5 Strategies for Reputation Management

On a recent flight, sitting next to a longtime automotive colleague, I was asked about Reputation Management strategies. Thanks to in-flight Wi-Fi, we jumped on the net and I began to share my opinions. This is always an enjoyable topic to discuss, since the reaction from the audience is usually that of shock, then enthusiasm, and then action! My opinion is that, of all of the opportunities in the dealers’ digital marketing arena, Reputation Management is clearly a situation where “the dealership is on fire”. For many dealers who are ignoring their online reviews, they literally have everything to lose, but also everything to gain.
In 2011, we saw Reputation Management take on an entirely new level of importance for car dealers; with consumers posting more reviews, and Google emphasizing these reviews on the Places pages and on SERPs. What changes will we see in 2012? I’m taking a stab at offering five (5) of my top recommendations for Reputation Management strategies.
1. Get committed to Reputation Management. Any recommendations begin and end with the dealership (at the highest level) committing to managing their online reputation. Dealers who have operated in small, local communities may be the most inclined to understand the importance of this. What was the impact of a detractor 50 years ago? A customer who had a bad experience with a dealership in a small community would share their story at church, at bingo, at the corner grocery, etc. If a dealer was to survive in any small community, they needed to limit (or eliminate) detractors, and encourage more promoters. Today, the Internet makes large markets behave like small communities, since opinions are both easily shared and easily found. Online Reviews are part of the DNA of every dealership in 2012. While the importance of online reputation reinforces the importance of taking great care of customers, there is also much we can learn from the feedback received. Areas for process improvement, problem employees, and new product/service opportunities can all be learned from reading and digesting the content of online reviews. This feedback should be considered in making both tactical and strategic decisions at the dealership.

2. Monitor your reputation regularly. If you are doing this manually, setup Google Alerts, Twitter searches, and regularly check the online review sites (Google, Yelp, etc.) There are also some good monitoring systems out there that can automate this for you. If you use these systems, regularly monitor your dashboards and spring into action quickly, because each day negative reviews from detractors live online, your valuable brand and good name deteriorates. I’ve heard a fair number of dealers complaining about potential “review fraud” occurrences, where disgruntled employees, competitors, or others post negative reviews for the dealer. Some industries have moved more toward sales-driven-reviews, where only recent customers have the ability to post a review. This is definitely the year for review verification. We’ll see how this finds its way into Google’s world.

3. Respond very quickly to negative reviews. Sitting next to my colleague on this flight, we easily found large dealers in his hometown with negative reviews online since last summer. To the online shopper, no response from the dealer means, “the review is the truth”. If the dealer responds quickly, then the consumer will consider both sides to the story. If you find a negative review don’t immediately jump in and type your response. Take a few minutes to cool down, digest everything, and think about how to professionally respond. Taking a defensive or aggressive approach with your response will only escalate the problem, adding fuel to the fire. Instead, show your concern, apologize for the problem and let them know you want to handle it right away. Ask anyone posting negative reviews of your business to contact you directly and thank them for their feedback. Be very brief, take it quickly offline, and whatever you do, don’t get into an online debate for everyone to see (forever).

4. Promote positive reviews. This is also referred to as Review Suppression Plans. This method will be far more effective than trying to control or simply responding to negative reviews, and while the initiative can be a tough one, it is the only way to truly separate yourself from your competitors. Even if you do an incredible job taking care of customers, don’t expect positive reviews to happen without your involvement. You must create a strong internal process to gain these reviews from your customers. When most people have a positive experience, they simply smile and drive down the road. If you’re lucky, they’ll tell a few people. In rare instances, these customers may actually go online without prompting and write you a positive review, but don’t count on it. Since you can’t get rid of negative reviews (you can only respond to them, and improve processes at your store), you must get committed to bombarding the few negative reviews with an onslaught of positive reviews. How can you do this? There are many techniques, including postcards in the store, iPads in the F&I office, email campaigns, and personal outreach. I personally think that an online approach; either during the purchase process or afterwards with an easy click-thru survey will yield the best results. But remember, in general, people will not give you positive reviews without you prompting them to do so.

