The 10th annual Dealers' Choice Awards - VOTE NOW

dealers choice award

VOTE HOOKLOGIC / AUTOHOOK. Because your vote counts! 

Plus you can win a Kindle Fire HD. Two respondents will be selected from random drawing.*

The Auto Dealer Monthly Dealers' Choice Awards is currently underway. And IF deserving, we would highly appreciate your vote!

These awards are in recognition of the most highly regarded vendors, suppliers, and finance companies in the industry as named by YOU - our dealers clients.

Respondents must rate third-party providers or suppliers (in-house or in-dealership solutions will be not be acceptable answers).

What matters here is who dealers feel provide the best product or service, the best customer service, and support and the overall value of the product or service compared to the money spent on the product or service. Additionally, we want to know if you would recommend the product to another dealer.

Please only cast votes in those areas that you directly work with, or have directly worked with recently. You may vote on more than one supplier if you are using more than one. Categories answered with in-house or dealership only will not be included since this is a survey of 3rd party vendors and suppliers.

Survey submission ends on 5/30/14 and the contest winner will be determined by a random drawing on 6/30/14.

Click here to Vote

CallSource Adds IHS (Polk) Data to Sales Profit Management System

IHS Powerd by Polk Logo

CallSource Automotive, provider of call management, marketing analysis and sales improvement services, today announced it has partnered with IHS (Polk) Automotive to add vehicle purchase insight to its patented Sales Profit Management (SPM) system.

The addition of IHS Automotive information and insight allows CallSource to provide its automotive dealer customers with reporting and analytics to show how many sales prospects ultimately buy at the dealership they called and how many are ultimately lost to competing dealerships and alternative brands. This data will allow CallSource to better identify and pinpoint how to improve their client’s call management processes and will help them to track improvements in performance over time.

callsource logo black

“IHS Automotive purchase insight provides a key element in analyzing the results of our clients’ call management efforts,” said Andrew Price, president of CallSource Automotive. “Our patented SPM system provides a continuous loop of ongoing improvement for our dealers. The IHS Automotive insight is an important measurement of dealership performance that allows dealers to identify areas of profit leakage and improve their call management processes.”

The two organizations recently collaborated to measure the impact of CallSource’s DealSaver service.  When mishandled sales or service calls are identified, a text message alert is sent to the dealership so management can reengage the prospect. After a 90-day review of calls at nearly 500 dealerships, IHS Automotive found that more than 40 percent of customerswho purchased from the initial dealership they contacted came into the dealership following a DealSaver alert.

“Adding our analytics to CallSource’s SPM system provides some important metrics,” said Bob Sherman, director of sales and client services for IHS Automotive. “As in the case of the DealSaver analysis, we can validate that CallSource services are providing an immediate impact on a dealer’s bottom line. In addition, we can uncover important industry trends that help dealers monitor their individual call management performance against the rest of the industry.”

About CallSource

CallSource has been the industry leader in call lead and tracking-based solutions for more than 20 years. We help our clients improve their marketing and lead conversion with solutions that include: CallTrack® call tracking and recording, LeadScore® marketing analysis tool, DealSaver® missed-opportunity alerts, vanity numbers, telephone performance analytics, and online training for thousands of companies in industries that include automotive, home improvement, media, healthcare, education, plus numerous franchise organizations.

What Happens When you Increase Your Average Show Rate?

more shows

In my last article “1 Simple Way to Increase your Appointment to Show Rate”, I reviewed how your sales and BDC staff can utilize our “Send Coupon” feature to help increase their appointment show percentage.

We have dealers utilizing the Send Coupon feature every day to increase their appointment to show rate by 20% or more. However, when I’ve presented this feature or idea to other dealers, I sometimes sense a bit of hesitation. And that’s okay. Not everything works for everybody because the first step in getting anything to work is buy-in and commitment from top management.

To help defuse this hesitation, let’s do some quick math:

*Remember - the average dealership has a 50% Appointment to Show rate.

Say you schedule 50 appointments Of those 50 appointment’s, 25 show up for their appointment (50% Appointment to Show) Of those 25, you sell an average of 60% = 15 sales

Increase the show rate by 20%

You schedule 50 appointments Of those 50 appointment’s, 35 show up for their appointment (increased to 70% Appointment to Show) Of those 35, you sell an average of 60% = 21 sales

Using the average $25.00 incentive, let’s figure out the potential ROI.

