Responding to Online Reviews

Building a Winning Reputation

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About Me

Jack Simmons• Dealer Training Manager, Cars.com• Over 35 years of automotive retail

experience

Connect with Me:

dealers.cars.com/facebook

dealers.cars.com/twitter

jasimmons@cars.com

What We’ll Cover

1. How to establish a review response process for your dealership, including who should respond to online reviews

2. What your response track record says to sales prospects

3. How to respond to negative feedback and turn detractors into promoters

4. Why responding to positive reviews is good business

5. Q & A

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Why Reviews?

• Increasingly important to shoppers• Differentiates your store online and builds

trust/confidence in making a purchase • More reviews = higher average rating• Boosts SEO

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Why Reviews are Important

• 73% of car shoppers now consult online dealership reviews

• 1 in 5 change their original dealership choice based on reviews they’ve read

• Online reviews trump both dealer location and past dealer loyalty

5Sources: Yahoo!/Cobalt Dealer E-Business Study

Monitor What’s Being Said

• Free tools• Cars.com

DealerCenter• Google alerts• Notify.me• TweetBeep

• Paid tools• Trackur.com• Reputation Defender• BrandsEye• Radian6

What’s Being Said?

• Cars.com Dealer Reviews are largely positive:

• Average score since launch 4.6

• 81% are 5 stars

• Keller Fay Group also found online conversations about autos tend to be overwhelmingly positive

• Some detractors can actually build credibility for your store

Credible Review

s

The Number

of Reviews

The Website

Itself

Balanced: Pros and

Cons

An Educated Review

Forrester, "User Ratings Top Consumers' Online Wish Lists," February 2008

Keep Reviews in Context

Even negative reviews have value:

Drive credibility*Drive review volume to

outweigh the negativeTake honest feedback to

heart to make stores even better

Build advocates through dealers’ responses

Tip: Have a Response Plan

• Know which sites allow a store response

Cars.com Dealer Reviews DealerRater.com Google Places Yelp.com

• If it is not you, assign someone in the store to monitor and respond to reviews

• Ensure people responding are alerted to new reviews and can access the review sites

Tip: Respond to Positive Feedback

Tip: Always Respond to Less Than Positive Reviews

Publicly acknowledge feedback in a timely fashion

Privately resolve issues

Tip: Take Control of Comments

Directly address the customer’s concern

Take the conversation offline by inviting the customer to contact you

Save the discussion of “the facts” for when you and the customer are speaking privately

Remember that your response influences current and future customers

I’d like the opportunity to make things right. Please contact me directly at any point to discuss. You can

reach by email at jsimmons@cars.com or by

phone at 312-601-5000.

Tip: Avoid a Public Debate

Saving the Sale

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You Can’t Put Lipstick on a Pig

Start With a Good Experience

• The best way to manage risk is to start with an exceptional experience I the store: Create a service-drive culture and

be transparent with customers Don’t let problems walk away –

ask customers about their experience before they leave the store

Make meaningful changes at your store in response to consistent negative feedback

You Can’t Fake a Good Reputation

• Don’t “buy” or “bribe” reviews• Be wary of companies who

promise to “clean up” reputation

• Avoid having staff, friends and family contribute

• Shoppers evaluate authenticity

• You’ll get caught and it only makes it harder to recover

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Dealing With Detractors

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• Cars.com Dealer Reviews are largely positive:

• Average score since launch 4.6

• 81% are 5 stars

• Keller Fay Group also found online conversations about autos tend to be overwhelmingly positive

• Some detractors can actually build credibility for your store

Responding to Detractors

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It’s all about managing your reputation: Directly address the

customer’s concern Take the conversation offline

by inviting the customer to contact you

Save the discussion of “the facts” for when you and the customer are speaking privately

Remember that your response influences current and future customers

I’d like the opportunity to make things right. Please contact me directly at any point to discuss.

You can reach by email at nhummer@cars.com or by

phone at 312-601-5000.

Saving the Sale

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Identify Areas for Improvement

I go to pick up the car, and when I get in, I noticed the passenger seat was wet. I check the floor mats, wet, the carpet is soaked in water front and back.

It had rained the night before, and apparently they left the windows open in the rain all night.

Beyond Online ResponseTaking Feedback to Heart

TIP NUMBER 1

Tip: Put Customer Service First

Create a customer focused culture at your store:Make a top-down commitment

Owner, senior management team set the tone for the store

Hire professionals with a record of service excellence

Create customer service experience at every touch point

Tip: Don’t Let Problems Walk Away

Ask customers about their experience before they leave the store How did we do today? Did you have a 5-star

experience?

Develop a post-sale and service outreach process

TIP NUMBER 2

Tip: Hear Your Customers

Don’t just track what is being said, LISTEN to what is said

TIP NUMBER 3

Tip: Spotlight Feedback

TIP NUMBER 4

Share reviews with the:• Management team

• Identify trends• Review tactics and, where

needed, refine processes• Sales and service teams

• Reiterate goals• Re-enforce policies, tactics

Tip: Make Meaningful Change

Use customer feedback to adjust processTake ownership of what went

wrongCorrect staff issuesImprove service qualityAddress policy issues

TIP NUMBER 5

How JetBlue Made it Better

“We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry…You

deserved better – a lot better – from us last week and we let you

down. Nothing is more important than

regaining your trust…

Tip: Be Genuine

TIP NUMBER 6

Don’t fake your reputation

Access all sessions in the reputation management lab

• Promote what is available for on-demand content: Andy Beal Charlene Li Leading dealers

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Access All Sessions in the Reputation Management Lab

Access additional content at the Reputation Management Lab

• Insight from social media’s top experts

• Tips from dealers that you can put into practice at your dealerships today

dealers.cars.com/reviews

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Questions?

Jack is joined by Dealer Reviews Product Team members Nick Hummer and Lauren Beaubien to answer your questions about Dealer Reviews.

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To submit a question, send a message to “Host” in the Chat window of the WebEx environment with your question.

Jack SimmonsDealer Training Manager

Nick HummerDirector, Dealer Solutions

Lauren BeaubienAssociate Solutions Manager

Dealer Reviews

THANK YOU

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