Project: Improve Westpoint Autos Group Online Reputation

When I arrived at Westpoint Autos one thing I noticed immediately was their low score on Google My Business and Facebook. This is a huge problem as ‘Search’ is a vital part of the customer journey and this is the first thing a customer sees.

Reading consistent negative reviews will deter customers from even considering the business as a place of purchase. The presence of negative reviews is necessary as no negative reviews may make the page look artificial. Having overwhelmingly negative reviews though is bad for business.

[Source: Podium https://bit.ly/3EE8yEJ]

There were two parts to this campaign:

1. Current customers Gather and increase the volume of content from happy customers
   

2. Future Customers Promote this positive content on Westpoint Autos online channels

Although this is more of a company-wide culture and training issue, regarding customer service - the marketing team were keen to assist where possible.

Goals

• Take steps to improve Westpoint Autos digital footprint and search

• Increase positive reviews added to Google & Facebook pages

• Create a process for Salespeople to collect more happy customer photos

Target audience, customer insight and targeting

1. Existing and recent customers that have purchased a vehicle from one of Westpoint Autos Dealerships
   

2. Customers at the ‘Researching’ part of the customer journey that would like to buy a new or used car in the Brisbane area

Diagram of the customer journey to purchase [Source: Google Analytics Blog]

Key campaign messages and offers

1. Leave a review on Westpoint Autos (or subsidiaries) Facebook or Google pages If there is an issue please allow us to fix it before going to social media
   

2. Westpoint Autos is a great choice when purchasing your next vehicle Look at our reviews and photos of happy customers

Strategy

1. Eliminate roadblocks and extra steps to leaving reviews (1 click - no search) Posters and signage all over dealership reminding customers to leave a review Utilising QR codes to link customers to reviewing page Share existing positive reviews to prompt customers to write their own KPI’s set for good reviews and photos from salespeople - financial incentive
   

2. Process in place to ensure all delivery photos are posted to social media and google Positive reviews and photographs featured heavily in the content plan Remind the salespeople that good reviews = more customers = more commission

Online media mix selection and budgeting

(1) Current Customers

• Review us posters and stands [$7.88 x 50 = $394]

• Research display frames this was the most cost-effective vs time to deliver [Product Link: https://bit.ly/3rQkBLS]

• Strategically placed in the seating area where customers wait to pick up their new car

• Sharing existing positive customer reviews on a weekly basis to every page [Free]

• Incentivising salespeople for positive reviews and photographs [$25 per review]
  

(2) Future Customers

• Sharing and boosting happy customers purchasing cars [$10/ per post/ 1 week]

• Reinforcing good behaviour from salespeople

• Congratulating them on great reviews and CC’ing in their manager to ensure they receive additional praise
  

Campaign results

Overall this campaign was a small success. Improving your reputation online is a slow process. Building trust with your customers, once it is broken, is very difficult. Marketing can only do so much when the other parts of the business are not functioning well.

To make it fair I have grouped Sales Locations [Indooroopilly, Moorooka, Hillcrest and Springwood] and then averaged the google score.

The Indooroopilly dealership was originally the worst-rated at 3.7 stars on Google. This was a huge concern as this is the flagship Westpoint Autos dealership. Thankfully this is the one location that showed the most improvement and ended on 4.2 stars. The remaining dealerships barely fluctuated so it would seem that this campaign did not impact their online reputation significantly.

Post campaign review

This campaign is a slow burn initiative to improve the online reputation of the Westpoint Autos group. It acts as a support to the overarching reputation repair goals of the company. Making the salespeople, managers and all staff aware that these scores are vital to success was an important part of the process. Getting the board to understand that this cannot be fixed overnight, bad google reviews can’t ‘just be removed’ and this is a company culture issue was an ongoing challenge. Staff that are unhappy tend to treat customers worse which leads to poor customer experience and bad reviews.

For service sector businesses, happy staff bring more custom in, as customers are attracted by the feel-good energy and buzz of a happy team. Happy staff work harder! They see the value in the work that they do, have the resources needed to do their work well and enjoy doing a good job.

[Source: CICwellbeing https://bit.ly/31Qpv0w ]

I think to see noticeable improvement there needed to be action taken from an upper management/ director level, not marketing. Still, this was an important campaign to modernise the business and bring to light the importance of customer satisfaction and purchasing experience.

I learned a lot from tracking the statistics and deep-diving into customer reviews both online and in customer complaints inbox. I learned about what matters to customers when buying a high ticket item like a vehicle. A theme that repeated itself in customer feedback was the lack of communication. With newer CRM systems, this can be automated to a degree and customers feeling abandoned can be avoided. I think the implementation of a comprehensive CRM system is a must if Westpoint Autos wants to increase customer satisfaction going forward.