50 appointments / 35 shows 35 x $25 = $875 With a 20% increase, you move from 15 sales to 21 sales. That’s 6 more deals.

= $145 per additional Show to Sold

This might not jive with everyone’s calculator, depending on your current budget, process and inventory. But I would guess most dealers have room to increase their appointment to show rate by 20%.

For those still a bit hesitant, train your staff to incentivize customers that seem hesitant when scheduling the appointment. Use the incentive and supportive word track to not only lock in the show with a hesitant caller, but also reinforce the appointment time. There’s nothing worse than coming into work during your day off or staying late only to find out the customer is a no show.

Differentiate by Incentivizing the your phone appointments to increase your show rate and ultimately sell more cars.

1 Simple Way to Increase your Appointment to Show Rate

no show

According to industry statistics, the average dealership converts LESS than 20% of Sales Calls into an appointment.

The average dealership has a 50% percent show rate on those appointments. So for every 10 appointments scheduled, only 5 on average physically show up.

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you don’t want to be AVERAGE. If you’re already using our suite of Autohook products, there’s NO reason for your dealership to have a 50% (or less) appointment to show rate. I’ll get to that a bit later…

Why is the average appointment to show rate only 50%?

We can come up with many excuses but let’s agree that the biggest reasons usually boil down to Phone Skills (or there lack of).

• Customer wasn’t SOLD (or over sold) on the initial vehicle of interest.
• Customer wasn’t SOLD on the appointment / experience but agreed, so they could get off the phone.
• No appointment confirmation call was made (preferably by a manager) – many times the customers contact information wasn’t acquired or accurate.

Despite the many reasons dealers are only achieving an average appointment to show ratio, we have many dealer clients utilizing a feature within AutoHook that makes it very simple to increase their appointment to show rate by 20% or more. Achieving a 70% plus.

What is this 1 Simple Way?

Differentiate by Incentivizing.

Award that potential customer one more reason to show up at YOUR dealership. That one more reason could be the one that makes all the difference. Even when the phone call experience didn’t go so well.

Our dealer clients in-the-know are already utilizing our “Send Coupon” feature. Send Coupon feature is included with our suite of products and found within the Admin screen when you log-in.

send single coupon

With Send Coupon, you have the ability to easily incentivize a potential customer on the phone. Along with some added word tracks to your phone scripts, this is a great tool for your sales and BDC team to leverage during a sales call. In just a few steps you can quickly send a customer an Incentive to Show by email.

I challenge you to commit to this 1 simple way to Increase your Appointment to Show Rate. Before you know it, your sales staff will have more shows and be selling more cars.

Improved Responsive Confirmation and Reminder Emails

responsive email on iphone

We’ve been on a mobile kick lately here at HookLogic. Last week I wrote about our new Web2Show feature - Mobile2Show  and  Why did that customer LEAVE YOUR DEALERSHIP right after looking at their iPhone?

Many of you already know or can easily guess that current studies are showing consumers are now reading a larger portion of their emails by mobile device, mostly on their smartphone. Therefore it’s imperative that emails sent to your customers are easy to read on a smaller screen.

Today, we are officially announcing our new and improved Responsive Designed confirmation and reminder emails that are sent to your potential customers that have engaged with Web2Show and Lead2Show.

Prior to this improvement, we had a few tiny display issues with our previous emails when it came to formatting for mobile across the different devices and screen sizes. While none of these issues had any real negative impact on the customers experience, we knew we could do better. Anytime we can improve the experience for our dealer clients and their potential customers, we make it a priority.

To address this, we took the existing email(s) (which are already optimized for deliverability and engagement), and built upon them. The result is an email “template” that contains the same effective message within a much more responsive design.  Whether on a full-size monitor or mobile device (tablet, iPhone, etc), your customers are now presented with an email that scales and displays appropriately.

responsive email design

Added Bonus: While we were making these enhancements, we also made the addition of including your dealer logo at the top of the message (previously only at the bottom of the signature), which we believe gives the email a bit more validity as a communication on behalf your dealership.

Why did that customer LEAVE YOUR DEALERSHIP right after looking at their iPhone?

