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Recent Press - Wards Auto
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Wards Auto
Sales Leads Caught in the Web
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April 2024
A mystery-shopping survey says auto dealerships are getting better - and faster - at responding to online customer inquiries. In this year's Pied Piper Internet Lead Effectiveness Study, 34% of dealerships scored above 80 (providing a quick and thorough personal response). Twenty-one percent scored below 40, with the worst markdown transgression being a failure to respond at all. Industrywide average performance increased four points to a ... Read More >
Wards Auto
Caught in the Web: Top dealership performers respond to web leads in 30 minutes or less.
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October 2023
Mystery shoppers found large car dealership groups overall outperformed smaller counterpart stores in internet lead responsiveness, according to a new study. Napleton Auto Group ranked highest among 17 national groups evaluated in the 2023 Pied Piper Internet Lead Effectiveness Study. Drawing from mystery shopping data, the consultancy measures the handling of internet leads coming though dealership websites. Tied for second were Penske ... Read More >
Wards Auto
Group 1 Ranks No. 1 in Handling Service Customer Calls
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June 2023
Group 1 Automotive tops a new survey on how well America's largest dealership groups handle customer phone calls to their service departments, Consultancy Pied Piper's inaugural Service Telephone Effectiveness Study focused on how quickly and efficiently service departments handle calls for service appointments (see chart below story). Following Houston-based Group 1, Dallas-based Berkshire Hathaway Automotive and Salt Lake City-based Ken Garff ... Read More >
Wards Auto
Cadillac Scores High, Startups Rank Low in Helping Customers
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July 2022
Post-pandemic inventory issues still make it a sellers market... but for how long? Many dealers have been developing bad habits due to the lack of new units... why bother responding to an Internet lead when the lead time is going to be six months or longer, right? WRONG! How effective and customer-helpful are the sales processes of startup electric-vehicle luxury brands compared with those of traditional premium brands? Not so good, according ... Read More >
Wards Auto
Some Car Dealers Good, Some Not-So-Hot at Handling Internet Leads
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March 2022
Virtually all car dealers know it’s worthwhile to promptly field Internet customer inquiries, says Fran O’Hagan, CEO of consulting firm Pied Piper. But that doesn’t mean all dealers are quick enough on the draw, as evidenced by the 2022 Pied Piper PSI Internet Lead Effectiveness Study. It measures by-brand responsiveness to mystery-shopping Internet leads sent to dealer websites. “I don’t think there is a car dealer out there who says, ‘No, ... Read More >
Wards Auto
Digital Auto Retailing Wonderful, Not Magical
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March 2021
A mystery-shopping survey says car dealers are offering consumers more and more digital retailing tools - and 25% of their websites include the likes of "buy now" buttons. But it's questionable as to whether those serve merely as window dressing. Moreover, the 11th annual study indicates dealers whose websites feature "buy now" buttons failed to quickly respond to customer attempts to "chat" 44% of the time on average. Consultancy Pied Piper's ... Read More >
Wards Auto
Car Dealers Get Better at Responding to Digital Shoppers
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March 2020
A decade or so ago, the smartphone was relatively new, and many dealerships had separate Internet department to handle that part of the business. Today, nearly all consumers first use their phone's varied functions (including but certainly not limited to making a call) to research and shop vehicles before visiting a dealership in person. "The norm today is to whip out the phone and start shopping, which is amazing when you think about it, Fran ... Read More >
Wards Auto
Luxury-Brand Car Dealers Best in Internet Effectiveness, Study Says
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July 2019
Luxury-brand car dealerships take the top five top spots of the 2019 Pied Piper PSI Internet Lead Effectiveness Benchmarking Study. The annual by-brand mystery shopping exercise uses various measurements to answer an essential question, “What happens when customers visit a dealer website and inquire about a vehicle?” says Pied Piper CEO Fran O’Hagan. Dealerships that field those leads the best – from responding quickly to answering a specific ... Read More >
Wards Auto
Survey Ranks Tesla Dealerships First in EV-Selling Effectiveness
Ironically, the electric-vehicle maker plans to shutter most of its retail outlets.
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March 2019
Fran O’Hagan sees a striking paradox in Tesla saying it will close down almost all its dealerships and switch to an online sales strategy. He is president and CEO of Pied Piper Management, a consultancy that today releases results of a mystery-shopping study on how effectively dealerships brand-by-brand handle electric-vehicle shoppers. Tesla scored first. “It’s so ironic,” O’Hagan tells Wards. Referring to the dramatic retailing pivot, ... Read More >
Wards Auto
Auto Dealership Mystery Shopping Indicates Which Brands Rock
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July 2018
For the first time, Audi dealers top the Pied Piper Satisfaction Index. In the cellar is Tesla. A by-brand mystery-shopping study of how well auto dealerships deliver customer satisfaction indicates top scorers had something in common: They helped customers more. “‘Helpful’ is one word that determines how dealerships did,” says Fran O’Hagan, president and CEO of Pied Piper Management, a consultancy that sent secret shoppers to 3,466 dealerships ... Read More >
