Automotive Internet Benchmark study.

Our Friend Fran O’Hagan and his company Pied Piper  release their annual analysis of internet auto sales.  An automotive internet benchmark study.   Showcasing the top automotive brands response to internet sales and customer service activities.   Check it out and if you need help with analysis in your automotive or motorcycle business give Fran a call. 

 

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – March 9, 2015 – Lexus dealerships improved their top ranking in the 2015 Pied Piper PSI® Internet Lead Effectiveness(™) (ILE™) Benchmarking Study (USA), which measured auto dealership responsiveness to customer inquiries received over the internet. Study rankings by brand were determined by the patent-pending Pied Piper PSI process, which ties “mystery shopping” measurement and scoring to dealership sales success.

2015 marks the fifth consecutive year that Pied Piper has released the PSI-ILE “Internet” Study, and there are marked differences in how the performance of auto brands have changed over time. For example, Lexus is the only brand that has remained in the top one-third of all brands during all five years. Among mainstream brands, both Honda and Toyota have changed little in five years, remaining in the top half of all brands. In contrast, the performance of both Ford and FCA (Chrysler) brands have improved substantially, from well-below the industry average to above the industry average. For the most part, GM brands have remained consistently below the industry average.

Industrywide, much room remains for improvement. In the 2015 study, every 12th customer (8%) received no response of any type—not even an automated email response; a level that has not improved over the past five years. During the 2015 study, only Lexus dealerships managed to respond to 98% or more of customer internet inquiries. In contrast, during the 2015 study the following brands failed to respond in any way to one-in-ten or more of their customer internet inquiries: BMW, Cadillac, Honda, Hyundai, Lincoln, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Scion, Subaru, and Volvo.

“Few areas within the auto industry reward effort so immediately with incremental sales,” said Fran O’Hagan, President and CEO of Pied Piper Management Company LLC, talking about how dealerships handle customer internet inquiries. “Yet at too many dealerships, internet follow-up performance remains largely invisible.”

For a copy of the complete press release, including overall rankings by brand, or for more information about Pied Piper PSI “mystery shopping” for auto dealerships, and the patent-pending PSI process, go to https://www.piedpiperpsi.com/press/

About Pied Piper Management Company, LLC

Founded in 2003, Pied Piper Management Company, LLC is a Monterey, California, USA company that develops and runs sales and service programs to maximize the performance of dealer networks. Go to www.piedpipermc.com.