Recent Press - internet mystery shopping

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – May 6, 2013 – Harley-Davidson dealerships were top-ranked in the newly released 2013 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index(R) (PSI(R)) U.S. Motorcycle Industry Benchmarking Study, which measured dealership treatment of motorcycle shoppers. Study rankings by brand were determined by the patent-pending Pied Piper PSI process, which ties “mystery shopping” measurement and scoring to industry sales success.

For the first time since 2008, Pied Piper also separately measured how effectively motorcycle dealerships responded to customer inquiries received on-line through dealership websites.

Harley-Davidson dealerships led all brands in eighteen different sales activities, such as encouraging shoppers to sit on a motorcycle, asking for contact information, and helping the shopper overcome obstacles to the purchase. Eleven different brands led at least one sales process category, and brand performance varied considerably from brand to brand. For example, Ducati salespeople offered a brochure to approximately nine shoppers out of ten, while less than half Suzuki, Honda or Kawasaki salespeople offered a brochure. BMW, Triumph and Harley-Davidson salespeople were more than twice as likely to offer a demo ride as the salespeople at Ducati, Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha dealerships. Victory salespeople were most likely to suggest arranging a demo ride in the future.

Industry average dealership performance was mixed when comparing 2013 with the previous year.

Salesperson behaviors more likely in 2013 than 2012 include the following:

• Offering demo rides (now 19% of the time)
• Discussing features unique from competitors (now 49% of the time)
• Encouraging going through the numbers or writing up a deal (now 33% of the time)

Salesperson behaviors less likely in 2013 than 2012 include the following:

• Conducting a walk-around demonstration (now 70% of the time)
• Overcoming shopper objections (now 74% of the time)
• Giving compelling reasons to buy now (now 39% of the time)

2013 marks the seventh consecutive year of Pied Piper PSI motorcycle industry benchmarking studies. With seven years of data gathered from tens of thousands of motorcycle PSI evaluations nationwide, Pied Piper was able to fine-tune the study questions, weightings and scoring for 2013. As a result, Pied Piper reset the 2013 motorcycle industry average PSI score to “100.”

The resulting “second generation” PSI scoring is now even more closely correlated to motorcycle dealership sales success. Pied Piper has found that on average, when motorcycle dealerships are ranked by their PSI score, dealerships in the top quarter sell 22% more motorcycles than dealerships in the bottom quarter. “Any motorcycle dealership faces plenty of challenges that are difficult, if not impossible, to change,” said Fran O'Hagan, President and CEO of Pied Piper Management Co., LLC. “In contrast, how a sales team sells is something a dealership can improve immediately.”

For a while, some car dealerships have seemed somewhat ambivalent about e-mail inquiries from consumers. Sure, they represented potential sales leads. But it was assumed that online shoppers were even less serious about buying than on-site looky-loos. How commissions are usually doled out to dealership staffers further complicates matters. Nonetheless, because modern-day consumers demand info via the Web—and more importantly, because answering Internet inquiries quickly and accurately boosts sales—dealerships have been dramatically improving how they handle online shoppers.

In a new mystery shopper study conducted by Pied Piper Management, nearly half of auto dealerships (48%) responded to online inquiries in an impressive 30 minutes or less. Two years ago, it took an hour for the same percentage of inquiries to get responses from dealerships.

The reason for speeding up the response time is obvious. “Doing well in that area pays off in incremental sales,” Fran O'Hagan, president of Pied Piper, told WardsAuto. “The entire industry has improved because of that.”

“The reason you are seeing this huge improvement is that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” O'Hagan said to Automotive News. “With most programs, improvement usually happens incrementally. Not so with how you handle Internet leads. This results in huge changes, right away.”

Porsche and dealerships ranked highest in a study that looked how auto dealers handle internet leads.

Pied Piper's annual study used internet mystery shopping to contact 11,000+ dealerships to see how the U.S. dealer networks for all car brands compare.

Dealerships are getting better at responding to online customers, and the reason seems clear to Fran O'Hagan. “Dealers who handle Internet leads effectively sell a lot more vehicles than dealers who do not,” says the president of consultancy Pied Piper Management. “That is why manufacturers and individual dealers are so interested in this.”