5. Balance your Reputation Management work across multiple review sites and mobile. It sure would be nice and easy if all online reviews were housed in a single location, but that is not the case. Google, Yelp, DealerRater and many more exist, and you need to balance your approach. Start with measuring which of these sites is driving the most traffic to your website. A simple “Top Referrers” report in your website analytics tool should do the trick. How much traffic comes from your Google Places page? From Yelp? From DealerRater? Your initial Reputation Management strategy should focus on where the most eyeballs are, prior to visiting your site. If you find that several review sites are delivering decent traffic to your site, then balance the strategies across the various sites. Which sites are driving your mobile reviews? I’m a big user of both Foursquare and Yelp, and have both posted and read many business reviews on the mobile versions of these tools. What I’ve noticed is that these mobile reviews are much shorter and to the point. I also find myself more willing to read through them since they are small and easy to digest. Dealers need to pay attention to these short reviews, which often appear in the form of “tips”.
It seems like the world is a bigger place than it has ever been, while in reality, the Internet has made it a much smaller one. Dealers need to manage their reputations just like they did before the digital age, or perhaps even do a better job. Never before has it been so easy for consumers to quickly find out what other people think of your store. If you have “2 stars”, and plenty of negative reviews, trust me…your store is on fire, and any goodwill you think you have will be ashes in the future. Consumers have choices, and they will choose products and people who are more highly rated than their competitors. You have a choice too. Take action today, and don’t be left behind with your online reputation.

Should Dealers Outsource Social Media?

At the recent NADA expo in Las Vegas, I spoke to many dealers who are being bombarded with products to help them engage consumers using Social Media. Many of these dealers are staying on the sidelines, since the additional tasks and process required seems overwhelming. In Joe Webb’s famous video (“The (De?)Evolution of the Internet Sales Manager”), he perfectly portrayed how the automotive Internet Sales Manager’s job responsibility has grown to be more than one can handle on their own. Over a year has passed since Joe produced this video, and the situation has only become more challenging
Today, dealers not only need join the conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, they also need to manage their online reputations, while also considering new emerging sites such as Pinterest. I think the first steps for the dealer is to decide not only what social sites they will initially focus on, but more importantly whether they will do the work themselves or outsource the job. How do you decide which course of action is right for your store?

Perhaps you are just getting started, you have been sitting on the sidelines for a few years, and finally decided you need to jump in. Your most critical question will be, is there someone at the dealership that has the knowledge and capability, and more importantly that you can trust, to post on behalf of your store? I spent many years helping dealerships outsource the work of capturing digital photos of their used and new cars. For many dealers, they didn’t want to be bothered with this work, but honestly it is not overly technical. Now compare that to hourly monitoring of your online reputation, daily posts on Twitter, Facebook, etc. My suspicion is that at least 50% of dealers who commit to Social Media, will decide they want to outsource it.
If you’ve not yet put Social Media to work for your store, you may be best served to start with outsourcing the work. An outsourced firm can help you determine an overall strategy, set initial and longer term goals, the proper benchmarks, and develop an overall plan for success. Once you’ve gotten this infrastructure in place, you could continue using your outsourced firm, or go it alone with some internal resources.
For many folks, they have already experimented a bit with addressing social sites on their own. They may have assigned one of their more technical salespeople the job of maintaining their Facebook account, yet not been happy with the type of postings this person did on behalf of the dealership. I’ve spoken to some dealers who were so outraged by their posts that they fired the salesperson and shut down their Facebook site. Not good. After all, your online social voice needs to truly be the voice of the dealership, expressing the culture and values the dealer/owner holds true. If you’ve been disappointed with your initial results in Social Media, this could be an ideal time to start outsourcing this duty. This can help you learn from the pros, why your initial efforts didn’t pay off, and learn some proven best practices.
Perhaps you’ve recently hired someone to be your social guru. Do you know if they have had the training and mentoring to be successful, or did you hire them because they could throw out the right technical acronyms, knew more than you did, so therefore they were a good fit for the job? Ideally, you want someone who has done this before in a prior role, and has a track record of success that you have verified with a reference. If you’ve recently hired someone without this critical experience, this could also be a good time to outsource to a third party, if only for a short period of time, to help set your internal resource on the right course to make sure your audience is hearing the appropriate messaging. Your internal resource could work hand-in-hand with your outsourced firm, to get a strategy in place, and start executing. Once you get the needed momentum, you could always cancel the outsourcing option, and simply let the internal resources take over.
Regardless of whether you outsource or not, there is much debate on whether dealers should rely on automated Tweets or Facebook posts? The argument for this is that many dealers are looking for content production and distribution systems to automate the basic process of producing a tweet or a post. There is clear evidence that some automation of messaging can produce consistent, although less engaging content for your fans or followers. The side arguing against automation of tweets and posts recommend that no level of automation should exist. They note social engagement as the key measure to success, and say that custom, local, recent, consistent messaging represent higher quality engagement.
Whatever path you choose, I urge you to do something. You can’t sit forever on the sidelines, since your competitor is likely planning and executing as you read this article. Social Media is not going away, it is only getting bigger. Reputation Management alone, if left unattended, can destroy your goodwill and reputation, and lead to future business losses. The best way to get started is to begin educating yourself, talking to some vendors, and learn more about this blossoming new media. As you become more educated and aware, you can decide which pieces make sense for you to do yourself, and which ones you prefer to outsource. Either way, feel free to use me as a resource, send me your questions and comments, I’m glad to help!

