Thomas Clawson, Vertical Marketing Manager
Thomas Clawson, Vertical Marketing Manager
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Podium still considers reputation management its bread and butter (think Google reviews), but the company has evolved, and is really working with dealers to beef up their interactions with their customers via text messaging.
Thomas Clawson, Vertical Marketing Manager at Podium, said the company learned through the reputation management process that texting was how consumers wanted to communicate. And then they started texting them, asking consumers if they would like to leave a review. And those people would click the link in their text message.
Reputation management led to texting, and now they do what the company calls “interaction management.”
“A lot of people are coming and asking to make things more simple, more automated. They are busy and they have a lot on their plate, and they have a lot of responsibilities,” said Clawson. “So how can we help them make their job easier? And so automation is something that we have really doubled down on. During the show we launched a new automation feature.”
Clawson said the focus on reputation is related to the way people are buying a car, which he said has changed. He said consumers are searching for vehicles and information differently; now they are going through a process that bombards them with “numerous advertisements, numerous voices,” which eventually leads them to make a decision.
“A consumer will search what truck they should get, the best truck for winters in Canada or some search like that, I’m sure is probably really popular,” said Clawson. “Then suddenly they’re saying, okay, now I’ve really decided that what I want is a Ram 1500. Then suddenly the search becomes what is the best Ram dealer near me or best Jeep dealer — whatever the vehicle is that they want. And that search is really dictated by how you show up on your Google reviews.”
He said a lot of people talk about Amazonification, but 80 per cent of purchases still happen in a store and the in-store experience really matters. “People will want to talk, they want to touch the vehicle, they want to understand it and meet a person, someone that they can trust.”
Podium, he said, helps dealers bridge the online-offline experience and get more people into the dealership.
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