How to increase the number of positive reviews on a car dealership's Google listing?

Reviews after releasing a new car

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Request reviews from satisfied customers who have purchased a new or used car from your dealership. After the sales process is completed, ask them to leave a review on your Google listing. Encourage them to share their positive experiences, highlighting key aspects such as customer service, product quality, and staff professionalism.

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Simply obtain the appropriate consent to contact the customer during the car sale process (or even while generating the lead). Right after they leave the dealership with the new car, you can send them a short email with a picture of the dealership (or better yet, the sales consultant who managed the entire process along with the car handover). In the email, ask a brief question and include a button directing the user directly to the form for leaving a review on Google.

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If the user isn't logged into Google, they'll have an additional step to log in, but as we know, a large portion of users are already logged into Google on their phones (for instance, using Gmail).

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Reviews from service customers

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After a service visit (especially if it was successful :)), encourage customers to share their opinion about the entire process, service, and timeframe. This helps build the dealership's reputation as a place for not just sales but also maintaining vehicles in excellent condition.

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Assistance in selecting, presenting, and purchasing accessories is also a good moment to mark a customer in the CRM as a recipient of a future email asking for their opinion.

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Gathering reviews from potential customers

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While potential customers visit the dealership but do not make a purchase, ask them to share their initial impressions of the service, available models, and overall experience. This will help understand what attracts customers to the dealership and if there are areas for improvement. You can do this in 3 ways, for example:

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QR Code Plaque

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Place QR code plaques in the dealership with a short invitation, "Share your opinion about our dealership." After scanning the code, the user lands in the same place as when clicking a button in an email, directly to the Google review form. Then, they just need to click the number of stars and "Submit." They can, of course, also leave a comment, which always further legitimizes the company in the eyes of other potential customers.

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Popup on the dealership's website

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Display a popup on the website. If someone spends enough time on the site (e.g., reading about a specific model or browsing the list of cars available immediately), it can also be a good moment to try to gather reviews. Not in an intrusive way, but perhaps displaying such a popup right after the user submits a contact form.

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Email Footer Banner

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Place a small banner in the email footer of sales consultants inviting customers to leave a review. It's useful both before making a transaction and even more so after – as a follow-up email when the customer has driven the first few hundred kilometers with the new car. Clicking the banner in the footer, just like above, leads the customer to the Google listing review form.

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Reviews after events at the dealership

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After organizing open days, a new model premiere, a road show organized by the importer, meetings for fleet customers, or other special events at the dealership, it's also a good idea to reach out to customers by email or SMS – the sooner, the better. For example, the next morning, when participants still have the entire previous evening fresh in their minds and can quickly share their impressions.

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The more events at the dealership, the greater the potential for building engagement in the form of positive reviews on the Google listing. And photos shared by participants add additional value and content, naturally filling the company's profile in the largest search engine.

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Display reviews on your website

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Use positive reviews as part of marketing campaigns. Quotes and reviews from customers can be placed on the website, on social media, and in advertising materials. This will increase the credibility of the dealership and convince potential customers to visit the dealership and take an interest in the cars offered.
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It's definitely worth starting by placing a RatingCaptain widget on the site, where we can display reviews directly from our Google listing. Whether it's at the bottom of the main page or on each subpage in the footer. Or simply on selected subpages (e.g., model pages or pages of ongoing tactical campaigns).