Lexus Partners With Widewail To Enhance Online Customer Experience

By AIT News Desk On May 26, 2020

As the Conversation Further Shifts from In-Store to Digital, Widewail Keeps Dealers Informed and Engaged

Widewail, the automotive industry’s leading reputation management and social media engagement solution, has partnered with Lexus to ensure each online customer engagement experience with the luxury OEM’s dealers is positive, engaging, and exceeds the hallmark expectations of the Lexus brand. Widewail’s Engage solution, which delivers online customer review monitoring and response management for local businesses, will be paid for by Lexus on behalf of subscribing dealers for one year beginning August 1.

As Lexus dealers throughout the U.S. navigate the business impacts of the pandemic and improve their online operations, it is paramount that the signature Lexus values of quality and service are not lost in a digital experience. Now, Lexus dealers using Widewail’s Engage solution will be able to effortlessly monitor and respond to reviews in real time and optimize positive reviews for search, keeping customers engaged, building loyalty and improving dealership visibility.

“Widewail responses are timely, thoughtful, and engaging,” says Amy Nail, Marketing Director at Jim Koons Automotive Companies. “When customer issues do arise, the Widewail process is quick and seamless, and we immediately put the customer at ease and take any issues offline. Having the expertise of the Widewail team in our corner has allowed us to focus on other aspects of our digital strategies with the peace of mind that our online reputation is being guarded.”

85% of customers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation*

Widewail’s solution leverages automation and industry expertise to monitor and respond to consumer reviews with immediacy and personalization. When a negative review is posted, for instance, dealers are notified via text with a copy of the review and a suggested human-authored response that they can either publish or edit. Additional capabilities of Widewail’s Engage solution include:

Continuous monitoring of stores’ review sites on Google, Yelp, Facebook, CarGurus, DealerRater, Cars.com, and Edmunds. Carfax will be added shortly.
Access to real-time reporting across monitored sites.
Side-by-side comparisons among profit-centers.

“Online customer engagement through reviews and social media has a large impact on search rankings today and can easily – and immediately – influence a customer’s decision to buy, recommend, or make contact with that business,” says Matt Murray, Founder and CEO of Widewail. “All too often, a business suffers at the hands of a negative, unanswered review or social comment, a positive review that goes unappreciated, or worse, individuals who don’t represent the company injecting their opinion. We are proud to introduce our solution to Lexus dealers and ensure they never miss an opportunity to deliver a positive customer experience.”

Consumers read an average of 10 reviews before they feel they can trust a local business; 57% of consumers will only consider a business if it is rated 4 stars or higher.

“At Lexus we have always held guest experience as our top priority. Now, more than ever, our customers are interacting with our dealerships online. With thousands of customer interactions happening each day, we need a solution for our dealerships that is of the highest quality, personal, and cost-effective,” says David Telfer, National Manager of Digital Marketing at Lexus. “Widewail, with its thoughtful approach to engagement management and unique focus on conversational SEO, is the best choice to provide Lexus guests with personalized, impactful online experiences.”

Dealers can also opt for Widewail’s Engage Plus package, which delivers managed social engagement across Facebook and Instagram and rich social media analysis and reporting. Engage Plus features sentiment scoring for Facebook and Instagram and Q&A seeding and management on the location’s Google My Business page.