Press

Monterey, California – March 7, 2022 – For the second consecutive year, Infiniti dealerships were ranked highest according to the 2022 Pied Piper PSI^® Internet Lead Effectiveness^® (ILE^®) Study, which measured responsiveness to Internet leads coming though dealership websites – a top requirement for retail success. Mazda and Subaru dealers were ranked highest of the mainstream brands.

“Most dealers had less inventory in 2021, but dealer treatment of sales prospects was still critical, as it determines not only sales today but also the dealership’s success tomorrow,” said Fran O’Hagan, CEO of Pied Piper. “Dealers who respond quickly, personally, and completely to website customer inquiries on average sell 50% more vehicles to the same quantity of website customers as opposed to dealers who fail to respond.”

Pied Piper submitted mystery-shopper customer inquiries through the individual websites of 3,628 dealerships, asking a specific question about a vehicle in inventory, and providing a customer name, email address and local telephone number. Pied Piper then evaluated how the dealerships responded by email, telephone and text message over the next 24 hours.

Brands with the greatest improvement since last year’s study were Cadillac, Chevrolet, Lexus, Dodge, Chrysler and GMC. Twelve brands improved their performance from 2021 to 2022, while the performance for fifteen brands declined. Industry average performance was unchanged.