Susan Eway, Business Development Manager at Danbury Auto Group (which includes Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, Hyundai, and Kia brands) had to face some big obstacles when she first joined the dealership. The Internet department was only seven months old and it needed a lot of work, “Nothing was followed up on. We had to increase our digital focus to engage the modern shopper,” Eway commented.

Eway increased her staff, from only three people manning the BDC, to five. “Even with the increase in staff, I knew that it still wasn’t enough to successfully manage chat,” Eway said.

Danbury Dodge first got their feet wet with chat through Cars.com and AutoTrader.com and they weren’t impressed, “We even tried an auto-response system for our leads and it completely failed.”

Not jaded by her experience, Eway came across ActivEngage and liked what she saw, “People want to talk to other people. They want their questions answered with immediacy. I stand behind ActivEngage because each and every conversation they have with my shoppers is unique.”

As an added benefit, Eway’s team found shoppers respond better to their follow up when anActivEngage chat has taken place. “The information that the chatters get from shoppers is fantastic help in closing the sale! I can’t say enough about the engagement either.We’ve had a significant increase in our visit-to-lead conversions. The attention to detail the chat team has is superb,” Eway stated.

With nothing but positive reviews from ActivEngage chats, Danbury Auto Group sees a 15% closing ratio on their chat leads. She is easily able to calculate her return on investment with ActivEngage’s extensive reporting suite. “The backend data we get in the dashboard is awesome - no other vendor has this business intelligence. It has been a huge help in measuring our success online.”

Regarding customer service, Eway has nothing but good things to say about her Customer Success Manager, “At times, he’s more aware of my website than I am and he’s very responsive to any inquiries I have. ActivEngage has definitely contributed a lot to the success of our current presence online.”

Susan Eway, Business Development Manager at Danbury Auto Group (which includes Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, Hyundai, and Kia brands) had to face some big obstacles when she first joined the dealership. The Internet department was only seven months old and it needed a lot of work, “Nothing was followed up on. We had to increase our digital focus to engage the modern shopper,” Eway commented.

Eway increased her staff, from only three people manning the BDC, to five. “Even with the increase in staff, I knew that it still wasn’t enough to successfully manage chat,” Eway said.

Danbury Dodge first got their feet wet with chat through Cars.com and AutoTrader.com and they weren’t impressed, “We even tried an auto-response system for our leads and it completely failed.”

Not jaded by her experience, Eway came across ActivEngage and liked what she saw, “People want to talk to other people. They want their questions answered with immediacy. I stand behind ActivEngage because each and every conversation they have with my shoppers is unique.”

As an added benefit, Eway’s team found shoppers respond better to their follow up when anActivEngage chat has taken place. “The information that the chatters get from shoppers is fantastic help in closing the sale! I can’t say enough about the engagement either.We’ve had a significant increase in our visit-to-lead conversions. The attention to detail the chat team has is superb,” Eway stated.

With nothing but positive reviews from ActivEngage chats, Danbury Auto Group sees a 15% closing ratio on their chat leads. She is easily able to calculate her return on investment with ActivEngage’s extensive reporting suite. “The backend data we get in the dashboard is awesome - no other vendor has this business intelligence. It has been a huge help in measuring our success online.”

Regarding customer service, Eway has nothing but good things to say about her Customer Success Manager, “At times, he’s more aware of my website than I am and he’s very responsive to any inquiries I have. ActivEngage has definitely contributed a lot to the success of our current presence online.”

Patrick BMW Offers Customer a Choice--and it Pays Off!

Sales Manager Rocco Massarelli began to notice a trend at Patrick BMW. “Everything is done online now. Our marketing, our test drive appointments, even our service appointments are done via the Web. I’ve been in the industry for over 28 years now, and this is a big shift from the print-dominated medium of a few years ago.”

 All Online Shoppers Need a Choice

Due to the influx of web visitors to Patrick BMW’s website, Massarelli knew he needed to give their shoppers a choice.  “We are all about providing options to our prospects. We want to make it easy for them to contact us - whether through a phone call, an email, or a chat.”

Patrick BMW Offers Customer a Choice--and it Pays Off!

Sales Manager Rocco Massarelli began to notice a trend at Patrick BMW. “Everything is done online now. Our marketing, our test drive appointments, even our service appointments are done via the Web. I’ve been in the industry for over 28 years now, and this is a big shift from the print-dominated medium of a few years ago.”

 All Online Shoppers Need a Choice

Due to the influx of web visitors to Patrick BMW’s website, Massarelli knew he needed to give their shoppers a choice.  “We are all about providing options to our prospects. We want to make it easy for them to contact us - whether through a phone call, an email, or a chat.”