Man running to next dealership

With smartphone ownership at 58% nationwide and with close to 200 million tablets sold in 2013, the way dealers do business and advertise is drastically changing.

The way consumers shop for their next vehicle has once again made a huge shift. They now have all the information needed, right in their pocket, in their hand, available at anytime and anywhere they want or need to access it.

cars_mobile_study

A recent study performed by Cars.com and Placed, Inc. shows that 25% of car shoppers will conduct research using only a smartphone, prior to visiting a dealership.

Another important find from the Cars.com and Placed, Inc. revealed that 63% of auto shoppers researched and shopped online while at a dealership and 33% of shoppers were lured to a competing dealership based on a mobile advertisement found while on a dealer lot.

Click here to download the complete study.

Let’s review that stat once more – “33% of shoppers were lured to a competing dealership based on a mobile advertisement found while on a dealer lot.”

At first, 33% may seem like a steep number. But think about how often you use your own smartphone to shop and cross-shop different product as you’re about to make a purchase. All of a sudden, that 33% becomes more believable.

Then as you stand back and look across the crowed showroom floor on a busy mid-morning Saturday, you take notice to almost every potential customer working with one of your fellow sales representatives, has a smartphone in their hands.

Maybe they’re checking their email. Maybe they’re texting a friend. Maybe they’re taking a photo of a vehicle and posting to facebook - asking for their friends feedback…

OR maybe they’re on the mobile website of your competition, looking for either a better deal, or a like vehicle of a different color and included options. While searching inventory on your competitors mobile website, the customer not only finds another vehicle they may be interested in but they're also presented with a $25.00 gift card for visiting the dealership (while leaving yours) today for a test drive.

Mobile2Show Banner

The customer considers the other vehicle and the $25.00 incentive; figures what the heck, lets slide down to ABC Toyota and test-drive this vehicle before deciding.

Before you know it, the once crowded showroom floor is no longer.

What happened?

Answer: You’re competition has that 33% figured out. They've put together a strong and effortless mobile shopping experience while leveraging Mobile2Show on their dealerships' mobile website - for this exact conquest opportunity.

What’s your mobile strategy to help capture this 33%?

Mobile2Show gets a Mobile Makeover for MORE Conversion

Web2Show Mobile2Show adaptive

With 25% of car shoppers using only a smartphone to shop, compare and research their next vehicle prior to visiting a dealership, it’s imperative that dealers have a strong game plan around their marketing and consumer experience on mobile devices. We (HookLogic) have always offered Mobile2Show to our dealer clients. Though often an overlooked feature that’s included with our Web2Show product. Why overlooked? The fact is, most mobile website solutions didn’t offer the flexibility to allow features like our Mobile2Show to reside on the dealers mobile website.

This is changing. And thankfully it’s seems to be changing quickly. One of my takeaways from NADA 2014, was seeing how quickly many of the top dealership website platforms were able to offer Adaptive Design / Mobile Responsiveness as a standard feature into their existing platform.

With consumers shopping habits changing, industry dealer website providers quickly adapting to change, we knew it was time to change (adapt) as well. Not as much of a change as it is more of a redesign of our existing Mobile2Show feature.

Our redesign of Mobile2Show includes several impressive enhancements. Like…

mobile2show vdpbanner

Mobile2Show is now able to determine which type of device your shopper is using when viewing your dealership website. If they are on a mobile device, we automatically serve up Mobile2Show. If they are using a laptop/desktop, or larger device, we automatically serve up our traditional Web2Show.

mobile2show select delivery

mobile2show_3

With our updated Mobile2Show solution, a banner floats at the bottom of the browser. Upon clicking the banner, a form will appear to slide up the screen. The shopper is then able to select the method by which they would like to receive their test drive incentive. They can opt for delivery by email or have it sent by text to their phone number.

After submitting the form, the incentive code is displayed on the overlay and delivered to the customer via their selected method.

mobile2show delivery option

Additionally, we have added call-to-action buttons that allow the shopper to Instantly Call your dealership. If the shopper needs directions to your dealership, they have quick access by using the Get Direction button. And for those iOS users, they have the option to add the incentive code directly to their Passbook app.

For tracking and reporting purposes, the incentive code is now marked either as being related to Web2Show or Mobile2Show. Within the AutoHook reporting interface, you will now be able to break the performance out separately for each.

