These days, consumers usually look at online reviews when deciding not only WHAT they are going to buy, but also WHO to buy it from. However, there have been plenty of scandals in the retail industry concerning fake or paid reviews. So, it gets a little cloudy in the water, and consumers have gotten somewhat cynical.

Take Amazon. Hundreds of millions of consumers buy items from this site. If you’re like me, chances are that there is a box with a smile on your porch frequently. But how often do you go and review your purchases from Amazon?  When you do, keep in mind that you’re not only reviewing the book or dog food, but also the seller.

One of the innovative things Amazon has implemented is the “Verified Purchase” indicator on the review. This informs consumers that the reviewer did, in fact, buy the product. These reviews tend to have more weight in most people’s eyes because it reduces the possibility of a fake review.

If you don’t leave reviews for Amazon businesses, you may want to start. Why? Because if you are happy with a product or service, a simple acknowledgment that they delivered on their promises helps them know what they are doing right.

How does this relate to car dealerships?

Dealerships rely on reviews just as much as that seller of products on Amazon -- if not more so. If your dog doesn’t like the dog food, it may only cost you $10. But if a customer doesn’t like the car or has a bad experience which they broadcast all over the review sites, that can have a considerable impact on your dealership.

If you provide your customers with superior customer experience, you should not feel embarrassed or hesitant to ask them to leave a review on the popular review sites. Will they all do it? No. But I guarantee that more will do it than if you don’t ask.

Customers are motivated to leave reviews by emotion. They either had a great experience, or they had a bad one. Either way, it's a win. You get a great review, or you get the opportunity to handle a problem you may otherwise not have had a clue about – leading to a better experience for all. The problem is that many car dealerships never even ask their customers to leave them reviews!

By encouraging and asking for reviews, you not only get valuable feedback from customers but also fortify your online presence. This helps customers decide to choose your vehicle and your dealership over the competition.

Some dealers simply accept the fact that customers leave reviews and use the strategy of “putting out fires.” But what they don’t realize is that future sales can be won or lost based on those reviews.

It’s not enough to take a reactive stance towards reviews. It is much better to have a proactive policy and process which encourages customers to leave reviews. Will they all be great? Probably not. But unless you ask, customers with exceptional experiences may never leave reviews. All you’ll end up with is a page full of upset people that you are chasing to make happy.

Work to get those satisfied customers promoting it to the world. By so doing, you will increase traffic and business simply because customers listen to those who come before them. And that is the truth.

Unique Customercials are organically shared by customers across their social platforms producing a huge viral lift for auto dealers

Newport Beach, CA –August 13, 2019– Vboost (www.vboost.com), a viral marketing company for auto dealers, today announced that since the company started seven years ago, video views for its auto dealer clients featuring customers taking delivery of their vehicles have driven over the ten million mark. This has increased referral business for auto dealers from their customer's friends and family.

To date, Vboost has produced over 2 million "customercials" for auto dealer clients. Once created, these videos are promoted by the customer, and they tend to go viral. These viral marketing pages are delivered to the customer with easy sharing capabilities. Helpful links are included that drive the customer's friends and family into the dealership. They are an effective way to get sold customers to share their car buying experience. Customercials go viral and drive online traffic to the dealership website, review sites, and Facebook page.

In the last 7 years, these customercials have produced over 10 million views and over 6 million customer shares. They feature the customer front and center. As a result, share rates average over 150% when downloaded, forwarded, and posted by the customer to their favorite social media platforms.

“Customers love these viral videos, as they can easily share the excitement of their new vehicle with friends and family. Moreover, when a customer’s social networks get engaged, we often get a new customer out of it,” said Bill Stephens, GM at Cerritos Infiniti.

Vboost has perfected a quick and easy process to capture photos at the time of vehicle delivery and quickly gets those "branded" photos out to the customer. Now the customer becomes the dealer's advocate by posting/sharing the images. The salesperson can input the customer's music and song preference from classic rock, to hip hop and oldies. Vboost pays the publishing rights so dealers can use nearly any song they choose. Customers share these videos via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social platforms, and email them to their friends and family.

