Mobials set to go live with Trader in February
Mobials reports it is set to go live with its ReviewMii review system on autotrader.ca at the end of February.
The published agreement will give dealers running Mobials the chance to solicit reviews from happy customers then syndicate those messages and ratings to their inventory listings on Trader, along with 11 other existing vehicle classified sites.
“We have something that I know has never been done before,” explained co-founder Marty Meadows. “Customers looking for specific used cars will invariably find their way to a third-party classified site. ReviewMii is the only solution that will help tell the story of your customer-focused attention to detail to these intenders. It grabs the voice of your happy customers and tells everyone about it on the classified sites and in the social media world.”
Meadows, formally one of the faces of CarProof, moved from the vehicle history report company he had helped build to Mobials late last year.
Though he had been one of the three co-founders of Mobials along with James Hayes (no relation to the writer) and Brad Hanebury, he stressed he was a silent partner who was not actively involved in the early stages of the company.
Mobials is built on the premise of returning the power of word-of-mouth to dealers. Stores spend a lot of money getting their inventory published on sites like Auto123, Kijiji and Trader.
“If you’re spending $5,000 a month to syndicate your inventory to Trader, for example, you have to realize that all your competition is doing the exact same thing. It’s a commodity. There is nothing that differentiates you on any of the classified sites.”
And while dealers will always say customers buy from them because of the experience, there is no way to relate that information on inventory listings outside of a dealer’s own site without ReviewMii, Meadows insisted.
Dealers on Mobials simply have sales consultants ask customers for a reviews and a star rating which is facilitated through an email or text. Once the fields are populated, users simply press a button and the review is instantly shared on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, the dealer’s Facebook page and everywhere else the dealer syndicates to that Mobials is integrated with.
“The only option before is for customers to go to Yelp, Google or DealerRater.ca to write a review. Most people don’t do that unless they are upset with the experience. Look at all the negative travel reviews on sites like TripAdvisor,” Meadows said.
“Mobials gives the power of the positive review to the dealer by giving them the power to solicit reviews internally.”
And should someone write a negative review?
“That’s fine. You want to grab all the reviews; bad ones too. Dealers make mistakes; it is how they respond to those mistakes that separate the good dealers from the great dealers.
“On our product, you are able to respond online so other shoppers can see how the dealer dealt with it. There is no gaming the system.”
The Mobials team insisted it is better to have a broad array of reviews anyway as only publishing happy sentiments would rouse suspicion from would-be customers.
The London, Ont.-based company said roughly 150 dealers and counting are using ReviewMii right now. This year will see them make it available across the country following the autotrader.ca publishing agreement.
For more information, visit Mobials.com or contact Marty at marty@mobials.
