Important Statistics: Numbers that Will Make You Take Online Reputation Management Very Seriously

1. May 19, 2017 Important Statistics: Numbers that Will Make You Take Online Reputation Management Very Seriously Image 1Most Important Online Reputation Management Statistics for Car Dealers Today's car buyers are starkly different from those shopping for cars five or ten years ago. For starters, these buyers have become more reliant on the Internet to figure out the kind of vehicle they want and which dealership to buy it from. The whole idea of simply walking into several dealerships within the P a g e 1 | 3

2. area to inquire about their vehicles is no longer appealing. Instead, most car buyers want to get all the available information first, which means undertaking hours of research before walking into a showroom to check out the car in person. That said, car buyers don’t just visit the auto manufacturer's website the moment they go online. They also visit other websites that offer information about their desired model, which include dealership websites, media articles, social media platforms, and various online review sites. Understanding Online Review Sites Online review sites are an ideal platform for various car buyers to share and rate their experiences regarding a particular vehicle model. These reviews generally talk about the vehicle’s engine, fuel efficiency, safety features, and onboard features. Generally, these sites are designed to aggregate all of the reviews every model has received in order to determine its average rating. This average rating tends to be displayed prominently and this number can go up and down at any moment, depending on whether the reviews on the model are good or bad. On the other hand, these review sites are not just limited to offering information about various vehicle models. In fact, there are review sites dedicated to reviewing and ranking car dealerships as well. Ideally, you want to make sure that all of the reviews regarding your dealership are positive so that you can maintain a stellar online reputation in the industry. In case you need more convincing why this matters, here are a number of online reputation management statistics regarding car buyers that you need to know: 81 Percent of Car Buyers Consult Review Sites When Looking to Buy As much as 81 percent of today's car buyers like to visit a review site in order to check what other car buyers think about a particular dealership. Specifically, they like to check out their review scores as well as their aggregated ratings. At the moment, the top automotive review sites include Edmunds.com, Google+ Local, Yelp, Cars.com, and Yahoo. 87 Percent of Car Buyers Say Reviews Directly Influence the Dealership They Choose About 87 percent of today's car buyers say their choice of car dealership has been actually influenced by the reviews that they had read online. This means that the higher your review rating, the more likely that the car buyer may choose to do business with you. P a g e 2 | 3

3. 68 Percent Look at Ratings When Buying a Car More than half of car buyers like to look at the average rating of a car dealership before deciding to buy a car from them. This means you must strive to make sure that every customer leaves satisfied and happy each time they walk out of your showroom. This way, they rate you higher than any other car dealership in your area. Keep these numbers in mind when trying to come up with ways to improve your brand presence online. At the same time, it might help to also encourage those who have bought from your dealership to post reviews about your business online. This is a great way to acquire more positive online reviews for your dealership and help bring your rating up, too. About DealerRank: A top digital marketing company, DealerRank works hard to make sure that your auto dealership maintains a stellar reputation online so that more car buyers would be encouraged to drop by and visit your showroom. Our online reputation management service involves promoting your positive reviews by distributing them to various sites to help bring up your ratings. Sources: Selling to Customers Who Do Their Homework Online, hbr.org Here's a Good Indication of How Much People Hate Car Dealerships, time.com Automotive Survey:What Digital Drivers Want, timedotcom.files.wordpress,com P a g e 3 | 3