New ActivEngage Program Helps Toyota Dealers by Providing Consumers Recall Information and Communication on Auto Dealer Websites

Orlando, Florida, January 28, 2010— ActivEngage, the automotive industry’s premium dealer chat software with business intelligence, today announced the launch of a unique program to help Toyota dealers communicate recall information to customers on dealership websites via live chat. ActivEngage proactively compiled all relevant recall information and details, including information from their Toyota dealers. The company then educated their virtual sales assistants and added special website graphics to all ActivEngage Toyota dealer websites, letting site visitors know that live chat is available to discuss any recall issues or questions. As a growing number of Toyota vehicle owners seek information and answers about the safety recall, ActivEngage’s Toyota dealers are now prepared to handle their customers’ concerns efficiently and effectively online.

ActivEngage anticipated the jump in Toyota dealers’ website traffic and the increase in visitors with recall questions last week, and prepared by creating the program to help its dealers in a time of need. There has already been a large spike in website traffic, which has increased an average of 15-20% this week, with a proportional spike in chat conversations. The ActivEngage program allows dealers to focus exclusively on phone calls and people walking into the dealership.

“Our Toyota dealers can now direct concerned shoppers to their websites for information, using the sites as hubs of communication, instead of relying on personnel at the dealership,” commented Ted Rubin, ActivEngage executive vice president. The company’s program lets more Toyota customers find recall information online quickly and easily, effectively decreasing the number of calls and meetings dealers must take in person. The program not only helps alleviate dealers’ increased communication needs, but also builds consumers’ trust and dealership preference by creating a consistent message during each conversation. Further, when the recall issues are resolved, dealers can use the data captured from consumers who chat about the recall to schedule service appointments for fixes.

“We knew consumers were going to utilize the web as the primary source of information (just as they did with Cash for Clunkers) and we are now helping our Toyota dealers online,” commented Todd Smith, ActivEngage president. “Our chat agents can deliver consistent and comprehensive recall information via websites, rather than sending people to the telephone or into the showroom. We have access to all recall information, and we will continue to educate and update all our virtual sales associates about how to handle the recall chat conversations. We are actively assisting our dealers to help their customers get the best recall information, quickly and easily online.”

About ActivEngage: (www.ActivEngage.com)
ActivEngage’s dealership chat software and proprietary business intelligence helps automotive dealers meet the needs of shoppers by providing dealerships easy to use, powerful website tools. Advanced live chat services let dealers identify, initiate interaction and communicate with website visitors in real-time. The essential person-to-person Meet & Greet that dealers require at the physical showroom is now possible on the dealership website through ActivEngage. This proactive website engagement decreases abandonment rates and increases website lead generation with the thousands of visitors the average dealership receives each month. ActivEngage provides the edge that dealerships need to engage more customers who browse for information because it starts building a personal relationship with shoppers from the moment they hit the dealership website. ActivEngage offers three tiers of service to ensure that all website visitors’ experiences are enjoyable and uncomplicated, thereby increasing the value of dealership websites through better lead generation.

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Dealers advertising on facebook could soon track an ROI (or lack of).

With a new conversion tracking tool, facebook hopes to help marketers (and even us dealers) track clicks through to conversion. The conversion tracking tool is already being tested by several select Facebook advertisers. A launch date has yet to be determined, but they are projecting sometime towards the end of March.

The reports will provide dealers advertising on facebook a list of tracked conversions, impressions and the clicks led to each.

Conversion tracking aims to complement Facebook Connect, a tool that allows advertisers to target fans of brands, as well as friends of the connected fans. The Facebook Connect tool reports back on everything from demographics to interests listed in Facebook profiles. Ads connecting to Facebook Connect tie in social context, such as the person’s name…continue to mediapost article.

As social media  continues to grow and more and more dealer “get it”, it’s only natural that most owners/principles/GMs will want to see some type of ROI for the effort.

Question: Should you measure your social media efforts on the same level as your other online marketing channels such as paid search, SEO, display advertising etc. ?

You can see Brian Boland’s (fb manager of solutions) full presentation here:

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I’m sure by now you’ve heard of foursquare and gowalla. They’re a location service-based social network; a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you levels of “badges” for “checking-in”.

Ok, that’s all good and fun right?

But now, Yelp has decided to jump in the game (I’m sure others will follow). Yelp is looking to make their current service even more interesting by adding a location based feature that allows reviewers to show how many times they have “checked-in” at a location while at the same time allowing users to write a review right from the Yelp mobile app.

You’re following me right?

Let’s say Mary Smith brings her Nissan 09 Maxima in for service. She finds herself waiting in the lounge 30 minutes past the intended time. Just as frustration sets in, the unfriendly service writer finally enters the waiting lounge only to let her know it’s going to be another 20 minutes (and forgets to apologize). Mary’s car is finally ready; she deals with an insensitive cashier and finally makes her way to her Maxima tightly parked between 2 other cars in the parking lot. As she approaches, she notices a scratch on the driver side front fender.

By now she’s had all she can handle and has determined that she’ll no longer be returning for service. She reaches for her iphone, fires up her mobile “check-in/review” social app and in less than 5 minutes has written about her whole experience before even leaving the dealer!

Mary just happens to have her Yelp and/or foursquare account tied into her Twitter and Facebook account. So not only will her negative review of this dealer be posted on this dealers Yelp business page but also automatically makes it’s way to her Facebook page and twitter stream. TRIPLE WHAMMY!!

Can this really happen? You bet it can.

If you’ve been reading DealerRefresh for any length of time, you have a keen understanding of the importance of your dealer’s online reputation. As this new wave of social/review app continue to surface, it’s going to be even more imperative that you have a pro-active and re-active reputation management process established.

Are you currently tracking your dealer reviews on Yelp and other social business review websites?

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Industry Leading Automotive CRM Provider Attributes Record Growth to Product Enhancements, Key Personnel Additions and Impressive Dealer and OEM Partner Gains

DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The industry leading automotive CRM and lead management provider, eLead, today reported that the 2009 calendar year produced the company’s top year in sales since 2005.

“We’ve delivered another year of outstanding financial results, powered by key additions to our development team and growth within the call center. Our superior product and service offerings, combined with high-quality creative content, gives us a unique ability to continue delivering growth and value to our dealers”

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Former AutoMart executive to join leading provider of live chat for car dealers

ATLANTA, GA – January 20, 2010 – Contact At Once!, LLC, the leading provider of live chat and other internet marketing tools that move online lookers into live conversations with car dealers, announced today the hiring of Skip Dowd as Vice President, Business Development. In this role, Dowd will be responsible for building and managing relationships with the company’s strategic partners.

Dowd began his career in 1991 as an advertising sales person with Trader Publishing, calling on auto dealers in Northeast Ohio. He rose to Vice President of Electronic Media, assembling and leading the team that launched AutoMart.com and AutoMercado.com. After AutoTrader.com, a division of Cox Enterprises, acquired AutoMart.com in October of 2006, Dowd managed the corporate transition before leaving to pursue independent consulting engagements within the automotive industry.

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