Dealer website response declines for 18 brands while 12 improve

A recent auto dealership study looked at the question, “How often did the brand’s dealerships email or text an answer to a website customer’s question within 30 minutes?”

Infiniti, Volvo, Subaru, Acura and Jaguar accomplished that feat more than 45% of the time on average.

Overall, the 2021 Pied Piper PSI Internet Lead Effectiveness Benchmarking Study sought to answer the question, “What happens when customers visit a dealer website and inquire about a vehicle?” Ranking highest were Infiniti dealerships, followed by Subaru and Acura.

Infiniti, Subaru, Acura, BMW and Land Rover were the brands showing the greatest improvement from 2020 to 2021.

Also from 2020 to 2021, a dozen brands improved their performance.

Performance for 18 brands, however, and the industry overall, declined.

Pied Piper said COVID-19 has generated much more interest in digital retail tools.

With those tools, website customers can complete more of their purchase path from home.

Pied Piper said dealer feedback shows that customers using the digital retail process still benefit from “assisted selling,” in which dealership personnel are easy to reach throughout the process.

But dealers whose websites featured a “buy now” button failed to quickly respond to customer attempts to “chat” 44% of the time on average, according to the study.

For the study, Pied Piper submitted customer inquiries through the individual websites of 4,356 dealerships. Pied…