Employee advocacy is likely to make more advances in 2014 having gained traction over the previous 12 months.

“We emphasised the importance of social media involvement to all our staff and they have all come on board by retweeting messages and sharing posts. We have shown that if everyone buys into it, the results follow,” said Perrys’ Lee Manning.

 

User-generated content

Many dealer websites feature independent customer reviews, in recognition of the growing trend for consumers to seek peer recommendations. At Wessex Garages, following the incorporation of rating and review service Reevoo, time spent on its website rose 374%, from an average of 3.3 minutes to more than 15 minutes, while average page-views per visit went up from 3.28 to nearly 10, an increase of almost 200%.

 

Video

Citnow enables technicians to film work required on a vehicle, the sales team to provide a ‘guided tour’ of a used car, enables sales executives to ‘meet and greet’ online and capture customer testimonials on film. ‘Red work’ conversion grew 39% at one Nissan dealer group since it introduced Citnow in its aftersales department.

This year, GForces will introduce Sky AdSmart to its dealers.  Wessex Garages, which already incorporates a ‘TV’ section on its website, will be among the first to take advantage. Sky AdSmart allows different adverts to be shown to different households watching the same programme, making TV advertising highly targeted and accessible for smaller businesses.

 

Big data

The database is the gold mine of any business, while applying data available from other sources can transform fortunes. For example, Deltapoint’s i-Control software uses Auto Trader data to help dealers source cars that are in demand and price them to market with the aim of driving faster stock turn.

Global chairman and CEO at KPMG Michael Andrew wrote in his LinkedIn ‘Big Idea 2014’ article: “The value of data is no longer in the ability to store it, but in the insights which you can derive from it using the right analytics.”

The biggest challenge in 2014, perhaps, may well still rest in the physical world – converting leads into customers.