I understand how important leads are, I mean I work for a company that supplies a service to dealerships that ensures quality conversations, leads and sales appointments. That’s why I decided to investigate dealership lead follow up processes across the country and to say the least, I am disappointed.

Out of the several emails I’ve received in response to a website form I submitted, only onedealership took the time to READ my email and answer my questions quickly. I also submitted a lead in Spanish (being Boricua) and it took three emails for someone to finally realize the difference in languages. Not to mention, the countless automatic response emails that kept asking for my phone number when I clearly do not want to be contacted by phone.There were also a few auto-response emails asking me if the email address I entered was the correct email to respond to -- is this even necessary?

Your dealership’s online showroom is the best source of quality leads and can have the most powerful impact on your Internet sales. When I look at a dealership’s website, I see the value you can provide potential buyers. However, when your visitors fill out a lead form and receive a handful of template emails, that’s when the value drops significantly.

You can have the best website design in the industry and have tested your websites pages over and over again to ensure the highest conversion rates. But, when your internal processes dictate that gathering a visitor’s contact information is more important than answering their questions first, all of your website optimization efforts will be for nothing.

My experiences lead me to write our newest eBook, Automatic Lead Follow Up Is Killing Your Dealership’s Sales. In this eBook, I provide 7 tips to improve your follow up processes and point out follow up activities that, when corrected, can lead to a boost in your sales. You’ll learn everything from asking proper follow up questions in your response emails to writing email subject lines which entice shoppers to open your emails.

Don’t hesitate to download this FREE eBook today, and start increasing your dealerships sales!

I understand how important leads are, I mean I work for a company that supplies a service to dealerships that ensures quality conversations, leads and sales appointments. That’s why I decided to investigate dealership lead follow up processes across the country and to say the least, I am disappointed.

Out of the several emails I’ve received in response to a website form I submitted, only onedealership took the time to READ my email and answer my questions quickly. I also submitted a lead in Spanish (being Boricua) and it took three emails for someone to finally realize the difference in languages. Not to mention, the countless automatic response emails that kept asking for my phone number when I clearly do not want to be contacted by phone.There were also a few auto-response emails asking me if the email address I entered was the correct email to respond to -- is this even necessary?

Your dealership’s online showroom is the best source of quality leads and can have the most powerful impact on your Internet sales. When I look at a dealership’s website, I see the value you can provide potential buyers. However, when your visitors fill out a lead form and receive a handful of template emails, that’s when the value drops significantly.

You can have the best website design in the industry and have tested your websites pages over and over again to ensure the highest conversion rates. But, when your internal processes dictate that gathering a visitor’s contact information is more important than answering their questions first, all of your website optimization efforts will be for nothing.

My experiences lead me to write our newest eBook, Automatic Lead Follow Up Is Killing Your Dealership’s Sales. In this eBook, I provide 7 tips to improve your follow up processes and point out follow up activities that, when corrected, can lead to a boost in your sales. You’ll learn everything from asking proper follow up questions in your response emails to writing email subject lines which entice shoppers to open your emails.

Don’t hesitate to download this FREE eBook today, and start increasing your dealerships sales!

If you are one of those people that is buying list of email “subscribers”, stop doing it! Buyingemail lists will damage your sender score and thus limit the amount of people who see your email in the first place! There is a better way to gain more email subscribers than buying them - find out how!

A company's sender score, which is tracked by Return Path, rates the reputation of every outgoing mail server IP address on a scale of 0-100. A company's sender score is determined by an algorithm that takes into account the ratio of undeliverable emails and spam reports for a company's sends.


So how can you gain more email subscribers?
 

• Make sure to provide the option to subscribe to your email updates in every channel possible (email, website, social media updates, etc). You will also want to be clear about what they will be receiving and how often in your request to subscribe. If the customer clearly understands what they are subscribing to, they will be more likely to subscribe.

• Write a blog rich with content that your buyers will be interested in! Blogs, social media, and organic search are the least expensive marketing channels and, according to HubSpot's 2012 State of Inbound Marketing Report, inbound leads have a 13% higher close rate than traditional outbound leads (advertising, events, direct mail, etc). You don’t have to post a daily blog, but at least try once a month to start.

Remember though, once a customer subscribes to your blog, they expect the same quality of information to be delivered to their inbox. So, don’t switch to a heavy sales pitch as soon as you have their email addresses. Stay consistent.

• Provide clear benefits for subscribers: Make sure people who subscribe to your emails have an edge over those who don't. Offer them an email only discount or give them a sneak peek of future vehicle models.

Dealer Takeaway:
An email should provide value to a subscriber, not bombarded them with marketing messages. Your emails should be customer focused - not dealership focused.