As you can see, the enhancements we have made to Mobile2Show will allow for a smoother and much more engaging experience for your mobile shoppers. Of course the end goal with these enhancements is to drive more of your mobile shoppers to visit your showroom in person for a test drive. More shows equated to more opportunities to make a sale.

If you’re not already taking advantage of our Mobile2Show feature, please contact us so we can review your account and have it added to your current mobile website. Get more of your mobile shoppers showing up at your dealership with our latest enhanced Mobile2Show feature.

If you're looking to increase the engagement and show rate of potential customer visiting your dealers mobile website – contact us for a complete demo of our AutoHook Suite of Products and receive a $25 Gift Card .

Mobile2Show - Our New "Showrooming" Solution

Our New "Showrooming" Solution

Mobile usage is becoming an important part of the car buying process, especially when visiting a dealership.  Your customers are shopping your competitors right from your lot.  Over 60% of your customers are using their smartphone while in your showroom.  When you see this, know that 2/3 of these customers will leave your dealership and visit another store within a day.  This is called showrooming.  More than ever, dealers need a mobile strategy.

In a recent study with Cars.com and Placed it was revealed that when a consumer used their mobile device at a dealership, 62% of these customers visited ANOTHER dealership within a day.

How will you compete with this?  You have to have a way to get a customer away from your competitor’s dealership and into your dealership. The first hurdle is to display on mobile.  Because of HookLogic’s responsive design, our call to action changes on your mobile site, to the form of a mobile banner. Once clicked, HookLogic delivers the incentive either by email or text message and promptly connect the customer to the dealership with either driving directions or a phone call.

Within HookLogic’s user interface, we have 19,000 franchised dealerships mapped out down to their latitude and longitude coordinates.  This allows our dealer and OEM clients to target specific competitors.  When a customer searches your site while at a targeted competitor, a dynamic offer pushes customer out of your competitor’s dealership for a test drive in your dealership.  Once at your dealership, the customer redeems their offer via a 30 second redemption process that allows you to accurately attribute the showroom visit and sale back to your mobile offer.  HookLogic’s Mobile2Show is the first true automotive showrooming solution tied to its award-winning attribution engine.

But what if the customer doesn’t visit your dealership website.  HookLogic’s dynamic incentives can target customers browsing on thousands of different mobile websites and apps, powered by Verve Mobile.  Our dealers and OEM partners can protect their own backyard, conquest around competitor’s dealerships, and even retarget users that previously engaged with their ad.

Simply pick your competitive dealership dealerships and locations to target.  When a consumer visits one of the mobile sites or apps within the Verve Mobile Network, a dynamic offer from your dealership will push the consumer into your showroom. Once at your dealership, the customer redeems their offer via a 30 second redemption process that allows you to accurately attribute the showroom visit and sale back to your mobile offer.  HookLogic’s Mobile2Show is the first true automotive showrooming solution tied to its award-winning attribution engine.

Top three results that have come from Mobile2Show:

• Offer a first of its kind "showrooming" solution to dealers

• Build conquest campaigns for OEMs that boost marketshare

• Increase a dealer's mobile conversion rate and showroom visit rate

Carfax revolutionizes online car shopping with vehicle history search

carfax_used_car_search

Carfax announced on Monday, they are set to “revolutionize online car shopping with vehicle history search”.

Carfax has unveiled an innovation in online car shopping that helps consumers find the right car with the right history. At carfax.com, online shoppers now can search for used cars with specific vehicle history details – things like no accidents reported to Carfax, service records, Carfax 1-Owner and more. Used cars for sale from thousands of dealers on the new listings site all come with free Carfax® Vehicle History Reports™. Plus, vehicles are shown based on the history attributes shoppers want, making the shopping process for carfax.com visitors easier and faster.

Carfax revolutionizes online car shopping with vehicle history search

Unique Vehicle Listings Site Helps Consumers Find the Right Car with the Right History from Dealers

CENTREVILLE, Va. (March 10, 2014) – Carfax has unveiled an innovation in online car shopping that helps consumers find the right car with the right history. At carfax.com, online shoppers now can search for used cars with specific vehicle history details – things like no accidents reported to Carfax, service records, Carfax 1-Owner and more. Used cars for sale from thousands of dealers on the new listings site all come with free Carfax® Vehicle History Reports™. Plus, vehicles are shown based on the history attributes shoppers want, making the shopping process for carfax.com visitors easier and faster.