The Vboost Viral Marketing Platform delivers and tracks thousands of viral messages monthly – all designed to create referral business for dealers and their salespeople. With just a few clicks on a mobile app, hundreds of Vboost auto dealer clients send thousands of viral messages every month; reaching new customers through the customers' friends and family. These viral marketing messages promote the dealership and the sales rep, creating referrals. The customer receives the content in a format that compels them to share on their terms. The shares and views are then tracked and optimized.

“10 million video views and 6 million customer shares can’t be wrong,” said Paul Moran, Vboost President, and CEO. "Our mission is to help auto dealers increase referral business, convert more leads, and sell more cars. We give customers the tools to promote the brand for the dealer. Friends and family have the greatest potential influence over a customer's buying decision. A message coming from a friend is more likely to be viewed, and produces more impact than traditional marketing," Moran added.

For more information, click on this Vboost overview video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJixDzVhYVE.

Alternatively, for additional information and to schedule a demonstration call: 800-799-3130, or visit www.vboost.com

About Vboost:

Based in Newport Beach, CA, Vboost, Inc. is the first proactive process to create positive viral marketing in the retail automotive space. The streamlined process uses a mobile application and three unique technologies which collect customer photos at the time of vehicle delivery. These are converted to custom music videos and then sent directly to the customer via email or text. By delivering these branded messages to customers during their emotional highpoint, most customers are compelled to upload and share these videos with family and friends via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, email and other social media platforms. Best of all, results from each viral marketing campaign are being monitored, quantified, and reported back to the dealers.

The hottest thing in social media marketing right now is influencer marketing. Businesses continually leverage celebrities to gain exposure and attention. Think about all the dealerships that hire famous athletes, or a YouTube celebrity, to help draw a crowd to their dealership. Sure, it works. That’s why businesses do it. But do they always attract the right type of consumers who will actually accomplish their goals and get a good return for this investment?

Regardless of if you spend $1,000 or $10,000 for the “influencer” you want to use to bring in traffic, the goal has to be a return on investment -- just like any other marketing expense. While these individuals have a ton of social media followers, are these followers the right demographic? Could they conduct future business with you? Or are they merely vying to interact with the influencer?

In an article published on JSTOR, Dr. Alexander Samuel states that there is no difference between a famous "influencer" and the typical person. All of us want attention. Celebrities and well-known social media personalities simply get it easier and more often. And they get paid for that attention. But what about a regular person? They also want attention. It’s just harder for them to get it. That’s where the saying, “Keeping up with the Jones’” originated from.

Who is the real influencer in your demographic? In the end, what really matters is how much business does your dealership get from that investment.

Influencer marketing is definitely a legitimate marketing strategy. Dealerships just need to know who the influencers are that will drive business. If a company sells cosmetics, it is highly probable that hiring an Instagram model would drive more sales. However, in the automotive industry, it may work better to think about who (and how) you can leverage influencers to do the same.

In my opinion, the most effective influencers for a dealership are your customers. Why? Because everyone wants attention. Have you ever been mentioned on Twitter or Facebook by a company? It's kind of a great feeling and injects some happiness. Sure, that Instagram model has lots of followers. But customers sharing your content on social media channels are more likely to reach a demographic what will spend money at your dealership. The Instagram model may be able to attract a huge crowd but will likely cost more and produce less ROI.

Consistently share your customer’s stories on social media and encourage those customers to share that content. In fact, you don’t even really need to encourage them to do it, just ask them if you can and tell them when you have. The motivation to share it will be intuitive and something that they do on their own. Who doesn't like to share a picture or video of their shiny new car!

And that is the best outcome for any dealership in terms of ROI. It costs nothing but produces more than any Instagram model could ever achieve. 

Facebook recently announced a change to its algorithm that prioritizes posted comments in a manner that can be very beneficial as far as gaining more exposure to your customer’s networks.

According to Social Media Today, Facebook has changed how it displays comments in posts. This new “weighting” system prioritizes certain comments over others. I am sure you know that the more engagement a post gets, the more reach increases. However, while public posts can reach a bunch of people, what happens if the customer has privacy filters such as “friends only?”

