By Andrew Tai, CEO, Motoinsight
Our company does a lot of mystery shopping in order to better understand the industry. After filling out thousands of lead forms across dozens of brands and regions, we refined the avalanche of data and identified a few key insights about how dealers interact with digital customers. Based on those results, we’ve compiled a list of five insights for handling online leads.
Following are five reasons dealerships lose leads.
1. 17% of dealers failed to respond to online leads.
This one should be obvious: respond to leads in a timely fashion and take the time to be personal, thorough, and helpful. So, where does this number come from? To their credit, most dealerships recognized the value of their online leads and responded almost immediately. But the surprising number of dealers who simply didn’t respond at all shows the gap between the number of customers looking for answers online and the quality of the digital infrastructure that addresses those questions.
2. 60% of dealers didn’t answer basic pricing questions.
You probably aren’t one of the dealers who forgot to answer their leads, so you’re safe, right? Well, not exactly. We found that 60 percent of dealers avoided providing a direct answer to basic pricing questions about leasing and financing. Instead, we received a litany of requests for phone calls or in-store appointments. Our mystery shopper received as many as 30 emails from a single dealer without ever getting a straight answer.
3. 15% of dealers didn’t have pricing on their websites.
Customers like the internet because it’s easy, anonymous, and flexible. They can research their next induction cooktop in between meetings and compare the brands in their price range. But many dealers make it harder than you’d expect for customers to get the basic information at the start of their purchases. In the exploratory stage of their buying journey, customers who seek information online are looking for quick answers to simple questions. However, we found that instead of quick answers, 15 percent of dealerships listed “$CALL” instead of any price information on their VDPs.
4. 15% of dealers ask the same questions more than once.
What’s worse than answering tedious questions once? Being asked them a second time by the same person. After filling out forms or submitting requests through a specific VDP, we found that 15 percent of dealers asked for information that should already have been available to them. We’d fill in the lead form for a red Civic, only to be asked what model and color we wanted. Or we’d ask for financing quotes on a 60-month term, just for the dealer to ask us what term we were looking for. Take note: your customers want to feel heard, not ignored.
5. 3% of salespeople differentiated their responses.
We found that only three percent of salespeople made any attempt to differentiate themselves when responding to lead forms. Generic responses and vague statements made each dealer’s email blend into the next; our overburdened inbox contained little useful information. When everyone has a similar VDP and lead-generation process online, you can really stand out by offering just a little more than your competitors.
What should you do with this information?
Your dealership might not fall into these common traps, but that doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement. Even the best of the best can make mistakes, so the simplest solution is to automate the transition between digital and personal away from salespeople. Your team is good at what they do, but you can accomplish so much more with sophisticated technologies like an omni-channel digital retailing system that makes it easier to track and close online leads.
The good news for you is that it’s not hard to stand out right now. Consumers are happy if dealerships can answer even the simplest questions without a lengthy phone call or trek to the showroom, which gives you the opportunity to stand out like never before. Integrating omni-channel digital retailing eliminates all the sticking points in the sales processes. Even better, it builds customer trust in a way few can compete with.
About the Author
Andrew Tai is the CEO and co-founder of Motoinsight, but his influence extends beyond the company. A contributing columnist to The Globe and Mail and a prolific speaker, Andrew is a recognized authority on digital retailing within the automotive industry.
