Review Site Archives - DealerRefresh

January 15 by Sean Peoples -

5 Principles to Rock your Online Reputation and Win more Customers

Not long ago I was on the phone with Sean Peoples, VP of Sales for CarGurus. I’ve known Sean for some time now and there’s never a dull moment during our conversations. We got on the topic of online reviews and he was sharing with me some interesting data around customer reviews on CarGurus.com. I asked him to share this data in a post here for our readers. I hope we hear more from Sean in the near future. He’s a smart dude! -Jeff

Who cares what people are saying about you online?

By now, you know the answer: everyone that is shopping for a car on your lot. For dealerships, online reviews offer an opportunity to establish credibility and trust among prospective customers – or they can quickly destroy both when things go wrong.

Our experience with user reviews and online community runs deep (notably, our founder and CEO was the co-founder of travel review site, TripAdvisor). More than 7 million unique monthly visitors research and shop for cars on CarGurus, and we invite each shopper that contacts a dealership through our site to submit a review of his or her experience. More than 250 of these shoppers take the time to do so daily.

Recently we spent some time analyzing 100K of our most recent dealership reviews, and I wanted to share some insights from this study that I believe will be useful to your dealership.

The biggest takeaway from our dealership review research is that the majority of dealerships are nailing it when it comes to customer satisfaction are… [Read more…]

How's Your Month Going?
In my circles, sales have been slow in Jan & Feb, but dealers are telling me that they're having a great March. Hows your March going?
Did anyone else see AutoTrader Referral traffic tank in GA?
Without going into the Classified vendor debate, did anyone with AutoTrader notice the Referral traffic (as labeled as Referral) tanked in the last 45 days? After digging into it, pushing the issue with them, insisting they check their UTM structure, I received this email from a regional rep.... Did anyone else see AutoTrader Referral traffic […]
New Role Overseeing Dealer Group "Internet" - Ideas?
So, I've been with the same Dealer Group for about 7 years now, and for about 5 years I've been a "catch all" Digital Marketing Director, which includes everything from fixing a sales persons PC to editing the websites, doing merchandising (taking pictures), social media, and doing... New Role Overseeing Dealer Group "Internet" - Ideas?
CDK Executive Desktop Issue
Looking to find out if anyone else has experienced 'Does not Respond' or freeze-ups for dealership managers using the Executive Desktop command when trying to view reports also. Note: This is in "Enhanced Store View" CDK says this is a known issue and they have been working on it for months... CDK Executive Desktop Issue
Watch CarGurus Hijack this Lead
User story: “I like this car and this dealer is on my way to work, I’ll ask to see if the tires are new…” View attachment 4081 Lead is Sent... View attachment 4082 Woa, that's underhanded! It happens to EVERY lead on any car that's NOT a 'great deal'.
Are you optimizing your content for Voice Search?
Are your SEOs and Website Providers doing this for you? How To Optimize For Voice Search And Siri https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/optimize-voice-search-siri/ The Definitive Guide to Voice Search: How to Beat Your Competitors to the Punch... Are you optimizing your content for Voice Search?
Uncle Joe's Make Over Diary
3/11/2011 Dear Diary. I am going to press into virgin territory and begin the Used Car King.com makeover. My goals are to DOUBLE lead counts with no new ad dollars spent (aka double the conversion rate) and boost engagement metrics 25% (time on site, pages seen, etc). Phase1 for makeover for... Uncle Joe's Make Over […]

Jeff Kershner
I’m the founder of DealerRefresh. I got my start in the dealer business when I was 18. From there I've worked throughout several departments within fixed to variable ops. Whether it’s managing the desk, perfecting sales process or studying online marketing and media trends, I absolutely love this business and the challenges it brings. On top of keeping up with DealerRefresh, I consult with dealerships and key industry businesses. My passion has been and continues to be helping dealers leverage new media to sell and improve customer service.
Alex Snyder
2019 marks Alex's 30th year in the car business. In that time he has had a front-row seat for the rise of the Internet and has been working to bring the online and offline dealership experience closer. Whether you knew him from his life at Checkered Flag or his years with Dealer.com/DealerTrack/Cox Alex has remained an opinionated DealerRefresh contributor who enjoys nothing more than to poke at the unsaid truths in our industry. He also helped found FRIKINtech.