Aside from ranking below average on J.D. Power’s 2022 U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study and eighth in the 2022 U.S. Sales Satisfaction Study, Ford dealers also fared rather poorly on the 2022 Pied Piper PSI Internet Lead Effectiveness (ILE) Study, ranking nearly at the bottom of the pack by beating out one single brand – Fiat – and falling behind every other automaker. Now, with many major changes in the works that aim to propel Ford dealers into the brave new world of electrification, the 2023 Pied Piper PSI Internet Lead Effectiveness Study has bene released, and it reveals that official Blue Oval sellers ranked far better in this regard over the past year than the previous one.
Ford dealers moved up a grand total of 10 spots year-over-year, finishing with a score of 58, which ranks it behind first-place Cadillac (72), Infiniti (69), Volkswagen (67), Subaru (66), Toyota (64), Volvo (64), Acura (63), Chrysler (63), Jaguar (63), Porsche (63), Alfa Romeo (62), Lexus (62), Polestar (62), BMW (61), Land Rover (61), Chevy (60), GMC (60), Mazda (60), Hyundai. (59), Mini (59), and Nissan (59), ties it with the industry average, and ranks it ahead of Audi (57), Jeep (57), Lincoln (57), Mercedes-Benz (57), Ram (57), Buick (56), Dodge (56), Genesis (55), Honda (55), Kia (55), Mitsubishi (55), Fiat (54), Rivian (48), Tesla (38), and Lucid (30).
The 2023 Pied Piper PSI Internet Lead Effectiveness (ILE) Study measures responsiveness to internet leads coming though dealership websites. It does this by collecting mystery-shopper customer inquiries through the individual websites of 5,428 dealerships, asking a specific question about a vehicle in inventory, and providing a customer name, email address, and telephone number. Pied Piper then evaluated how the dealerships responded by email, telephone, and text message over the next 24 hours, grading dealers on a scale of 0-100.
“Auto dealers industrywide were quicker on average to respond to their website customers this year,” said Fran O’Hagan, CEO of Pied Piper. “Dealers have learned that they meet most of their customers online today before anyone visits in person, and dealers who respond quickly, personally, and completely to website customer inquiries simply sell more vehicles.”
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Comments
The Ford company website is no better. Go build a truck and see if you get the same amount of information and photos of finished build that you do if you build a GMC truck. It’s poor at best. My build was F250 Tremor.
They are tired and annoyed with people asking about Mavericks so
They just don’t answer at.
I went with a recommendation from a friend when I ordered mine. He was my buddy right up to the moment the truck was ordered. I have heard from him twice since then. He knows I need a vehicle and is doing nothing to help.
I have seen both end of the spectrum. Ford dealers I have made inquiries with were either super responsive or don’t call back at all. Where the responsive dealers were lacking was after they make contact with you and possibly set up an appointment at a dealership, when you arrive, the sales people have no idea you were coming or have no idea of your background as to what you want. Also I found sales people that aren’t familiar with the vehicles and use of the order systems and weren’t able to answer my questions to my satisfaction. I ended up traveling over an hour from where I live to finally find a dealership that had a sales person who was knowledgeable and I was comfortable with. I made no appointment previously and walked in and placed an order that day. As consumers we have a choice and I will spend my hard earned money with who I feel treated me right.