Should Dealers Have Interest in Pinterest?

During a recent management retreat, a colleague introduced the group to the Internet’s fastest growing Social Networking site…Pinterest.com.  Pinterest (pronounced pin-terest, not pin-interest) has burst onto the internet with growth rates we haven’t seen since Facebook. Traffic has jumped to almost 11 million visitors in mid-December, nearly 40 times where it was only six months ago.  Pinterest is now in the top 7 social networks on the web, that’s pretty darn impressive.  A remarkable stat is that 59% of its users are women aged 25-44, which is well above rates on other social networks.

During the brief demonstration I watched, I initially didn’t understand the mission of the site, or rather why it would drive consumer eyeballs.  I learned that you needed to “apply for admission” which could take weeks, or you could find another Pinterest user and get them to invite you.  I found a co-worker who had already become a member, and with a few clicks I was running full speed on this new social venue.  Just like learning about every other social network, you’ll never truly understand it until you immerse yourself (which is what I did).  While I was figuring out the value proposition Pinterest offered, I also showed the site to my wife and her sister.  They both commented that they heard it was a site to get good ideas from, and wanted me to quickly invite them.  They both instantly fell in love with the site, and now spend more time on Pinterest than on Facebook.  That instant addiction caused me to embark on a journey to find out more and more about this site, and potentially how it might help my customers (you, the car dealer).

If you visit the site, you will notice that the majority of content relates to food, home decorating, crafts, and child-related ideas.  I took a stab at creating a man’s version of the site, including my interests in cool cars, vintage guitars, and outdoor barbecuing.  I was pleasantly surprised that when I searched for related “Pins” and “Boards”, I found there were many others with similar interests.

OK, first some background.  Pinterest is all about pictures, not so much about words.  When you find an interesting picture on the web, you “Pin” the picture and it is attached to your profile.  You can also have “Boards”, which are subject-related collections of Pins.  I have Boards for “Cool Cars”, “Vintage Guitars”, etc.  Every time I find a picture of a cool car, I “Pin” the picture and put in on the “Cool Cars” Board.  You can also “Re-Pin” someone else’s Pin, which propagates that content across the web.  You can also simply “like” someone else’s Pin, which just shows you liked it, but didn’t feel compelled to Re-Pin it.  You get the idea.

