Customer feedback and intelligence platform Alchemer recently released two new automotive customer experience reports, revealing several findings about consumer behavior, review preferences, satisfaction ratings, emerging feedback channels, and brand loyalty across the automotive customer experience.

As shared in a press release, Alchemer surveyed 1,005 U.S. consumers across age groups, genders, and locations who recently visited a multi-location automotive service center, parts supplier, or dealership. The report examined the customer journey across discovery, evaluation, customer experience, and retention, including how automotive businesses can improve feedback collection, reputation management, and closed-loop customer experiences.

Customer Feedback Channels

Though email is the most widely used feedback channel among automotive customers, comments submitted through mobile apps are rarely ignored and significantly more likely to lead to acknowledgement and visible action.

62.2% of feedback submissions come through email surveys, making email the most commonly used feedback channel. 74.1% of customers providing feedback through a mobile app received an acknowledgment, compared with 57.6% through email.

Additionally, 36.4% of mobile app respondents saw a visible change after providing feedback, compared with just 14.2% of email respondents. Only 4.2% of mobile app respondents said nothing happened after providing feedback, compared with 24.1% of email respondents.

Online Reviews

More than 67% of customers read online reviews before choosing a dealership or service center—and among those customers, 76.9% say reviews influence their decision.

Google is the leading review source across every age group. However, Facebook is more influential than Yelp across every age group in the study, with customers under the age of 45 relying on it most heavily.

Satisfaction Ratings Versus Trust

88% of automotive customers rated their most recent automotive experience positively, and 93% said they are likely to keep coming back. This satisfaction doesn’t translate to trust though, particularly with dealerships, with only 37% saying they trust dealerships “a great deal.” 60.6% also said their expectations are higher than they were two years ago.

Alchemer’s research also showed differences in the automotive feedback experience between men and women, with women less likely to be asked for feedback and more likely to report receiving no follow-up after providing it.

27% of women said they have never been asked for feedback, compared with 18% of men. 54% of women said they were asked for feedback and responded, compared with nearly 64% of men.

In addition, 22.2% of women said that nothing happened after they provided feedback, compared with 16.2% of men. 10.1% of women reported receiving no response or acknowledgment after giving feedback, compared with just 6.5% of men.