising.
Take a look at what are the stages of online reputation management:
Rising to the top position won’t happen overnight as earning customer’s faith, positive reviews, and recommendations take the time. The brownie points can be accumulated by asking the customers to post the reviews on search engines or social media websites after they bought the car. Also, the reviews can also be increased in the exchange of any incentives or rewards like- free oil change, free car wash, freebies or VIP membership deals.
Sustaining the reputation is also quite a task. The dealers need to constantly monitor the type of reviews they are getting from the customers. For this, they can set the Google reminder so that the dealers will be notified whenever the customer post a review for the dealership.
Moreover, responding to the customer reviews just by saying ‘Thanks’ is very important as it reflects how much the dealership is customer-focused and give importance to what customers are saying.
-
If lost, it’s time to recover
It’s good if your dealership is able to gauge the epitome of excellence through excellent online reputation management. Unfortunately, if it gets ruined due to ignorance or poor customer service, then it’s time to revamp it.
Use smart tactics while responding to the negative feedback and try your best to turn the interaction in the positive direction so that unhappy customers can be turned into a prospective buyer and the complete communication makes other visitors feel that the dealership takes the responsibility of everything that happens. Even, apologizing publicly is highly appreciated.
The blunders to not make in order to make the online reputation management better:
Most of the dealers mistaken by outsourcing the online reputation management of their website to the online marketing agency. The reliance on the companies is not wrong, but the dealership also needs to engage with the customers or know what strategy the company is employing to gain a huge number of reviews.
The customers can be asked to post the reviews, but before that, the dealer must ensure whether customer qualify to use the review platform or not, else it will be considered as spamming.
Conclusion
The dealers with over 1000 customers a month, if don’t have the online reviews even in hundreds, then it’s bewildering. How the dealers can be slow to embrace the changes when 70% of the auto dealers before spending a bundle browse the auto dealer’s website to know how they will be treated.
It signals the dealers can’t afford to wait longer to build and manage the online reputation and must have the right review strategy in place to step in with the new culture and modern customers. Leverage the most valued asset to stack up against the competition and your competitors.