Across the automotive industry there’s an “80:20 rule,” counsels Jason Davis, who steers Reputation Management for the thousands of automobile dealerships that rely on Cobalt ADP’s online marketing solutions. If dealers don’t have an established reputation management process and solution, they will get about 80% negative reviews, and 20% positive reviews. “With an established reputation management solution, we’re finding that our dealers are getting 80%+ positive reviews.”
Such a dramatic turnaround ought to motivate any business to pay more attention to their public relations, client feedback and customer reviews. In Cobalt’s case the results are “Auto-motivated!” We asked Jason for a quick course in Reputation Management Driver’s Ed!
Seattle24x7: Can you give us an inside glimpse of how you handle reputation management for automotive dealerships?
Davis: It starts with survey delivery based around customer activity at the dealerships. So when you go out to look at or buy a car, if we can capture your email address, our solution sends you a survey asking you what the experience or exchange was like. If you buy or service a car, you’ll get an email within 24 hours of your purchase where you can provide feedback, apply a star rating, and more, all of which either ends up on the dealer’s website or posted by the customer on a third-party Reviews’ site.
Seattle24x7: How do you address the challenge of getting reviews to cross-pollinate to sites like Google+ or Yelp?
Davis: It all hinges on the initial survey response. If it comes back with a four or five star review, we provide a thank you message, and then ask the customer to share their story out on sites like Google+, Yahoo, and Yelp. And if we get the review back and it’s negative, we’ll alert the dealership and provide an immediate response to the customer that says, “Thanks for the feedback, we’re sorry to hear this and someone from the dealership will be in touch with you.” So really it’s about providing awareness and opportunity for the customers to post reviews.
Seattle24x7: So the shoppers are granting you permission to use their reviews on the sites you manage?
Davis: Yes and No. We have the dealerships permission to manage their review sites, like Google, Yelp, etc, on their behalf and we disclose to the customer that their feedback can get posted on the dealership’s review website, that’s the one we create when we implement the solution. As for the third party review sites, like Google, Yelp, and Yahoo, it’s up to the customer if they choose to go there, to log in and post their review. We are not able to post a review on behalf of the customer but we are able to help the dealership respond to any negative and positive reviews that end up on the third party sites.
Seattle24x7: Which Review sites hold the most sway in your opinion?
Davis: Google+ Local is the big hitter right now —that’s what everybody wants to be on. Everybody wants to be on Yelp as well, but Yelp has got a specific algorithm that heavily favors established members of the Yelp community in creating visibility. There are many more review sites, but we try to focus on the biggest ones, where we can capture more consumer eyeballs, and for us that’s Yelp and G+ Local.
Seattle24x7: What does a well-executed RM effort take?
Davis: We believe the product is people and process-driven. There is really smart technology behind it, but it’s not something you can just turn on and expect people to write reviews. We coach and encourage our dealers on in-store processes and engagement, like how to ask for emails and reviews—letting customers know about their presence on G+ and Yelp.
Seattle24x7: Speaking of tech, (weren’t we?), Google and Yahoo Rich Snippets let you post customer reviews right in the search result? Are you working with the SEO team to integrate that data?
Davis: Yes, absolutely. Some of our folks have come over from the SEO team, which helps with SEO, because they know how to write and format rich content.
Seattle24x7: How effective are your RM campaign efforts?
Davis: Across automotive, there’s an 80:20 rule. If you don’t have an established reputation management process and solution, dealers get about 80% negative reviews, and 20% positive reviews. With an established reputation management solution, we’re finding that our dealers are getting 80%+ positive reviews! [24×7]
