Most car buyers now research car reviews of dealers before deciding to make contact, there was already a rising trend for this prior to the pandemic, but the last two years has exacerbated it considerably.
In a digital age, online reviews are our equivalent to asking your neighbour or a family member for their opinion. It is our opinion that it is important that the car dealer pays attention to, and manages the process of getting favourable reviews about their dealership. To this end Happy Dealer have a number of tools to help achieve this and if it is something you might be interested in discussing please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Managing a business’ online image has never been more important.
Even with review management systems in place it is almost inevitable, that not everyone will be completely satisfied all the time. So, you will probably receive a negative review, what should you do next?
Don’t ignore it.
It may be your first instinct, but negative reviews with no responses can make a business appear like it doesn’t care about its customers.
Respond as soon as you can
People appreciate a swift response, especially aggrieved customers.
Stay professional
Resist the urge to become defensive or angry. You don’t want to be the one to start a flame war or to go viral as that business that lost it with a customer. You’ll only end up alienating other potential customers and won’t win the argument.
Apologise if appropriate
Show empathy for the customer, but also use this opportunity to ‘sell’ your business: “we’re really sorry you had this experience, we usually aim to make every customer’s experience with us the best possible”
Offer to talk about it.
Invite the customer to give you details of their complaint via email or phone, you don’t want to leave a long thread on the review site.
If the review is obviously malicious
Google won’t take down a review just because it’s negative, but you can report reviews if they violate their content policy i.e. it includes fake, illegal or offensive content.
Respond to the review
While a negative review will hurt emotionally, it doesn’t need to hurt your business. Responding to a negative review in a genuine way shows that you are determined to improve your business and genuinely care about your customers.
Ask the Customer to re-consider their review
If you have resolved the customer’s issue and you think you’re both in a good place it’s well worth your while picking up the phone to the customer and asking them to re-consider the review and maybe consider updating it. Most people are decent and will be fair if you’re fair to them.
We have tools and a proven review system that publishes to your dealer website. If this is something you would be interested in discussing further please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.