The average number of days it took for an online lead to mature to a final closed sale on AutoDeal dropped to a record low of forty-five (45) days in September. Supported by other trends like increased lead and sales volumes; it is likely that dealers can look forward to a faster rate of sales in the closing quarter of the year amidst an apparent heightened buying appetite.
"Based on the data being remitted from the showroom floor through our Lead-Management System, it would seem that dealers are not only hitting higher conversion rates, but that they are in-turn closing transactions at a faster pace than usual,” commented AutoDeal Chief Executive Officer Daniel M. Scott.
"These improved metrics correlate well with the overall advancements in online customer service that we’ve seen across all of our partners, who in response to our ongoing coaching have continued to field improved average response times,” he added.
Initial Response Time to online inquiries continues to be one of the most crucial factors in helping dealers to generate increased returns from online lead generation activities. Over the course of 2017, AutoDeal has been ‘hands on’ with it’s partners through it’s Dealer Liaison Team to help coach online sales teams through the provision of ongoing reporting and dealer development programs.
Since the start of the year, AutoDeal has marked a 48% improvement in it’s partners initial response times; with it’s top 100 partners now responding within 9 hours and it’s top 50 partner dealers responding in 4 hours or less. Driving these improvements is the direct correlation data that AutoDeal has been developing between response time and sales conversion; which currently suggests (among many other things), that dealers who reduce their sales time from 12 hours to 1 hour stand a 50% better chance of making a sale.
As performance numbers continue to stack in the right direction, dealers should be vigilant regarding the competition they face among one another in not only providing the best showroom experience, but also nurturing customers online before they get to the front-door.
With sales conversion timelines now hastening, dealers need to maintain high standards to ensure they sweep up as many sales as possible as consumers look to purchase before the onset of the forecasted increase in vehicle excise tax.