Since a major component of a dealer’s social marketing strategy should be to build a social network, and join in on the conversations, I would think a progressive dealer would start a profile for their store, and simply “Pin” new or used car photos for special or unique items.  You might also Pin pictures of cool aftermarket or OEM accessories, perhaps alone or on a customer’s vehicle.  You should be careful not to be too self-promoting, or you will be unlikely to attract many followers.  Instead, only show the very new, or very special models or products, and don’t try to sell, simply try to create interest.  Be forewarned, Pinterest has rules where they discourage overt self-promotion, and you wouldn’t want to start your experience getting black-listed.

You could also search the site for related Pins for makes/models that you carry, and Re-Pin those items and maybe add a comment with your thoughts.  Again, don’t add a comment like “We’ve got cars just like these for the lowest price in town!”, but maybe an interesting fact about the benefits of this make/model.  You also should begin “following” other Pinners with similar interests, or anyone who starts following you (building your network!).

You could create a Board for your local community, Pins of pictures of community involvement, Little League teams you’ve sponsored, ways you are helping your local area, and your passion for your surroundings.  You could create a Board with pictures of cool home garages, pictures of interesting driving destinations, pictures of vehicle interior customizations, the list goes on.

The key is to create Boards that reflect the personality and culture of the dealership, and the interests of the dealer owner.  As in all social marketing programs, you are trying to personally connect, in many cases one-on-one with other people with similar interests.  If they feel a personal connection with you, they may eventually decide to become your customer, since people like doing business with friends!

I’ll admit, it took me a while to get my hands wrapped around this new site, but the growth stats are incredible.  Effective Digital Marketing Strategy says to promote your business where people are spending their time online, so Pinterest definitely fits the bill.  This site will force you to be a little more creative, and a little more subdued in your approach, but the exposure and payoff in the long run should be worth it.  Chances are most dealers will read this and move on, so your opportunity to be an early entrant could give you a nice head start.

Good luck, and please let me know how I can help!

Solving Used Vehicle Supply Problems

It seems that nearly every dealer I talk to, when discussing the health of their business, the subject of tight vehicle supply comes up. Depending on the manufacturer, new vehicle supply has been a challenge with the earthquake in Japan, and recently with the floods in Thailand. You might argue that new vehicle supply is less directly under dealers’ control, however tight used vehicle supply generally runs across the board, and savvy dealers need to become creative to overcome these challenges. For the purpose of this discussion, I’m going to focus on overcoming tight used vehicle supply issues.
The old saying is, “They don’t manufacture used cars.” In essence, the only way to make a used car is to sell a new car. With the challenges in new vehicle sales and leasing in 2008 and 2009, the industry was not making very many used cars. Compound that with the Cash For Clunkers program scrapping 700,000, resulting in 2009 being the first year in decades where scrappage outpaced new vehicle registrations by 9%.
I would argue that if we are faced with tight used vehicle supply, you have two choices: 1) Find new sources of used vehicle supply. 2) Open up your selection set of used vehicles you are willing to stock.
So how do you find new sources of inventory? Many dealers have taken this problem “to the streets” by soliciting customers to bring in their used vehicles for sale to the dealership. Of course we’re always willing to make a trade, but how willing are we to outright purchase this vehicle? Many dealers have been successful with this approach, especially if they can find good, clean used vehicles that they have a history of moving quickly at reasonable grosses. I’ve also talked to dealers who will mine the FSBO ads, calling individuals who are selling their cars, in the hopes of purchasing at the right price. Dealers are also much more willing to travel to distant auctions instead of simply purchasing at their typical local auction. Dealers need to be creative and use whatever methods are at their disposal to secure the right used inventory for their customers.
Without a doubt, the most creative and advantageous method I’ve heard of for finding good, low-mileage vehicles is through mining your CRM and Service Department. Dealers have hundreds of customers coming in for service each month, many of whom either have positive equity in their vehicles, or are facing large repair bills and might prefer to purchase a new car instead. Both of these are opportunities for you to secure and used vehicle, and perhaps sell a new or used unit as well. In addition to keeping your eye on Service customers, how many customers in your CRM system are in a positive (or near positive) equity position on their vehicles? What if you could get a report from your CRM on which customers these are, and give them to your sales team to follow up with? There are systems out there that will automatically mine your CRM for customers in positive equity positions, which virtually translate into “Used Vehicle Manufacturing Software”! We have such a system, and there are other providers as well, either way it is a new and clever way to source vehicles in your market. Best of all, you’re not competing with your competitor for these deals, since the consumer is not actively shopping. You are able to approach them with a deal that sounds like “…can get you a brand-new car at the same payment (or less), and we’ll take your old car in trade…”, and the customer never shops the deal.
Now if you’re a CPO (Certified Pre-Owned) dealer, then your supply issues are worse yet! Since people are hanging on to used vehicles longer and longer, the ability to find clean, low-mileage vehicles that can be certified is really challenging. Again, mining your CRM to find these low-mileage vehicles that can qualify for Certification is a great approach.
OK, I said there were two approaches, the second approach is to open up your selection set, or what cars you might consider stocking at your store. Internet shopping has transformed the marketplace for dealers, and essentially opened the boundaries. No longer are you limited to shoppers that might only drive 15-20 miles to look at vehicles, now customers shop in a 100 mile radius or more. If they can find the vehicle they like, they are more than willing to travel. This means that dealers need to embrace the technology, and throw away their old beliefs on what vehicles they should stock. Dealers should think more broadly about “the market”. There are many great software solutions out there (we’ve got one too), that allow you to determine the best cars in the market, the cars with quickest turn, and the cars representing the highest potential grosses. Embrace the technology and use these systems, along with your experience with your store, to consider off-brand vehicles you may not have stocked in the past.
I hope some of these ideas will help you, if you have more good ideas on solving vehicle supply issues, please email me at George.nenni@dominionenterprises.com.