When a post is shared, based on an individual’s privacy settings, you may or may not be able to interact with them on that shared post. Well, now Facebook is prioritizing comments based on relevance, which gives a page even more extended organic reach.

According to Facebook, it has changed its algorithm regarding page posts and comments and it is now more heavily weighted towards friends and family, as well as “Top Fans.”

The order is now as follows: First and foremost are comments from people you already know. That’s why they saw the post in the first place. After that, Top Fans, (people that engage with your Page frequently) and those comments which are the most engaged with.

The key to increased organic reach outside of the current pay-to-play environment Facebook has shifted towards is to get more post interaction and to then keep the conversation flowing after the fact. The easiest way to accomplish this is to post content that people want to share with their networks -- and what do they share most often? Posts that have to do with significant life events or accomplishments – such as buying a shiny new car!

Having your customers share your post is excellent. But your dealership’s original post doesn’t have to be shared in order to increase its reach. The customer just needs to read it, engage with it then you reply to them in the comments. By doing this, it will show up in their friend’s newsfeeds organically -- EVEN IF THEY DON’T SHARE IT.

This Facebook algorithm change is designed to encourage more engagement from users with posts that are more relevant and more likely to be engaged with. By posting content that a customer wants to engage with, then engaging back with them in the comments, you continuously increase the organic reach of your post to not only that customer’s network, but also to your Facebook fans.

If you don’t have a budget for Promoted Posts, this algorithm change is an excellent way to increase your dealership’s social media exposure to the highest percentage of potential customers you can get -- the friends, families and networks of that customer you just sold a car to. And those are exactly the people you want your customers to influence as they could be your future customers.

Let’s go back in time for a moment. 16 years ago, in 2003, there was a brand-new highline dealership. This dealership was getting very little walk-in traffic. Despite having 10 salespeople on the floor, they were lucky if even one customer came in on any given day. With no existing CRM database, they also had zero prospects to follow up with. Salespeople simply hoped to get a customer. This was at a time that Internet leads were not plentiful, and, believe it or not, some leads even arrived by fax!

So, one brave salesperson I know decided to take matters into his own hands. He went on the Internet and started investigating brand enthusiast website. By identifying active forums and inserting himself into the conversations in a non-sales way, he became a valuable resource for the community without alienating them by being too “salesy.” This salesperson, with some effort, was able to win the trust of these forum members and generated sales to the point that he was selling a little under half of the dealership’s 100 monthly vehicles.

And why was that? Because, he listened and helped. No strings attached.

Jump up to the present. Consumers now have a plethora of information sources and dealers “potentially” receive leads from several of these. However, these leads are frequently sent to multiple dealerships; and salespeople (or Internet Managers and BDC reps) compete with other stores in what many dealers refer to as the “race to the bottom.”

While leads are great, you have a much better chance of earning a consumer’s business if you first make a connection. Today salespeople can connect with, engage and assist consumers online in many more ways than that salesperson could 16 years ago. Whether that connection is made via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social platform, consumers that connect with an informed person and get their questions answered are much more likely to trust them and then choose that dealership over any competition.

Social selling is the exact same strategy. Today many salespeople connect with, engage and influence buying decisions through personal efforts in the social media realm. Some dealers discourage this practice. But how is it any different than that new salesperson who sells cars to their family, friends and acquaintances? These sales are simply based on referrals and building trust in the customer experience.

As Facebook’s organic reach declines, your dealership would be wise to leverage its most valuable resource – your employees. Allow them to differentiate themselves from the fierce competition out there and increase the odds that in-market consumers will come to your dealership; simply because they have built a relationship with an employee or were referred by a trusted source.

Handcuffing employees so they cannot use social media only hurts sales. Not only does it hurt sales, you waste a valuable opportunity for additional exposure to those employees’ networks without any added expense at all. It is a highly viable promotional opportunity.

Let your employees tell everyone they know about your dealership, specials and vehicles you sell via any social media platform they desire. If you’ve been in retail car sales for any amount of time, I’m sure you’ve experienced the moment when a friend or acquaintance bought a car elsewhere because they didn’t know that you sold cars.