Dealer behavior can change slowly in some respects, he says. “It is like changing the direction of a ship at sea.” Not so with the rapid improvements dealerships have shown in fielding online customer queries. “Doing well in that area pays off in incremental sales,” O'Hagan tells WardsAuto. “The entire industry has improved because of that.”

But some brands outdo others, as evidenced by Pied Piper's annual Prospect Satisfaction Index. The firm mystery shops to measure dealership Internet effectiveness in areas such as reply time and quality of response content. Porsche, Nissan and Audi dealerships rank highest in this year's satisfaction index. Lowest scorers are Mini, Mitsubishi and Scion in the cellar. Industrywide performance continues to improve, with 30 of 33 brands scoring above the industry average from two years ago and 24 of 33 brands scoring above last year's average.

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – March 11, 2013 – Porsche and Nissan dealerships ranked highest in the 2013 Pied Piper PSI(R) Internet Lead Effectiveness™(ILE™) Study, which measured how auto dealerships respond 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 actual industry sales success.

Industry-wide performance continued to improve, with 30 of 33 brands scoring above the industry average from two years ago; and 24 of 33 brands scoring above last year's industry average. The study showed that salespeople responded to customer internet inquiries within 30 minutes nearly half the time (48%). In contrast, two years ago it took a full hour to receive the same percentage of salesperson responses. However, there remains plenty of room for improvement. Nearly one-in-four of today's customer internet inquiries remain unanswered after 24 hours; unchanged from last year.

LOS ANGELES – Car dealerships are doing better at responding to Internet leads, but the quality of the responses still leaves something to be desired, according to a new study.

Mystery-shopping consultant Pied Piper Management Co. found that most of the 11,353 dealerships it submitted Internet inquires to in the past year now use customer relationship management software. And although the software usually automatically responds immediately to an e-mail inquiry, what happens after can make all the difference.

LOS ANGELES – Internet leads are crucial to every dealership's sales success, but a new study shows that most dealerships still drop the ball when contacted on-line by shoppers.

The survey was conducted by mystery shopping consultant Pied Piper of Monterey, Calif. The consultancy submitted internet inquiries to 4,331 dealerships nationwide representing all major brands. The inquiries included specific questions to verify whether the answer was from a person or an automated responder.

The most common dealership reply—the response to 16 percent of inquiries—was a simple automated response promising that a salesperson would be in touch soon, followed by a personal e-mail from a salesperson. But nearly one in four queries went unanswered in the first 24 hours. Pied Piper CEO Fran O'Hagan said that is little different from ignoring a customer who walks in the front door of a dealership.

Lexus, Infiniti and Acura ranked highest in Pied Piper's annual study to measure dealership responsiveness to buyers' questions over the internet.

Japanese luxury-brand U.S. dealerships rank best in fielding customer Internet inquiries, according to the latest results of an annual study by consulting firm Pied Piper Management.

Toyota's Lexus and Nissan's Infiniti tie for first place with 62% online-lead effectiveness, followed by Honda's Acura with 59%.
In contrast, two other Japanese nameplates score the worst, Toyota's Scion with 39% effectiveness and Suzuki, dead last with 23%.

Ford and Chrysler brands showed the most improvement from last year. In a 3-way tie for fourth place are Ford, Lincoln and Honda, each with 58% Internet effectiveness.

Pied Piper bases its rankings on a scoring index using “mystery shopping” measurements and sales success.

• Industry-wide improvement from previous year led by Ford and Chrysler
• However, 22% of customer internet inquiries remain unanswered after 24 hours

Monterey, California – March 12, 2012 – Lexus, Infiniti and Acura dealerships ranked highest in the 2012 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index(R) (PSI(R)) Internet Lead Effectiveness(™) (ILE™) Benchmarking Study, 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 actual industry sales success.

Industry-wide performance improved substantially from 2011 to 2012, with two-thirds of the 34 auto brands recording higher scores, but despite the higher scores there remains plenty of room for improvement. In 2011, dealerships on average responded to customer inquiries within 24 hours 64% of the time, improving to 78% of the time on average in 2012. However, the 2012 results suggest that nearly one-in-four of today's customer internet inquiries remain unanswered after 24 hours.