Before the use of online review websites was more widespread, customers took to social media and forums to voice their dissatisfaction. Often comments were left unanswered due to the absence of a formalised review programme. However, with the increase in digital retailing, eCommerce and the proliferation of review websites, online customer feedback is now becoming a top priority for automotive dealerships.

As an increasing number of customers choose to purchase vehicles online, they will expect a higher level of service throughout their online buying journey. The success or failure of their experience may be shared with family, friends and online communities.

In order to solicit as many positive reviews as possible, the process should be as simple as possible for the consumer. Requiring them to sign up to a particular website, download an app or complete unnecessary additional steps, will discourage them from submitting a review.

If a review is solicited by email, customers should be able to add their feedback within the email if possible, rather than taking them away to another website to complete further steps, which they may find too time consuming and make them more likely to abandon the process.

Your review request should be triggered at important steps of the sales process. Immediately post-purchase is the most common survey time, as the sale is front of mind.

Consider also requesting a customer experience review for those who may not have purchased from you but may be open to in the future. While you may have been unsuccessful in making the sale there and then, they may have had a positive customer experience and sharing this will mean that they are a potential customer in the future, rather than just considered a lost opportunity.

It is important that you promptly thank the customer following a review, whether it is positive or negative. Decide in advance who is responsible for responding to reviews; does it fall to Marketing or the Sales Executive involved in the deal?

While most reviews will likely be submitted through a recognised website such as Google Reviews or TrustPilot, if it is unsolicited and you wish to publicise positive feedback, make sure you get the customer's permission in advance.

If you have decided to rollout an online customer review programme, an automated system for capturing reviews should be part of this strategy. The post-purchase survey should link directly to your DMS/lead management system, triggered automatically immediately after purchase, when the customer's positive experience is top of mind.

On receipt of positive customer reviews, make sure that they sit front and centre on your website. Independent, validated and transparent customer reviews will add trust to the overall shopping experience.

Consider creating a testimonial page or including a reviews widget. If your overall reviews are above average industry level, this should form part of your overall brand and sales strategy.

In order to effectively monitor and improve customer experience, it is important to have a clear, real-time view of feedback. The majority of dealerships have sophisticated manufacturer-led customer surveys across sales and aftersales however, it is important to collate all review sources to give an accurate picture of the strength of your dealership's image.

Consider setting up a dashboard for customer feedback with data including review source and customer path. For example, did the customer come from your website where they tried to reach out via your contact page or did they go straight to your Facebook page where you could have initiated a real time conversation in advance of feedback?

Knowing what to measure and how, will give you an accurate picture of your dealership's level of customer service. Tracking review volume and scores over time will allow you to see possible gaps in customer experience and reward excellent customer service linked to particular sales team members.

This will allow you to make adjustments in the business both in the short and long term in order to gain a competitive advance, grow brand strength and ultimately, win new and repeat business.

Negative public reviews are as important as positive ones and should be given considerable attention. While you may feel that having a negative online review will have a detrimental impact on your business, it is important to deal with its content constructively.

An online customer review programme will only be effective if it is fully transparent. This means that you are open to potential negative comments and willing to reply in a thoughtful and professional manner.

Choosing not to respond to a negative review may give potential customers the impression that you do not take customer service seriously and only engage when the review has been positive. It will also further encourage the reviewer to further share their negative experience with family and friends.

The online car buying space is more competitive than ever and dealerships will now be focusing on how to build their online reputations in 2021. Ultimately, reviews will help your dealership get discovered online, encourage more customers to choose your dealership over the competition and overall, improve your customer experience.