How to Use Customer Feedback to Refine Your Dealership Process

Running a dealership today isn’t easy. You may be offering great deals, but customers still don’t return as often as you’d like. Competitors are getting better reviews and while you know your dealership processes need improvement, figuring out where to start isn’t always clear.

If you are facing these challenges, here’s what can help: customer feedback. 

Collecting and understanding dealership reviews can help you know why you’re seeing low repeat business, where to focus your efforts and more.

In this blog, we’ll look at why customer feedback in automobile dealership matters, how a CRM can better support the collection of reviews, ways to use that feedback and some best practices so you can refine your processes and create a dealership experience that builds loyalty.

Why customer experience matters in the dealership process

A great customer experience can do more than just make people happy — it keeps them coming back and encourages them to recommend your dealership to friends and family. On the other hand, a poor experience will make them choose your competitors, no matter how good your deals are.

Capgemini research on customer experience in automotive shows:

• 3 in 4 customers aren’t happy with the bundled services they get and almost as many say their experience feels inconsistent across apps, websites and in person.
• Dealerships that improved the customer experience saw huge jumps in revenue, proof that it directly affects customer loyalty and sales.

As you already know, the automotive industry is very competitive. Today’s car buyers expect a seamless experience from online to showroom to post-purchase. They want personalised, quality service from you. 

So, if you ignore customer experience and feedback, it can lead to fewer sales, poor reviews and higher costs to win new customers.

Related read: 10 Automobile Upselling Strategies to Boost Sales & Retain Customers

How to collect customer feedback the right way

Many dealerships don’t have a structured feedback process in place. For most, it ends with a car buyer survey or post-service survey. And then, these surveys stay buried in email and are ignored.

If you really want to improve your dealership process, you need to understand the automotive customer journey and collect feedback systematically. That means asking the right people, at the right time, through the right channels to get insights you can actually use.

1. Map the automotive customer journey and identify key touchpoints

Before sending out surveys, make sure you really understand each stage of the automotive customer’s journey and pick the right moments to ask for feedback.

This is how the customer journey in the automotive industry usually looks:

• Awareness – when buyers first learn about your dealership through Google search, ads, social media or referrals.
• Consideration – when they begin comparing options, browsing your website, reading reviews or visiting the showroom for information.
• Purchase – the process of choosing a vehicle, negotiating prices, arranging financing and completing paperwork.
• Delivery – the handover of the vehicle, orientation and any associated bundled services.
• Post-purchase service – ongoing interactions like scheduled car maintenance, repairs and after-sales support.

Once you have a good understanding of these stages, identify the key touchpoints where customers engage the most. For example, during a test drive, a finance discussion, car delivery or a service visit. These are the best times to ask for feedback so you get insights at the right time and in the right context.

2. Channels to use

You can collect feedback in many ways. Just keep in mind that whatever channel you choose, it aligns well with the situation or various touchpoints you feel are important.

A few ways to collect feedback:

• Post-service feedback forms (at the service centre)
• Follow-up calls (after a purchase or service)
• Email surveys
• SMS surveys or links
• WhatsApp messages
• Social media polls or direct messages
• On-site kiosks or tablets in the showroom/service area

Each channel works best in specific situations, for example:

• WhatsApp or SMS – works best for short surveys after a service or visit
• Email surveys – better when you need detailed feedback after delivery

Again, this can vary from dealership to dealership; there are no hard rules. You can send a detailed survey over WhatsApp instead of email. In general, it’s best to go with a multichannel approach as it increases response rates.

3. Ask the right questions

All your efforts will go to waste if you’re not asking the right questions. Your goal should be to get answers that actually help you improve customer satisfaction, not just tick a survey box. So, here’s what to focus on — don’t just ask if they’re happy, dig deeper. Keep questions short, clear and focused on their actual experience so you get feedback you can act on.

Check out these examples:

• Sales experience: Was the salesperson able to answer all your questions clearly?
• Delivery process: Was your car delivered on time and in the condition promised?
• Service visit: Was the service team transparent about costs and timelines?
• Overall customer satisfaction: On a scale of 1–10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend?

How CRM makes feedback collection and follow-ups easier

You’ve got the feedback process in place. But how do you make sure it’s easy to manage? Because tracking it all, organising and analysing can be a real struggle.