And, have taught your younger salespeople that they should tell everyone that they know that they sell cars to avoid encountering the same mistake.

With today’s technology, dealerships and salespeople can not only tell their immediate network that they sell cars, but an exponentially larger number of people through their immediate network’s connections.

Don’t be afraid of social media. Embrace it. Let your employees use it. The bottom line is that they want to sell more cars and you want them to do the same thing.

So, let them be successful at it!

Happy customers organically share videos for a viral lift of 564 percent over one year.

Newport Beach, CA – June 25, 2019 – Over a one-year period, Earnhardt Lexus, Phoenix’s #2 volume Lexus dealer, experienced a viral lift of 564 percent in its social media marketing program with over 7,000 video views and more than 4,000 video shares made by its’ customers and their social media networks. The success is attributed (in part) to software by Vboost, an automotive viral marketing company. The software makes it simple to create happy customer videos that customers can share on social media.

“Buying a car is an exciting experience and most customers want to share it with their social network,” said Earnhardt Lexus Owner Bull Earnhardt. “When a customer’s social network gets engaged, we may get our next sale out of it.”

Vboost viral videos are a key part of the store’s sales process. During delivery of a vehicle, a salesperson offers to photograph the customer with the vehicle using the Vboost app. The app instantly creates a short slideshow-like video set to music that is texted or emailed to the customer, based on their preference.

Customers can then easily share the videos on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. The email or text also includes embedded links to review sites like Google, Facebook and DealerRater to encourage customers to share their experiences with the dealership. 

“Before social media, dealers used to take photos and have calendars made for customers,” said Earnhardt. “This is a modern twist on that custom and customers love it because they can share it with their friends and family.”

During the one-year period, videos of Earnhardt Lexus customers generated nearly 10,000-page views and over 950 website visits. Customers opened 95 percent of the emails and texts with the videos, and posted 400 reviews.

“We wouldn’t have 400 reviews in a year without Vboost,” said Earnhardt. “That’s 30 a month which is fantastic.”

The dealership also uses the videos as part of its lead follow-up strategy. When a customer asks about a vehicle, a salesperson takes a Vboost video, includes a personalized message, and emails it to the customer.

“If a prospective customer wants more information on a vehicle we’ll take a short video showing a feature or the interior and exterior,” said Earnhardt. “We get great responses from customers who like the personal touch.”

Earnhardt Lexus also displays its Happy Customer videos on jumbo screens in its store. Each month, the store creates a video montage that is posted to its website and social media platforms.

The store also uses Vboost Live, a feature that integrates with its website and posts customer videos in real-time. This creates thousands of pages of searchable content that also increases organic search results.

“Our salespeople love this feature because if you type in their name you get all the videos they’ve taken along with their phone number,” said Earnhardt. “We even had a customer who did a search and saw one of our salespeople had a lot of happy customers. The customer sought out this salesperson based on the videos.”

Earnhardt knows customers are engaged with the videos because numerous times customers have asked to come back and take photos when they’re better prepared. “We had a customer who was mortified when we told her we wanted to take photos,” he said. “She made an appointment for two days later and came back with full hair and makeup. We’ve had multiple customers come back just to take the photos.”

Customers also call the dealership if for some reason they don’t get the video immediately via email or text. “If a customer doesn’t get photos, they call asking for them,” said Earnhardt. “That tells me that this really is customer-driven and organic. The customers want it and they’re excited to share it.”

Earnhardt acknowledges that it’s difficult to put a monetary value on social engagement and viral lift but stated, “I know how social media works and how valuable it is when people view and share the videos. If I had to pay for a social campaign, the results I’m getting from Vboost would be very, very expensive.”

For more information click on this Vboost overview video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJixDzVhYVE

Or, for additional information and to schedule a demonstration call: 800-799-3130 or visit www.Vboost.com

About Vboost:

Based in Newport Beach, CA, Vboost, Inc. is the first proactive process to create positive viral marketing in the retail automotive space. It involves a streamlined process via a mobile application and three unique technologies which collect customer photos at the time of vehicle delivery, convert them to custom music videos and then send them directly to the customer via email or text. By delivering these branded messages to customers during their emotional highpoint, most customers are compelled to upload and share these videos with family and friends via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, email and other social media platforms. Best of all, results from each viral marketing campaign are being monitored, quantified and reported back to the dealers.

