Boosting Customer Satisfaction with Test Drives
10 March 2025 by Curtis Hutchinson
JudgeService finds routinely offering test drives boosts customer satisfaction
Dealers who routinely offer test drives and make follow-up contact with car buyers are achieving significant boosts to their net promoter scores.
Research of over 436,100 customer questionnaires by JudgeService shows how offering test drives is the sales process delivering the biggest increase in customer satisfaction scores, up 45% to 81%.
Customers also appreciate dealers getting in touch after they have bought a car, with satisfaction levels rising 41% to 87% for those that do.
The next biggest incremental gain is being achieved by showroom sales staff who introduce customers to a manager, prompting a rise of 24% to 90%.
The research also found dealers who fail to offer any of these are unlikely to be recommended by prospective customers to family and friends.
“Our net promoter research reveals the positive impact of consistently delivering sales processes that acknowledge some of the fundamental expectations of customers,” said Neil Addley, managing director of JudgeService.
“Test drives sell cars. They always have done and always will do. Sales staff who do not consistently introduce them as part of their sales conversations will prompt customers to shop elsewhere. Post-Covid some salespeople had got used to unaccompanied test drives and this caused a bit of a malaise in the sales process.
“Likewise introducing customers to showroom managers helps build relationships and trust. While contacting buyers after they’ve made a purchase makes them feel valued and provides an opportunity to address any issues that may have arisen during their first weeks of ownership.
“In a challenging retail environment successfully executed sales processes deliver incremental gains in terms of sales and customer satisfaction,” said Addley.
Further details and comments available from Neil Addley on 07795 665927 or neil@judgeservice.com.
About JudgeService
Launched in 2011 by Neil Addley, JudgeService is the UK’s only customer review platform developed exclusively for the car retailing sector. By ensuring all reviews are verified and genuine, JudgeService builds a solid foundation of trust and respect between customers and sellers enabling car retailers to actively manage their online reputations.
JudgeService shares granular insight reports with dealers to help them identify opportunities to improve customer satisfaction levels, with many achieving 100% recommendation scores.
Based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, JudgeService has published over 1 million customer reviews and is used by over 1,000 franchised, independent and car supermarket sites across the UK.
Issued by Curtis Hutchinson Communications
