How Your Dealership Can Gain Trust from Customers

If you are a frequent reader of Click’s blog, you may notice that a lot of our tips revolve around transparency and trust. As I have stressed the importance of being open and sincere with customers so much in the past, I thought the topic deserved its own blog piece.

The Importance of Transparency and Trust

According to data published by Auto Trader, the used car trade is the least trusted out of 13 major industries, with a mere seven per cent of consumers agreeing that they trust used car dealerships. This presents a perfect opportunity for your dealership to stand out among your competitors.

When customers are conducting research online and trying to decide which dealer to buy from, they will look for something that makes them stand out, and there is nothing more enticing than an honest and reliable seller.

Purchasing a vehicle is a big decision for most consumers and they want to know that they are making the right choice before they commit to a dealership. This is why transparency is crucial.

How You Can be Transparent Online

It shouldn’t be too difficult for you to convince customers of your trustworthiness in person, but with most consumers conducting research online first, the question is, how can you reassure customers through your website?

Make All Vehicle Documents Available

If customers are looking at a particular car on your site, an excellent way to gain their trust is to upload any documents that you possess which are related to that vehicle, like the V5, MOT certificates, service history documents, tax receipts and the PDI.

Customers will appreciate this because it provides evidence, which will give them certainty in what they are purchasing and confidence in your dealership.

Photos

Try to include enough photos of each of your vehicles to cover every angle so that website users have no reason to suspect that you are hiding something. For the same reason, you should make sure that your images are excellent quality. They should be HD and capable of being expanded as a full-screen picture without becoming blurred.

Videos

Similarly, videos can exude transparency. Uploading a complete video tour of a vehicle inside and out will leave no room for doubt.

Reviews

One of the most effective means of providing transparency is review systems. Just by having a system in place where customers can rate your dealership and comment on their experience presents you as a company which is not only proud of its customer service, but also one that cares about feedback.

The truth of the matter is that people will trust third-party reviews a lot more than anything you tell them because they are completely unbiased, and there is no reason for your previous customers to lie.

For more information on Click Dealer’s document uploader, image manager, video manager or online review management platforms, get in touch today via marketing@clickdealer.co.uk, 01782 478220 or through our contact page.