CASE STUDIES
Jake Barron, Marketing Director:
| PRODUCTS | COMPANY | INDUSTRY | OBJECTIVES | LOCATIONS |
 |
Jim Koons Automotive Companies |
Automotive |
Increase review volume, manage responses |
23 |
Widewail's Impact
Total Koons Automotive Group Metrics
Having already incorporated Widewail’s “Engage” online review management service two years prior, the Koons Automotive Group sought to increase customer review volume for sales and service at their 23 locations in the Baltimore, Wilmington and D.C. markets. When comparing the 3-month period before and after implementing Invite - the results were remarkable.
With 23 locations spanning Virginia, Delaware and Maryland, customer service and the management of online consumer sentiment has been a daily challenge faced by the Koons Automotive Group for many years.
Their community focus made evident through the company’s philanthropic activities (under the “Koons Cares” banner), executive leadership knew their review management and generation strategy would have to evolve to match the outreach efforts so integral to the brand.
Of all the online reputation management case studies we've assembled to date, this one is quite remarkable, so we hope it tells an automotive story that resonates.
Widewail’s partnership with Koons was already well-established prior to the group’s decision to launch the “Invite” SMS review generation system.
Koons Marketing Director, Jake Barron, had this to say about the reputation management struggles faced by a group of their size:
“Prior to partnering... we responded to all negative and positive reviews internally. The resources needed to accomplish this task across all platforms fell short; leaving reviews without responses and our customers’ voices unheard.”
Freeing up the Koons digital marketing team to spend this wealth of recaptured time to focus on other tasks, however, wasn’t the only tangible benefit of Widewail's “Engage” managed review response service.
“When customer issues do arise, the Widewail process gets the appropriate management teams involved to offer a quick response. This puts the customer at ease and takes the confrontation off-line for a more personal and appropriate resolution.”
Their review management process now in place via “Engage”, with positive results, Koons shifted focus toward encouraging the voice of their often unheard happy customers and increasing review volume across their organization.
Widewail’s text-message-based review generation tool, “Invite”, was the obvious choice, and implementation was finalized across all rooftops in late January 2021. It didn’t take long for significant progress to follow.
Jake Barron Marketing Director
Results: Total of 67,820 SMS Review Requests Sent and a 633% Total Volume Increase in the First 3 Months
When comparing the three months prior to Invite’s launch (October 22, 2020 - January 21, 2021) to the three months post-implementation (January 22, 2021 - April 22, 2021) the effectiveness of Widewail’s "Invite" review generation solution is simply undeniable.
Network-wide review volume:
*Actual reporting screenshot from Widewail app
Percentage negative reviews (3-stars or less):
More often than not, 90 days isn’t enough time to accurately measure the value of a recently adopted online review management service. Jake Barron, however, feels confident the partnership will continue to benefit the Koons organization.
A PDF version of this case study is available for download.
We look forward to updating this case study once more time passes and performance increases accrue. Widewail is proud to be helping car dealerships and automotive groups manage and generate customer feedback and invaluable social proof via Google, Facebook, DealerRater, CarGurus, Cars.com, and other popular online review platforms.
