Social, review sites key drivers of auto dealership selection

Last month I reported on research from mobile ad network Mojiva that revealed half of the 200 respondents to their survey expressed an interest in using their mobile device to research buying, or leasing, a vehicle.

More car-buying research, this time from automotive social media consultancy Digital Air Strike, highlights the importance of social media among car buyers. Of the 275 car buyers surveyed, over two-thirds (69%), used social media when choosing a dealership.

Reviews, in particular, played an important role when deciding on a dealership to visit.

Over two-thirds of car shoppers said that dealership reviews impacted which dealership they visited while half said that reading reviews affirmed their original choice of dealership.

Almost 1 in 5 said they selected a dealership based on social media reviews or changed their choice of dealership based on those reviews.

Despite the importance of social media to consumers looking to purchase a car, a whopping 90% of dealerships that manage social media marketing in-house did not respond to negative online reviews. Even more, 95%, didn't respond to positive reviews.

"This groundbreaking study highlights the importance of social networks and review sites in the car- buying process," said Alexi Venneri, co-founder of Digital Air Strike. "Dealers who work with a social media partner can gain a significant advantage from increases in consumer engagement and related website traffic."

The study revealed the top four review sites used to determine dealership selection, as ranked by consumers in the study, were Edmunds (22%), Cars.com (20%), and Yelp (19%) and Google Reviews (19%).

Tags: automobile, car dealership, consumer insight, purchase behavior, review sites, social media