I have been working with auto dealers in New Jersey, evangelizing the importance of proactively managing their online reputations. Today, over 70 percent of consumers rely on the Internet to assist with their purchase of a new or pre-owned car. In addition to learning about specific cars, there features, performance, reliability and cost, consumers are also checking out the reputation of the car dealers too.
Although the average car buying experience has increased considerably in the last decade, there is still “room for improvement” at many dealers. Consumers, particularly women, are using online dealer reputations to avoid dealers that use high pressure and deceptive sales practices.
So it is critical that auto dealers be aware of what is being said about them online. But equally important is the matter of presenting a balanced reputation.
There are many online sites that allow consumer to post reviews. The common ones are Google Places, Yelp, Yahoo! Local, InsiderPages, MerchantCircle. In the automotive space there are sites like DealerRater and Edmunds that focus specifically on auto dealers.
The credibility of a dealers’ online reputation increases with the volume of reviews, the number of sites where reviews can be found and the consistency of the average rating. But, when a dealer has great reviews on a single site, particularly if it is a “paid site” where they have a “Certified” status and have consistently lower reviews on other sites, it sends up a BIG RED flag. Consumers are not stupid and when they see this kind of disparity, their trust in you will naturally decrease as they question the integrity of your reputation.
And it is hard to hide. A basic Google search for auto dealers with in your area will typically uncover blatant abuses. The resulting Google map links ratings from multiple sites.
Consumers can click on the reviews to read the review and go the review site and see all of your reviews posted on each particular site.
So the basic lessons are, treat customers in the fashion that you want them to perceive your dealership and cultivate a consistent online reputation across many sites. Doing both well, will attract more prospects and enable you to convert more of them to customers.
Andrew Ward
Chief Trust Officer
Trust FX