Most businesses nowadays understand that having a social media presence is imperative for the best exposure to their target audience. However, many dealerships start and stop and are very inconsistent. Perhaps that is because of time. Or, maybe it's because they don't know what to post – which can be a common problem. A problem shared by one of the most visible people in the world who just placed an advertisement for a position as her social media manager – the Queen of England! This is, at the very least, a testament to how vital visibility on social media is.

What then, can a dealer do to ensure consistent and engaging content on their social media profiles?

I just read an excellent article that could help. It lays out three different types of content your dealership can use to craft its social media strategy for the month. However, while it advocates a content "calendar," dealership activities and opportunities are dynamic, so take this as a “fill-in-the-blank” primer. Of course, you will always want to highlight and display happy customers when you can.

Here are some tips on the types of content that work:

1.   Brand Awareness/Promotional – This type of content can include stories about your dealership, brand, or specials. Don’t listen to vendors who tell you to spam your audience with all of your inventory in your audience’s Facebook newsfeed. That will only annoy them and can, in fact, decrease your audience. It’s hard enough already to connect with more than 2% of them without paying for promoted posts or ads.

Audience engagement is the key to extended reach without spending your dealership’s marketing budget. Post content your customers want to see, not content that you want them to see. And, believe it or not, they want to know WHO you are – which means they want to see your employees, their personalities, pictures, and videos of dealership internal interactions. Remember, many prospective customers are using social media not just to CHOOSE a dealership, but to ELIMINATE dealerships. Don’t be eliminated.

2.   Relevant and Timely Content – One of the most straightforward (and engaging) forms of content is relevant and timely news. For example, for a Chevrolet dealership, the hot topic could be the mid-engine Corvette. Your audience is dying to read that information. Be the one that provides it. If your make doesn’t have anything like that coming soon, articles that positively review a model you carry are also great as an indirect sales tool. Rather than focus on any special you currently offer for the model, entice consumers to be more interested in choosing it… and selecting it from YOUR dealership.

3.   Educational – Most consumers don’t understand what a particular in-vehicle feature is; what the difference is between one make/model and a similar one; what a service recommendation means, etc. Yet, those topics make up some of the most popular (and most watched) videos on YouTube – the second largest search engine in the United States.

Producing content that educates consumers on when to do an oil change, why they need a new air filter, or even providing a walkaround video for a newly-released model is the information most consumers want to see and what they are looking for. Be the provider of that information.

4. Community Events and Holidays – Most dealerships are cornerstones of their communities. Not only are they usually charitable and very involved, but they are also highly recognizable because of that. Regardless of if your dealership is directly involved in a specific community event, there is nothing wrong with helping spread the news to your audience in support of these community events. Many people get their news and/or information from social media nowadays. By providing that information, you maintain authority as a provider of relevant information and stay top-of-mind. And, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with delivering a holiday message to them as well.

Some of this social media can be planned in advance; such as community events and holidays; some of this will be spontaneous, such as happy customers; and some can be a bit of a mixture of both, such as pictures of an employee birthday party or company Christmas party.

Regardless of the type of content, there are plenty of opportunities to stay in front of your customers, earn their eyeballs and, in the end, increase the chance that you can earn or keep their business. 

When it comes to social media, some dealers are uncertain of its benefits or unwilling to pay for the reach – and in some cases, both. Well, it is worth getting on the bandwagon as social media usage continues to expand with projections of over 3 BILLION users by 2021.

An interesting article on Entrepreneur.com explains why businesses should pay attention to social media and leverage any assets they do have to increase that reach, regardless of if they choose to use marketing dollars, or not. 

The article shares five general strategies you can use to leverage social media to increase sales and revenue. I’d like to share those and put them in perspective as far as how a car dealership can accomplish those strategies. I mean, it’s one thing to sell lipstick or gadgets, and quite another to sell a customer on what is possibly their second most significant investment.

