Watch Out for Tricky Dealer Language
» Posted August 25, 2016 • Resources | Share This Post
Buying a new car is rarely a fun experience. Consumers often face high pressure sales tactics and uncertainty when it comes to price and quality. While California car lemon law can protect new car buyers from some of the biggest problems they could face if their vehicles have repeated defects, consumers are still concerned about buying a car and ending up dealing with nothing but problems.
Knowing how the industry works, as well as some of the tricks that are used by car salesmen, can be one of the best ways for consumers to make sure they make informed and smart purchasing choices. Just recently, PR Newswire reported on a new study that showed some of the language used by car dealers to try to convince people to go through with purchasing vehicles.
New Study Shows Language Used by Car Dealers to Sell Vehicles
The study was conducted by CDK Global and it was part of its “Language of the Closers” research that has been an ongoing effort. To find out what language car dealers were using to close the deals and sell cars, the researchers analyzed responses from auto dealers to customer emails. Natural language processing techniques were utilized by researchers to make assessments of the language being used among a network of 1,300 auto dealers.
Email responses to online shoppers were compared from the dealers with the highest rates of closing email sales versus the lowest rates of closing email sales. The differences between the emails from the higher closers to the low closers were identified. Based on this data, they were able to identify the words and the phrases which were most likely to result in the consumer buying the car.
The research showed that the dealers who used the most proactive language were the ones who had the most success, rather than just using positive words such as “love,” or “amazing.” If a car dealer outlined the clear next steps that the consumer could take to move forward in the purchasing process, this was the most effective way to get car buyers to move forward. Based on this, the research concluded that “car shoppers need to be guided through the process,” and so dealers do best when they use “language to help them on their journey.”
The research also revealed that language like “give me a call,” or “feel free to email any time,” ended up being very ineffective and was used by some of the lowest closers because it put the responsibility back on the shopper to take the next step. By contrast, the word “provide” was the top word used by high closers and it was used in sharing details about the buying process and quotes.
The research can be helpful to consumers in identifying whether they are feeling pressured to buy by proactive language and subconscious cues. Consumers who buy cars need to look out for their own interests. This means consumers must gain a deeper understanding about sales tactics and the lemon law in case they have a problem with the vehicle they end up purchasing.