“I found a great car on Carfax,” said used car shopper Nathan Walker from Washington state. “I called the dealer immediately and he said the car was not listed in their inventory yet because it was still in detail and undergoing inspection. I already knew from the information in the Carfax listing that I wanted to see it. I drove forty miles to the dealership and bought the car.”

Key vehicle history details seen in every vehicle listing help save time while sifting through search results. At carfax.com, visitors begin their search of more than one million used cars by selecting the vehicle history attributes they want. Listings from Carfax Advantage Dealers also include price, photos and a detailed description of the vehicle.

Once potential buyers find they car they want, they easily connect with the dealer directly from the vehicle listing on carfax.com.

“We’ve made sure our inventory is included on carfax.com for years,” said Jeff Best, vice president of used cars for Brown’s Car Stores. “It’s an easy way for us to get in front of ready-to-buy shoppers. Consumers trust Carfax, which helps build their trust in the cars we list on Carfax.”

“Millions of online shoppers today click on readily available Carfax Reports to see if the cars they want have a history that meets their needs,” said Dick Raines, president of Carfax. “Now, consumers can know right away by choosing which history details are most important to them at the beginning of their search. Carfax puts the right cars with the right history right in front of you.”

Carfax also recommends a mechanic’s inspection and thorough test drive before buying, in addition to a Carfax Report, to help purchase the right used car with the right Carfax history.

About Carfax Carfax is the vehicle history expert for used car buyers, sellers and the automotive industry. Carfax created the Vehicle History Report in 1986 and maintains the largest vehicle history database ever assembled, comprising over 12 billion vehicle records from more than 81,000 sources across North America. A Carfax® Vehicle History Report™, the most trusted resource for vehicle history information, is an essential step in the used car buying process. Get free Carfax® Reports from dealers wherever used cars are sold online or look for Carfax Advantage™ dealers in your area and say ‘Show Me the Carfax’. For used car buying tips or to purchase a Carfax® Report, visit www.carfax.com. Carfax was recently acquired by IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS).

Honda Dealer Results Utilizing HookLogic

Prior to NADA 2014 we posted the Performance and Purchase Analysis info-graphic for several partners and OEM dealerships utilizing HookLogic’s AutoHook. 1. Dealer.com Dealer Results Using HookLogic

2. AutoUSA Dealers Performance using ShowPro

3. Chrysler Dealer Results Utilizing HookLogic

4. Toyota Dealership Results Utilizing HookLogic

As mentioned in the previous posts, we have partnered with Polk to acquire and validate the lead close rates for our customers.  This is provided by matching all leads to Polk’s census of vehicle registrations for actual close rates of all new and used vehicles purchased by the consumer submitting the lead.

Here’s the Performance and Purchase Analysis info-graphic for…

honda_hooklogic_infographic

Starting from the top, we have “Leads Generated“. During the months of  January 2013 – June 2013 HookLogic’s AutoHook generated 18,488 for 73 Honda dealerships.

Of the 18,488incentivized vehicle shoppers, 6,576 customers walked into a Honda dealership that utilized HookLogic’s suite of products, during this time frame to test drive a vehicle after engaging with either Web2Show or Lead2Show.

Of the total amount of leads submitted or engaged with, 1 in 3 showed up at the dealership for a 35% Lead to Show Rate. Considering the average national lead to show rate is around 17%, this is GREAT NEWS for Honda dealers.

Moving onto the SALES Data.

Of the 6,576 customers that were incentivized and walked into one of these 73 Honda dealers for a test drive, 52% purchased a Vehicle.  

This group of Honda dealers are closing incentivized showroom ups at 52%, with an overall lead closing ratio of 19%.

Whether it’s a lead originating from your dealer’s website, 3rd Party Lead, Online Chat lead or HookLogic Web2Show – By getting more in-market shoppers to Show Up at your dealership, you get more opportunities to make a sale.

*If you’re a Honda Dealership, or any dealership for that matter and would like to increase your show rate –  contact us for a complete demo of our AutoHook Suite of Products and receive a $25 Gift Card .