You Snooze You Lose
Response time and methodology for contacting internet leads are foundational factors in successful conversion.
In the latest Pied Piper study, 5,428 dealership websites were secretly shopped, with Pied Piper posing specific questions, and giving a score out of 100 based on how well each store responded over the next 24 hours.
Every brand tested made significant improvement over their performance in the last study, with the exception of Lexus, Mazda, Kia, Lucid, Dodge and Mercedes-Benz, indicating a concerted effort across most brands to improve their abilities in this area, due largely to the fact that it is proven to help improve sales performance.
“Scores have a correlation with sales numbers, Pied Piper CEO Fran O’Hagan told Automotive News. Dealerships that score over 80 sell about 50 percent more units for the same quantity of customers coming through the website than stores that score below 40.
“The top-performing dealerships reach out to a customer using multiple paths, then when the customer responds, they follow up using the same path used by the customer,” O’Hagan said.
The lesson to be learned is the same basic truth that internet experts have been trying to convince dealerships of for decades, when a shopper is scrolling through listings on multiple websites, every minute of hesitation is potentially a lost opportunity to capture the consumer’s attention before the competition does.
Rapid thoughtful, personalized response via phone and text is proven to be effective, and for those who have learned to truly master this aspect of BDC it is an absolute game changer. For example, those dealerships that have been savvy enough to employ the services of industry leader BDC United have significantly improved their average lead to appointment conversion rate and seen their sales improve as a result.
For a quick eye opening tutorial demonstrating how BDC United can empower your dealership to capture and optimize the potential of every lead, scan the qr code below. Don’t hesitate. As the study shows – you snooze, you lose.