1. Use social media to drive traffic – While the article has an e-commerce focus, let’s be real, most dealerships are evolving more into e-commerce. Through the strategic use of relevant social media ads, you can leverage Facebook and Twitter data to target consumers in your PMA that are the most likely to be in the market for a vehicle. You can also use that data to drive service traffic by targeting current brand owners with service offers. Social media advertising can be lucrative if done correctly and is less expensive than most forms of traditional advertising.

2. Add video – Video is the preferred type of content for most social media platforms and, more importantly, for consumers themselves. It is easy to digest, engages the viewer and can elicit positive feelings.

Video is also an effective way to educate your audience. Think of the number of customers who would love to watch a video about how to turn off the tire pressure warning or how to pair their iPhone with the in-vehicle entertainment system.  Consumers are indeed searching for this content so why not be the source of information rather than send them elsewhere, away from your site?

3. Brand Awareness – While the article discusses influencer marketing, dealerships have their own influencers – and the best part? They are free! Organic reach may be down on social media sites for business pages, but it is NOT down for individuals. By providing your customers with video and pictures at the moment of vehicle delivery, they then share that content with their friends. This is one of the best forms of advertising you can get, and the chances are pretty high that the content will influence someone in your PMA. It can even work better than hiring the latest Instagram star to show up at your dealership to sign autographs.

4. Value First – Many dealerships use social media as an extension of, or replacement for, traditional advertising. When it comes to those month specials, truck week, special financing -- consumers just pass those over them because there are so many. When they are ready to buy, do you think they will remember your dealership’s $10,000 off MSRP special when every other like brand dealership ran the same special? No. They will remember the dealership/brand that captivated them or, more importantly, used their content to educate and inform them rather than trying to sell them.

5. Tell your story – One of the most powerful things you can use social media for is to showcase your dealership. Highlight your staff, company culture and customer experience. When they view this type of content, car shoppers are more likely to choose you over your competition who simply push specials and sales messages. Use social media to differentiate your dealership, and you will see more interaction and sales, simply because customers are more likely to buy from a place they like and want to do business with.

In the end, social media offers dealerships the opportunity to engage and interact with their customers AND potential customers. That is something no traditional advertising can do. Give these five strategies a try. Embrace social media as an influential and relevant advertising channel, and you never know, you may find that you can gain more by “selling” less in your advertising. 

Newport Beach, CA –April 15, 2019– Vboost (www.vboost.com), a viral marketing company for auto dealers, today announced it has expanded its footprint in the Midwest and the East Coast by signing more dealer groups. While the company's primary focus has been on the West Coast, in the first quarter of 2019 Vboost signed the Feldman Auto Group in Michigan/OH, the Lindsay Auto Group in VA, and several in dealerships in New York. Vboost is highly scalable for both large and small groups alike, and these dealers are seeing an increase in referral business and converting more leads.

“We are especially excited to work with Feldman since they partnered with Mark Wahlberg in Columbus, OH, forming Mark Wahlberg Chevrolet which has been getting much buzz recently,” said Paul Moran, Vboost President, and CEO. “After a pilot program with two of the Feldman dealerships, they added Vboost throughout the entire group,” Moran added.

Vboost has perfected a quick and easy process to capture photos at the time of vehicle delivery and quickly gets those "branded" photos out to the customer. Now the customer becomes the dealer's advocate by posting/sharing the images. The captured photos are stitched into a slideshow set to music and sent to the customer. The salesperson can input the customer’s music and song preference from classic rock, to Latin, country, oldies and more. Vboost pays the publishing rights so dealers can use nearly any song they choose. Customers share these videos via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social platforms, and email them to their friends and family.

“You can't buy exposure like this. Our customers love us, and now they can share their buying experience with their family and friends. Dealers all know we should be sharing more photos, Vboost gives us a turnkey way to make that happen with a real WOW factor,” stated Al Gillespie, CMO of the Feldman Auto Group.

