The secrets to becoming an award winning retailer
Each year we run a comprehensive analysis of the UK’s 13,500 retailers to determine who are the best of the best and the winners of the year’s Auto Trader Retailer Awards.
This year we analysed thousands of data points, conducted a bespoke consumer research programme, assessed online customer reviews, ran an independent judging panel and once again executed our mystery shopping programme to find the very best retailers in the UK.
So, what did we find through the process and more importantly what do you need to do to become an award-winning retailer? Read on to find out.
It’s not all about the review rating
Aiming for five-star reviews on Auto Trader is something all retailers should be striving for. A high star rating helps to build trust with buyers and lets them know that they can expect a great experience from you.
But you need more than just a high rating to be among the very best retailers. Those offering the best customer service and who were in the running for the Customer Choice award and were a Highly Rated retailer this year were not only achieved a high review score. They also had a high ratio of reviews to stock and were responding to all reviews good and bad.
The key then to being recognised for your customer reviews is to make sure you get one with each purchase and that you are responding to them, good and bad. As well as putting you in the running for an award, this will also increase trust with your buyers and help drive more traffic to your adverts.
It’s in the little things
This year we had consumers review retailers’ adverts to help us better understand what exactly they are looking for from an advert on Auto Trader and of course which retailers are creating the most engaging and informative.
Our research found that buyers are most interested in the description and images of the vehicle meaning that these are the features on adverts that will carry the greatest weight when considering their purchase.
Perhaps unsurprisingly then, you need to ensure that your images and descriptions are of the very highest quality. You don’t need to be like Shakespeare (other playwrights are available), but your adverts need to feature plenty of detail, and compelling information to really bring the vehicle to life for a potential buyer
But we see thousands of adverts that have top quality images and descriptions composed by the finest wordsmiths our industry has to offer. So, what sets the very best apart?
In short, it’s adding in the extra features that really set apart adverts in the eyes of consumers with those retailers who received accolades for their advert quality including videos, multiple options to get in touch such as text and live chat, payment options and details about their dealership which helped to create trust.
Once you have your image quality down and your creating the most descriptive of descriptions, the key to becoming one of the very best retailers and a potential award winner is to focus on adding those little bits extra to each advert. So, with each advert make it so that a buyer could feel confident in buying that vehicle, from you entirely online.
The mysteries of mystery shopping
One of the core components of the Auto Trader Retailer Awards is our mystery shopping programme. Each year, the top 1000 retailers on Auto Trader (based on performance measures) are put into an independently run mystery shopping programme designed to identify those retailers offering the very best in customer service.
The programme is divided into three segments with each focussing on a specific section of the customer journey with all retailers entering the first phase, the email phase. Here retailers are sent an enquiry via email and their response (whether by email of phone) is recorded and scored. The top performing in this phase then enter the telephone phase where a telephone conversation with a mystery shopper is scored. Finally, the top retailers in the telephone phase enter the final phase where a mystery shopper will visit their forecourt and the experience scored.
This year’s winners had to have scored highly in every single phase and therefore to be among the best you need to be providing a consistent customer experience across all your touchpoints.
But what else did we find through this process and what are the key things you need to be doing to ensure you are providing the very best customer experience?
Qualifying the basics
This year saw a 0.7% improvement in overall scores for the email phase when compared to last year, so things are certainly moving in the right direction. However, we did see slight drops in the performance of small (under 50 stock) and large (over 100 stock) retailers so it’s essential to ensure your email responses are as detailed as possible.
When it comes to areas to improve upon though its customer qualification that sees some of the lowest scores.
So, to be among the best retailers, ensure that in your email responses your including all the information a buyer needs to know and don’t forget the basics such as correct spelling/punctuation, your contact details and an invite to visit your forecourt.
It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it
The very best retailers in the telephone and site visit phases were those that not only provided everything a customer could need but did so in a way that scored a high Behavioural Measurement Score®.
But what on earth is a Behavioural Measurement Score®?
It’s a fair question. This is the way we determine the “how it was said” side of things and it specifically measures how friendly, enthusiastic, professional, interested, attentive and helpful a retailer was in the eyes of the mystery shopper.
You can see above the overall scores for each based on retailer size, with the overall average for retailers on Auto Trader being a score of 2.92.
We can see that you are scoring well in friendliness and enthusiasm which is such a core part of effective selling, but the areas of improvement are around seeming personally interested in their needs and coming across as helpful in their decision-making process. By focussing on these areas and ensuring consistency across all areas of a customer’s buying journey you’ll be well on your way to becoming an award-winning retailer.