Does Social ROI Exist?

Over the last few weeks, I have been spending time discussing the value and benefit of social media with dealers. Invariably, the conversation quickly transitions to ‘how can I measure the ROI of social media’? When it comes to social media, dealers often want to know what can be gained or how much will my dealership make by leveraging these channels. After all, investments in traditional and digital media should always be made with a detailed eye toward measurable ROI. Traditional media has posed ROI challenges, when trying to determine how much of the weekend lot traffic was due to weekend newspaper advertising. Digital media came along and gave us tremendous ability to track our investments. If you place your inventory on your website, a portal site, or offer an online coupon you are able to track the number of views, click through rates, lead details, and hopefully, who converted to a sale. Social media investments are hybrid investments because they incorporate aspects of both traditional and digital media as well as community outreach.
With social media, you are not pushing an advertising message to the prospective customer, and therefore, you should not look for a measurable response in the traditional sense. Instead, you are trying to become part of a conversation, or in essence, part of thousands of conversations. The trick is to learn which conversations to join and when to join them.
You should join conversations when your dealership receives an online review, either excellent or poor. You should thank and promote a customer who gives you a positive review. You should join conversations when people are having trouble with their cars or trucks. You should join conversations when people are trying to decide if one make/model is better than another. You should actively try to make new friends, and share quality content with as many new acquaintances as you can. In the same way you do this in the offline world, building a large network of friends and advocates in the online world builds the goodwill of the dealership.
Is it easy to measure the goodwill that comes from sponsoring local community outreach? If the dealership helps feed the hungry during the holidays, sponsors local youth sports, or is deeply involved in local civic associations, do you measure the ROI for those investments? For dealers to properly grasp the concept of making investments in social media, they simply need to think of it as an extension of them being a friendly part of the offline community. The critical difference is that in the online community, this goodwill can be shared and broadcast across a massive network. Twenty years ago, an unhappy customer could tell a few friends. Today, an unhappy customer likely has at least 150 Facebook friends, and will instantly share their experience with a simple click of a mouse. On the flip side, positive reviews can also have the same powerful effect. Positive reviews and comments from your online community can reach these same hundreds of Facebook friends, creating powerful goodwill for your store. The ROI is tough to measure in the short term, but in the long term these critical investments in social media will secure your dealerships place in the community for many years to come. Social media investments are a long-term play.
In many cases, the investments for social marketing effectiveness require time, not money. This time needs to come from all levels of the dealership. This includes a commitment from top management. Total involvement from everyone emphasizes the overall importance of social media investments. The participation and conversations need to come from the heart, and need to echo the culture of the dealer principal and store personnel. It has to be real.
Of course, there is a flip side to the ROI argument, and that is LONI, or what I describe as Loss Of Non-Investment. LONI for example is deciding to sit on the sidelines in the social media world giving up on the positive opportunities that are available, as well as missing the opportunity to be part of conversations, especially conversations about your dealership. You know what they say about online negative reviews that have not been responded to? If you don’t respond…it is the truth. If I read an online review, and the seller has given a reasonable response, I think to myself “Well maybe that is just an unreasonable customer. The seller sure did sound sincere.” In today’s world of Google Places, with online reviews jumping to a prominence on Page 1, choosing not to respond to negative reviews could be the beginning of the end for a negligent dealer. I see it all the time- a dealer idly sits on the sideline with a 2-Star rating with negative reviews. What is the cost of that neglect? When I talk to these dealers, I tell them, “Your building is on fire…you need to act immediately!” By not responding, these dealers are doing more harm than good. Posting responses essentially costs the dealership nothing on the most important review site out there, Google. It does require your time, your commitment, and your genuine sincerity.
I’m not trying to say that you cannot measure any type of ROI from social media investments. Clearly dealers who invest in improving their online reputations will see more click-throughs on Google Places listings vs. dealers with a poor reputation. Also, converting a consumer who recently joined your Facebook Fan Page, or who began following your dealership on Twitter is a clear ROI metric. But do you have the ability to measure the entire ROI from responding to negative reviews? What is the ROI from helping someone with a car-related question on Facebook or Twitter? What is the ROI from helping the community online or offline? Tough to completely measure, it is all about the value of the goodwill you want to bring, and the value of your network of friends and advocates. We know the importance of this in the offline world; we all need to recognize the value in the online world too. Don’t wait, get committed and start today!

