Eight manufacturers use Reevoo, including Kia, Mazda, Vauxhall and Volvo, but more than 20 dealer groups have signed up since the first in July 2011. The reviews are well into the thousands. Prices for the service start at £500 per month, but is it worth it?

“Like all social media, it’s very difficult to measure the return on investment,” said Williams. “We just know we need to be doing this in order to make our ‘shop window’ – the website – the best it can be.”

 

Why you should welcome bad reviews

A large button at the top right of Simpsons’ homepage encourages people to add reviews, with 95% of customers saying they would buy again. “Without blowing our own trumpet, the biggest problem we’ve had is getting it below 100%. It’s only recently it’s dropped to a more credible number,” said Williams.

John Gray, Reevoo’s global head of automotive, said negative feedback brings benefits, from greater customer satisfaction to an improved service. It can also mean increased footfall and sales leads, an SEO boost because of user-generated website content and higher Google seller ratings.

He emphasised it was vital dealerships didn’t collect and publish their own reviews: “The vast majority of buyers won’t believe they are seeing the correct picture.”

His point is that negative reviews won’t necessarily put customers off, so don’t be scared of them. A bad point to one purchaser is often irrelevant to another, and seeing criticism won’t be enough to send them running.

Far more relevant is the ratio of good reviews to bad. If you’re getting a higher proportion of negative reviews than you’d expect, your collection system could be the problem. For example, if you don’t solicit reviews – such as by emailing customers after they’ve visited – then you risk getting too many bad reviews because the only people motivated to comment are those who aren’t happy. They risk drowning out the silent majority, who got great service. “Proactively inviting reviews gives your happy customers the nudge they need,” said Gray.

“By collecting reviews from these customers, the bad ones are properly diluted by the crowd of satisfied purchasers.”

How you deal with negative feedback is crucial. Put simply, don’t just ignore it. Respond quickly and be keen to engage; does the customer have a point, is there something you can change to improve your service? Is there a training need to be addressed? Or was the customer just ‘one of those’ who was never going to be happy?