86% of car shoppers conduct online research before visiting a dealership (Digital Dealer/AdTaxi).
With that in mind, before anyone visits your showroom in person, it’s almost guaranteed that they are going to Google the name of your car dealership.
And, when someone looks up your dealership, there is going to be a star rating next to your name that contains reviews for your business.
Obviously, you want this star rating to be as high as possible.
Most dealers know how important it is to follow car dealership reputation management best practices. It keeps review ratings high, helps with local SEO, and encourages new shoppers to visit.
But, as the old saying goes, “you can’t please everybody.”
So, when a negative review comes in, it’s hard not to take it a little personally, or brush it off and dismiss it as someone being petty.
No one wants to hear someone tell them they didn’t do a good job.
But, if your dealership gets a negative review, it’s important to train yourself to keep a level head and respond to every review (good or bad) both professionally and empathetically.
Remember – your future customers are going to be reading your responses…
Think of it like this. Would you want a new customer to walk into your dealership for the first time and hear you arguing with another customer?
Or would you want them to see you ignoring another visitor asking for help?
That’s why it’s so important to respond to every review positively because it shows customers that you are easy to work with… even when dealing with difficult customers.
Responding to Negative Reviews
89% of consumers read businesses’ responses to reviews (BrightLocal) and 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation about a business from a friend (SearchEngineLand/BrightLocal).
So, the next time a negative review comes in, here are best practices on how to respond:
- Respond as quickly as possible
- Thank the person for their time and/or purchase
- Apologize. This doesn’t mean you have to admit wrongdoing, but you can still say sorry that the person didn’t enjoy their experience working with you.
- Empathize by letting them know you take their review seriously and will look into any issues that they bring up.
- If you know who the person is, reach out to them offline and see if you can do anything (within reason) to make their experience better
Here is a free example of a template AutoSweet finds useful for responding to negative reviews:
We are truly thankful for the time you’ve taken to review your sales experience at {{business_name}}. Your feedback is an invaluable part of the sales process, and we cannot impart enough how important your candor is to our everyday operations. We congratulate you on the purchase of your new vehicle; however, we are sorry to hear that your experience did not meet your expectations. Please give our Sales Manager a call at {{business_phone_number}} so we can take care of you.
And here is a free example of a template AutoSweet finds useful for responding to positive reviews:
Thanks for the 5 stars, {{customer_first_name}}! We really appreciate your business and hope to see you again soon here at {{business_name}}!
At the end of the day, people are making a big purchase when they buy from your dealership. They may be dealing with buyer’s remorse, and they may even have some legitimate constructive criticism.
Respect the fact that they chose to do business with you by responding to every review.
This will boost the number of positive reviews you get from your customers and make any negative review look more like an exception than a rule.
Need Help with Reputation Management?
Consider working with a partner like AutoSweet.
We help dealerships stand out among the local competition by being listed in all the top places
people are searching online, like Google, Apple Maps, Facebook, Bing and more!
We’ll help you generate positive reviews and avoid negative ones from the start by proactively reaching out to customers for reviews.
This helps keep your negative reviews off public review sites so that you can correct any negative responses privately with your customers.
AutoSweet can also save you valuable time by helping manage your online reputation. We’ll respond in your dealership’s voice to both positive and negative reviews from multiple places online.
We can also respond to all reviews for you so you can focus on what you do best… selling cars!
If you’re interested in learning more about car dealership reputation management reach out to us at (614) 908-2818, [email protected], or request a reputation management demo online.