*Blog originally posted on www.activengage.com/blog

If you are one of those people that is buying list of email “subscribers”, stop doing it! Buyingemail lists will damage your sender score and thus limit the amount of people who see your email in the first place! There is a better way to gain more email subscribers than buying them - find out how!

A company's sender score, which is tracked by Return Path, rates the reputation of every outgoing mail server IP address on a scale of 0-100. A company's sender score is determined by an algorithm that takes into account the ratio of undeliverable emails and spam reports for a company's sends.


So how can you gain more email subscribers?
 

• Make sure to provide the option to subscribe to your email updates in every channel possible (email, website, social media updates, etc). You will also want to be clear about what they will be receiving and how often in your request to subscribe. If the customer clearly understands what they are subscribing to, they will be more likely to subscribe.

• Write a blog rich with content that your buyers will be interested in! Blogs, social media, and organic search are the least expensive marketing channels and, according to HubSpot's 2012 State of Inbound Marketing Report, inbound leads have a 13% higher close rate than traditional outbound leads (advertising, events, direct mail, etc). You don’t have to post a daily blog, but at least try once a month to start.

Remember though, once a customer subscribes to your blog, they expect the same quality of information to be delivered to their inbox. So, don’t switch to a heavy sales pitch as soon as you have their email addresses. Stay consistent.

• Provide clear benefits for subscribers: Make sure people who subscribe to your emails have an edge over those who don't. Offer them an email only discount or give them a sneak peek of future vehicle models.

Dealer Takeaway:
An email should provide value to a subscriber, not bombarded them with marketing messages. Your emails should be customer focused - not dealership focused.

*Blog originally posted on www.activengage.com/blog

Is your website tablet friendly? Well, it should be, A new forecast from eMarketer predicts the number of U.S. tablet users will more than double this year from 33.7 million to nearly 70 million. It seems like the desktop is going the way of the floppy disk and in order to stay within current trends, I've gathered some tips for you to make your dealership’s website tablet friendly.

1. Increase the size and margin for buttons and calls-to-action. The average width of the index finger for most adults translates to about 45-57 pixels. Why make your visitor work harder to find and tap the “Get Quote” button?

2. Ensure links and calls-to-action look tap-able without hover states. Hover states do not exist on a tablet. Style your text links to use a clear, contrasting color. And don’t be afraid to use underlines for the default link state.

3. Increase font sizes for legibility. Bumping up your font sizes by a couple pixels can make a difference. A little goes a long way.

4. Increase padding around navigation menu items. Padding is also known as the spacing around a specific item on your site. Padding keeps any text from bumping up directly next to menu items and thus the call-to-action will stick out more. Try increasing padding by 5-10 pixels to start—or more, if your design allows.

5. Increase margins on pages and content blocks. This improvement supports overall legibility and reduces visual complexity. Increased “white space” can result in the impression that your website’s content is easier to consume, as compared to a website with crowded content.

6. Increase form field size and spacing. Make it easier for your visitors to tap and enter information into form fields. Improvements to your forms may make the greatest impact to your conversion rate.

If you want to see examples of these tips in action, go here. The author does an amazing job of illustrating each and every step. I promise it’s easy! If you have additional tips you would like to share, feel free to do so in the comment section below!

Is your website tablet friendly? Well, it should be, A new forecast from eMarketer predicts the number of U.S. tablet users will more than double this year from 33.7 million to nearly 70 million. It seems like the desktop is going the way of the floppy disk and in order to stay within current trends, I've gathered some tips for you to make your dealership’s website tablet friendly.

1. Increase the size and margin for buttons and calls-to-action. The average width of the index finger for most adults translates to about 45-57 pixels. Why make your visitor work harder to find and tap the “Get Quote” button?

2. Ensure links and calls-to-action look tap-able without hover states. Hover states do not exist on a tablet. Style your text links to use a clear, contrasting color. And don’t be afraid to use underlines for the default link state.

3. Increase font sizes for legibility. Bumping up your font sizes by a couple pixels can make a difference. A little goes a long way.

4. Increase padding around navigation menu items. Padding is also known as the spacing around a specific item on your site. Padding keeps any text from bumping up directly next to menu items and thus the call-to-action will stick out more. Try increasing padding by 5-10 pixels to start—or more, if your design allows.

5. Increase margins on pages and content blocks. This improvement supports overall legibility and reduces visual complexity. Increased “white space” can result in the impression that your website’s content is easier to consume, as compared to a website with crowded content.

6. Increase form field size and spacing. Make it easier for your visitors to tap and enter information into form fields. Improvements to your forms may make the greatest impact to your conversion rate.

If you want to see examples of these tips in action, go here. The author does an amazing job of illustrating each and every step. I promise it’s easy! If you have additional tips you would like to share, feel free to do so in the comment section below!