The Vboost Viral Marketing Platform delivers and tracks thousands of viral messages monthly – all designed to create referral business for dealers and their salespeople. With just a few clicks on a mobile app, hundreds of Vboost auto dealer clients send thousands of viral messages every month, reaching new customers through the customers' friends and family. These viral marketing messages promote the dealership and the sales rep, creating referrals. The customer receives the content in a format that compels them to share on their own terms. The shares and views are then tracked and optimized.

“Photos at delivery have become a way of life. Capturing the buying experience is valuable and getting the customer to share their excitement has great value to the dealership and the sales rep. Our turnkey process is essential to creating volume as viral marketing is the new Word-of-Mouth,” Moran said.

 For more information click on this Vboost overview video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJixDzVhYVE. Alternatively,for additional information and to schedule a demonstration call: 800 799-3130, or visit www.vboost.com.

About Vboost:

Based in Newport Beach, CA, Vboost, Inc. is the first proactive process to create positive viral marketing in the retail automotive space. It involves a streamlined process via a mobile application and three unique technologies which collect customer photos at the time of vehicle delivery, convert them to custom music videos and then send them directly to the customer via email or text. By delivering these branded messages to customers during their emotional highpoint, most customers are compelled to upload and share these videos with family and friends via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, email and other social media platforms. Best of all, results from each viral marketing campaign are being monitored, quantified and reported back to the dealers.

In the race to make a sale, dealerships often rely on templates in CRMs. These templates – including autoresponders – can hurt a dealership’s chances of communicating effectively -- or at all.

The response rate for leads is very low in the automotive industry. How much time do your salespeople or BDC agents spend calling a new lead, or sending an email, fail to reach the customer and get zero response? And how frustrated do they get as a result?

Well, perhaps that is because the customer can tell the messages from your staff are in no way personal, but are simply scripted, lacking any emotion or enthusiasm. The same goes for email templates. Customers can tell the difference between a template and a personal response directed to the individual. Which do you think a customer would be more interested in responding to? Think about those calls you get on your phone that begin with a recorded message followed by a “stay on the line” type message. Do you actually stay on the line? My guess is no.

What, then, can a dealership do to improve the effectiveness of their communications and increase the likelihood that a customer will actually answer the phone or respond to an email?

Be different!

Depending on where the lead came from, there is a high probability that you are not the only dealership who received that lead. And it is also likely that other dealerships have similar response templates. Any customer bombarded with these templated responses, which are essentially the same, will quickly realize that nobody is actually doing much to engage with them, or answer their questions.

Even those dealerships who do send out personalized responses have a problem. Far too often the time between the lead coming in and the dealership responding is abysmally long, causing the customer to get frustrated, lose interest and perhaps go elsewhere. Frequently customers are looking to buy a vehicle that same day. Any dealership which fails to respond promptly with personalized information could easily miss out on a sale.

So, what can your dealership to do engage customers and win the sale? Here are a few tips:

1.   Personalize your messages – Today’s consumers want to feel valued and special. Email templates and 20 phone calls just won’t cut it anymore. They’ll simply ignore you or get annoyed and go elsewhere for their sales and service business. Be sure to respond quickly and ensure your responses are relevant to whatever questions the customer asks.

2.   Rich Communication – In today’s age of Facetime and live streaming video, many customers prefer to interact with someone face-to-face. If your dealership can’t currently live stream, there is an option that’s easy and inexpensive… video. Don’t you think a customer would be more interested in interacting with a salesperson who takes the time to send them a personal video response, rather than a templated email from the CRM?

3.   Avoid Spam Filters – You could be sending good quality emails which the customer never sees as they end up in their spam folder. Talk to your email provider and make sure your emails conform with their policies and best practices. Certain keywords, too many links and/or too many images can trigger email providers to send your communications to spam folders. Do it enough – as in non-conforming email templates -- and you could end up blacklisted. Then nobody will get any emails from your dealership.

The bottom line is that you cannot sell a car to someone if they don’t get a fast response from you, or somehow get no response at all. Nor can you sell a vehicle if the person believes that you’re not bothering to respond to them personally but are just sending an automated response. They will just choose someone else.

Personalize your communications, make them relevant and incorporate multimedia. Your lead response rate will increase, and customers will not only respond, they do so because they’ve chosen your dealership.