How do you Guarantee Great Photos?

I’ve been taking digital photos of cars, and putting them on the web for 16 years now. I’ve seen and heard of many best practices, there are many ways to take a poor vehicle photo, but far less ways to take a fantastic photo. I would like to think that most of the photos I’ve taken have been acceptable, maybe even very good. But I’ve also seen hundreds of examples of awful photos. The problem is, we can establish and teach best practices, but in the end we may still end up with bad photos on our websites. How do we guarantee that a blurry, over-exposed, mis-aligned photo doesn’t end up in front of our web shoppers?
The answer is, it’s not easy. It requires hard work, training, and a system for accountability. Years ago I worked with a guy who loved to say, “Inspect what you expect.” It is a clever saying, probably a bit cheesy for me, but it is fairly accurate. We all expect great photos, we know many of the best practices, but in the end it comes down to how talented and consistent is my photographer? And even if we hire a great photographer, everybody snaps a bad photo from time to time. Heck, I’ve taken blurry photos that looked crystal clear on my little LCD camera screen. You only know when it’s too late, you stumble upon the photo online, or worse…a prospective customer points it out to us! The problem is, most shoppers will simply move on to another store if they find poor photos, since there are so many online choices these days.
I would prescribe, the only way to make sure you have great photos, is to physically inspect each and every one. What?!?! If you have 200 cars on your lot, and take 24 photos per vehicle, that’s almost 5,000 photos to individually look at. Is that really reasonable? Well, that is where the hard work comes in. The only way to guarantee 100%, is to quality-check each image.
If you have someone on your staff that is computer-savvy, they can create a pretty reasonable method to check each and every photo. Perhaps you can get it down to 5 seconds per image, that would take 7 hours to inspect the aforementioned 200 cars with 24 photos. It comes down to the question, how important is your online image to you? If you truly want to stand out among your online competitors, you must take excellent photos, and inspect each and every one. If the 7 hours seems to daunting, there are certainly companies that will tackle this for you. Perhaps if you outsource your photography, you should outsource the inspection service as well. This way, they inspect what you expect!

