Your dealership did it: You made another successful sale. The customer seemed elated as she pulled off your lot, and you congratulated your team on a job well done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A customer who was pleased with her actual purchase (the car itself) may not have been quite as thrilled with the way her salesperson talked down to her<\/a>. Or, maybe she felt pressured into purchasing an extended warranty she wasn\u2019t sure she wanted. It may have even been your website\u2019s functionality<\/a> that wasn\u2019t too impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To base the success of an entire sale on a smile, a handshake, and an enthusiastic \u201cthank you!\u201d is not smart. It’s essential that you dig a little deeper \u2014 after the customer has driven their new vehicle home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A car dealership customer satisfaction survey is an excellent way to reach out to new customers and get their true opinions about your dealership, staff, and inventory. While you probably like to think a customer would openly share their thoughts in person, that is rarely the reality of the situation. Most customers will either just bottle up their feelings (and later share them with friends, family, and the online community) or say things they may or may not mean in a moment of frustration or excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A dealer satisfaction survey, however, gives the customer some time to sit, think, and provide thoughtful, honest answers in the comfort of their own home. The type of feedback you receive from these surveys can be critical to the success and future of your dealership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you create your auto dealer satisfaction survey, put yourself in your customers\u2019 shoes. Think about the major purchase they just made and how they feel. Consider basic human nature as well and realize that most people don\u2019t want to answer a long, boring survey. You need to make a list of questions, and then edit, edit, edit. Get your final list of questions down to 10-15, tops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not sure what to include? Here are a few tips:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If possible, make most auto dealer satisfaction survey questions an open-text field where customers can freely express themselves. Allowing customers to explain themselves in their own words helps clarify feelings. Numeric rating scales (\u201crate our dealership on a scale from 1-10\u201d) can sometimes be confusing to customers, and everyone feels differently about certain numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, a customer may rate his or her overall experience as an 8 because it went well, but he or she simply believes \u201cno one is perfect\u201d and a 10 is not realistic. Meanwhile, you see 8 on the survey results and wonder where your team went wrong to get less than a 10 (even if the customer can\u2019t name anything specific and was perfectly happy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n You are sending out a dealer satisfaction survey because you want real, honest answers from customers. That means your questions should not be asked in a leading way, or in any manner that could affect the outcome. This would be an example of a leading question: \u201cWere you happy with the service you received from our award-winning sales team?\u201d This type of wording may influence someone to give you a better review than they were initially planning to. A better way to phrase the question would be, \u201cWhat did you think of the salesperson who handled your purchase?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n By asking about every aspect of the buying experience \u2014 from your website, to the inventory, the receptionist, and even the cleanliness of the bathrooms \u2014 you should eventually begin to get a better picture of where things are (and aren\u2019t) going right for customers. They may point out small issues you would never have noticed without their help. Here are some sample questions to get started:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you create the auto dealer satisfaction survey, you need to determine guidelines for sending it out. Some dealerships have their salespeople take responsibility for sending out surveys, while others put the responsibility on their Internet marketing department<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Either way, you should ensure these individuals understand your desired timeline for sending out the survey after a purchase has been made. You want customers to answer while their memory of the experience is still fresh, so a good time to send a survey out is the next morning \u2014 the day after the sale. This gives them a chance to get home and sleep on it before you ask for their opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember, customers are doing you a big favor by filling out your survey, so at the very least, be sure to say thank you! Of course, a coupon for a discount in your service department isn\u2019t such a bad idea either.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPut effort into creating high-quality dealer customer satisfaction survey questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ask open-ended questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Keep survey questions free of bias<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Consider all areas of the dealership the customer may have dealt with<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Sell cars on the lot faster with AutoRaptor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n