I recently read an interesting article in Forbes about cause-based marketing which states that  55 percent of consumers would switch brands and/or pay more for a product or service to a company that…

Your service shop’s online scheduling tool is invaluable for streamlining the booking process for both your customers and your advisors. However, like most things in the automotive industry, “set it and forget it” doesn’t quite cut it. Not to worry: ensuring you’re getting the most from your scheduler should be easy. We’ll discuss the biggest scheduling bottleneck of all –…

Creating a Service Drive Experience to Maximize Retention

Bringing a car to the service drive for maintenance and repairs is necessary, but few customers look forward to the task. Even the smallest repair can take time out of the day and create an inconvenience. Yet, for a dealership, service revenue is huge to the bottom line. And the best way to keep service revenue growing is to ensure your customers…

The automotive industry is changing with self-driving cars, companies such as Uber entering the field and the decline of oil-dependent vehicles.  

To that point, I am sure many of you are familiar with the shocking stories and downfalls of three highly successful companies: Blockbuster, Kodak and Xerox.

So, what lessons can be learned from…

You know how service visits affect service retention, but do you know how service visits relate to the customer buying process? According to a recent study conducted by AutoLoop, we discovered that the peak repurchase rate occurs between the fourth and eighth service visit. This valuable insight gives you an edge in your marketing strategy: increase engagement and revenue by…

I recently read a great blog  about our industry by thought-leader Seth Godin. It explains how manufacturers and dealers do things very differently. Godin shares that manufacturers have worked for hundreds of years to refine and create more efficient ways to produce a quality…

From a consumer perspective, access to loaner vehicles is a major factor in service location choice—both in terms of franchised dealer versus independent repair facility, and among franchised dealer locations. Loaner vehicles help to overcome the inconvenience of having to drive further for service, and from having to wait at the dealership or make alternative transportation…

These days, the most competitive dealerships win the game by being transparent and finding ways to quickly provide customers with the information they request.

In the not too distant past, prior to the Internet, dealerships had all the information and consumers had little or none. However, today’s consumers have access to a wealth of information which, at…

Staying connected with your dealership’s customers is strongly desirable. If you can communicate everything, things get done – fast. Especially today when time is money and customers are often impatient to get everything completed as soon as possible and as expected – or else they will switch to your closest competitor.

Data…

Does the day of the week an email campaign is launched affect whether that email is opened? It does! And boosting your open rates ultimately increases response rates – meaning more ROI for your store.

In a recent study, we identified how dealers could drive ROI by analyzing on-demand email campaign launch dates. In our research, we were able to pinpoint the…

Does the day of the week an email campaign is launched affect whether that email is opened? It does! And boosting your open rates ultimately increases response rates – meaning more ROI for your store.

In a recent study, we identified how dealers could drive ROI by analyzing on-demand email campaign launch dates. In our research, we were able to pinpoint the…

Department Managers have an enormous impact on your Dealerships Profitability. That impact can either be positive, or negative. The choice is really up to you. We would never let the coach on the field without a playbook and a strategy, yet as an industry we let our managers “play” every day without the skills and support to manager their teams. Ask yourself “do I have a…

Tim James shares the importance of quality videos and tips on ways that dealers can make their videos more appealing to customers.

Every successful business needs customer feedback to gauge how they are doing. Customer loyalty, experience and retention can’t be modified without hearing what your customers think. Dealerships rely on such things as manufacturer surveys and online reviews to get an idea of how well they are doing. Some will even go a step further and email their own survey, or have their…

Women make a full 45% of new consumer car purchases—that’s no small market. And when it comes to making these purchases, this market tends to consider much more than just cost. Price is definitely a component of their decisions, but emotional factors such as trust of the sales consultant and dealership are much higher on the priority scale. So while providing fast service and keeping up to date tech-wise are important, you need to adopt measures to ensure your female customers and guests…

It’s probably not news to you that, while customers like having new cars, many dislike the dealership experience. And, that dislike often immediately begins from the first moment they arrive and are basically accosted by 10 salespeople approaching their vehicle as they pull onto the lot – yes, that’s mostly an exaggeration, but you get my point.

Here’s the…

For Philadelphia, Louisville, Long Island & Northern New Jersey auto dealers, creating on-the-lot merchandising materials is now a breeze

Saint Petersburg, FL July 9, 2018 – LotMonkey, a strategic in-dealership merchandising solution for independents, franchised car dealers, dealer groups and OEMS, today announced expansion into several new markets…

Some skeptics lament the decline in the use of social media platforms. Perhaps because they’ve become jaded due to all the arguments and political rhetoric constantly popping up in news feeds. Well, don’t for a second believe these pessimists!

Social media is not only growing, it’s becoming more popular than ever. For example, Facebook-owned social media…

As time goes by, digital marketing is increasingly integrated into car dealerships’ ad budgets. Because of that, many options have developed which allow dealerships to create exposure and deliver ads in a more direct and targeted way -- more than was ever possible with traditional media.

Even some forms of traditional media have become digital, such as radio,…

Today’s customers visit around 24 touchpoints during their car-buying journey, including your website, and get loaded up with information during this research period.

Those consumers have, more than likely, already narrowed your dealership down to one of only a couple that they plan to visit. And, while your website may be spot-on and easy to use, with the…