QR Codes Are Here To Stay

I will admit, some of my more progressive colleagues at Dominion recognized the importance of QR codes far earlier than I. Nevertheless I’ve become a student of this remarkable marketing tool and how it can help car dealers. Why do I find them so interesting and useful for automotive marketing? Read on, and hopefully you will share my passion for them.
What is a QR code? It stands for Quick Response code, and it is a two-dimensional bar code (vs. a UPC code that is one-dimensional) that can contain quite a bit of very rich data. QR codes can carry web site addresses, and phone numbers, but even more importantly they can contain smart data such as detailed contact information, calendar events, and SMS text messaging initiation. When I say that they are “smart” I meant that your phone scans the QR code and knows exactly what to do. If the QR code is for a calendar event, your phone automatically stores it in your calendar. If the code is a business card, it stores it in your list of contacts. If the code is a phone number, your smart phone will dial the number. So instead of just data, or information, the QR code contains “smart, actionable information” that causes a call to action by the smart phone user. And best of all QR codes are 100% trackable. Now what smart marketer wouldn’t love an easy call to action for mobile consumers, that is 100% trackable? That’s it…that is what makes this marketing tool so interesting to me. The QR code seems to only be limited by your marketing imagination.
What do QR codes do that is so amazing? They make print pieces become interactive. They connect print, with mobile, with the internet. With QR codes, your dealership can connect multiple marketing channels…Print + Mobile + Web. Keep in mind that automotive marketers have been putting website addresses, emails, etc. on printed pieces for 15 years. The QR code simplifies this by eliminating the time-consuming and error-filled task of typing a very long web address into the little keyboard on a smart phone. Instead they simply click. This also allows you to make each QR code contain a very unique website address for tracking purposes. We all know consumers don’t want to type http://www.dominiondealersolutions.com/junepromotion/serviceflyer
Are they a fad, or will they take hold? Compete.com conducted a survey in the fall of 2010 and found that 28% of Smart Phone users had scanned a QR code (or other mobile bar code). Only about 1 in 4 mobile shoppers, but the adoption rate is on the increase. QR code scanning software is already pre-installed on Android phones, and likely other makers will follow. Another study by ScanLife was consistent, and found that both one-dimensional and two-dimensional barcodes scans increased in late 2010. Clearly scanning bar codes with your Smart Phone has moved beyond the early adopter phase.
Why would a car shopper want to scan a QR code? The list of possibilities goes beyond the space available for this article, but here are some examples. To learn more details, or to read reviews about a car. To get discounts or receive coupons on service or other fixed ops offerings. To share interesting vehicle content with their social network. To watch a video about a new vehicle, or about a dealership promotion. To connect to one of your salespeople. To visit your Facebook Fan page. Your printed ads should include a QR code for people to take advantage of your latest coupon in your Service Department. QR codes on your used or new car window stickers, connecting the shopper to more details, a vehicle video, or to contact a salesperson for a test drive.
Once you become aware of these codes, you may notice them when you are out and about. I now seem to see them everywhere. On a recent Spring Break trip to Washington DC, I saw more QR codes than I had seen anywhere. On mass transit, buses, subways, even a QR code in the Smithsonian to download an app to help with the museum tour. The QR code is hard to beat, it just takes a second to scan, yet saves an enormous amount of keystrokes for the user. I now carry a QR code of my contact information, so fellow smart phone users can simply scan the card and instantly have my contact information in their phone. My wife hates grocery shopping, so this has become one of my responsibilities. To make it more interesting, I enjoy trying to save as much as I can through the strategic use of Sunday paper coupons. I’ve been amazed at the recent proliferation of QR codes in the Sunday circular. Typically for calls to action, discount offers, and sweepstakes. Why I even recently saw a picture of Danica Patrick’s NASCAR racecar with a QR code on the hood!
Feel free to contact me if you need additional help or ideas about how to start using QR codes for your dealership, and I promise you’ll begin to see some results.