So, what’s the solution to this? It’s a CRM tool. It helps you collect, organise and act on customer feedback automatically, saving time and ensuring every response gets the attention it deserves.

With automotive CRM software like Telecrm, it’s so much easier to streamline feedback collection, automate follow-ups and more. Here’s how it helps:

• Automate workflows: Create surveys using Google Forms or other tools, then set up workflows to automatically send survey links after sales, service or specific touchpoints.
• Multichannel integration: Reach out to your customers through email, SMS, WhatsApp and even Telecrm’s built-in auto dialer.
• Track survey delivery & follow-ups: See who received the survey and easily send reminders to those who haven’t responded.
• Centralised customer data: All customer data and interactions are stored in one place, making it easy to track feedback alongside other customer info.
• Tag & segment based on feedback: Tag and group leads manually or automatically for targeted follow-ups.
• Real-time alerts: Get instant notifications so your team can respond promptly to feedback or complaints.
• Reporting and analytics: Track interactions and feedback trends, segment automotive customers or leads based on their behaviour and gain valuable insights to make data-driven decisions.

Related read: CRM for Automobile Industry in India: A Complete Guide

How to turn customer feedback into better processes

It’s not enough to just collect customer feedback; you need to understand it and make changes that keep them happy and coming back. We’ve listed some key points below to show you how you can use feedback to actually fix issues and improve your dealership processes.

1. Identify recurring issues

A single negative comment may not always indicate a major problem, but if multiple automotive customers highlight the same issue, like poor follow-up, it’s a sign that the process needs to be fixed. Keeping track of how often the same feedback pops up helps you spot the biggest issues.

2. Prioritise what matters most

You cannot work on every piece of feedback at once. So, focus on areas that will have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. For example, reducing service turnaround time, improving test drive scheduling, etc.

3. Involve the right people

Once feedback patterns are identified, share them with the right teams and provide training where needed.

• Sales team – improve pitch clarity or reduce response times to leads
• Finance team – simplify and explain finance terms better
• Service team – reduce delivery delays

This collaboration and training are important for promptly addressing problem areas.

4. Create a clear action plan

Summarise feedback into actionable steps. Meaning, define what changes will be made, who is responsible for implementing them and by when.

Let’s understand this with an example:

• Issue: Customers feel they’re not kept informed about repair status
• Action: Implement regular SMS/WhatsApp updates to keep customers informed throughout the service process
• Goal: Improve customer communication ratings by 25% in the next quarter
• Owner: Service team lead

5. Communicate changes to customers

If feedback leads to improvements, tell your customers about it. For example, you could send an update message saying, ‘Based on your suggestions, we’ve added a faster booking option on our website.’ This shows customers their opinions matter, which can boost loyalty and encourage more feedback in the future.

6. Keep checking the results

Automotive customer preferences and expectations change over time. That’s why it’s important to keep monitoring the impact of implemented changes through surveys, ratings and repeat visit data and work on continuous improvement. If something isn’t working as you planned, refine the process further.

Best practices for using customer feedback to improve your dealership process

Here are some simple but effective ways to make feedback work for your dealership:

• Handle negative reviews professionally: No one likes getting bad reviews, but how you handle them can turn things around. Always acknowledge the issue, reply politely and try to provide a solution as soon as possible. This will give the impression that you care.
• Close the loop with customers who gave feedback: If a customer took the time to share their thoughts, let them know what you’ve done about it. You can drop them a quick message or call. This small practice can make a big difference in improving brand loyalty.
• Train your team based on real feedback: Use actual customer comments to highlight where your team is doing good work and where there’s room for improvement. Training that’s based on real experiences feels more relevant and helps your staff deliver better service.
• Use your CRM to make better decisions: A CRM keeps feedback and customer info in one place, helping you spot patterns and make improvements that truly matter.

Conclusion

As an owner, service team member or part of the sales team, when you’re looking for ways to improve your car dealership process, customer feedback becomes an important factor to focus on.

By understanding the journey, responding to customer queries on time and using a reliable CRM tool to manage feedback, you can make changes that really count.

With an automotive CRM like Telecrm, you can easily manage feedback, identify areas for improvement and improve customer satisfaction, sales, service and the overall customer experience. And over time, this helps you build a reputation for being customer-centric, the kind of dealership customers trust, return to and recommend to more people.

Book a free demo now and see how it can drive business growth for your dealership.