Car dealers finally driving to better e-mail responsiveness
Car dealers are finally getting better at answering e-mail and following up on customers’ requests for more online information, according to a new report from The Cobalt Group Inc., an automotive retailing research and applications development company.
As part of a recent mystery shopping survey of more than 1,600 dealers nationwide, Cobalt found that 58% responded to an e-mail inquiry, compared to 42% three years ago.
Interestingly, dealers of mid-range brands, including Ford, Chevrolet, Honda, Dodge, Toyota, and Nissan, respond faster than dealers of high-end brands such as Infiniti, BMW, Mercedes, Acura, Jaguar and Volvo. Mid-range brand dealers respond to customers’ requests in 7 hours, while dealers of higher-priced brands average 10.5 hours.
“Dealers as a whole are getting better at responding to e-mail and mainstream dealers, who in many instances are selling about the same vehicle at a very similar price, are responding faster because that message back might be the only chance they have of getting that customer in to the showroom for a test drive,” says Kevin Root, vice president and general manager of Cobalt’s dealer advisory services.
Even compared to other Internet retail segments, where up to 25% of e-mail queries go unacknowledged and unanswered, dealers’ response to e-mail queries in the past has been dismal.
But more dealers are beginning to take the web—and the sales opportunities generated by a fast e-mail response—more seriously.
Mark Rush, general manager of Ron Rush Lincoln Mercury in Columbus, OH, tries to respond to most e-mails within 4 to 8 hours and, in most cases, attempts to follow up with the customer by phone in about one business day. “We get about 150 serious leads per month from the Internet and our web sales are growing,” Rush says. “How fast we respond to an e-mail is critical.”
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