Photo: BMW/Honda
We live in a time when paying a visit to an actual motorcycle dealership comes second to getting information online or from a specialized app. These modern platform also lets the user ask the dealership for extra details, and it looks like BMW and Honda are the most professional as Pied Piper shows in their study.
The Pied Piper Motorcycle Industry Study measures how motorcycle dealerships respond to customer inquiries received through their websites. The latest report for 2016 shows that BMW and Honda ranked highest among all the manufacturers.
The procedure Pied Piper followed is simple and effective. The company sent customer inquiries through 1,757 motorcycle dealership websites, asking some details on one of their listed bikes. The “mystery shopper” also provided the dealerships a contact name, email address and phone number to see how much it will take to get an answer and which way the dealerships prefer to provide it.
Overall results show the industry average performance got improved a lot. To make yourself a picture, in 2008, the study showed that motorcycle dealers responded within 24 hours by any means in only 30% of the cases. This increased to 72% in 2013, and 89% in 2016, an increase also boosted by the technology development.
Pied Piper’s study also shows that 8 out of 10 bike shoppers prefer to research their next purchase online before setting foot in a dealership. This really makes sense, since most dealerships websites come with a neat configurator where you can build and custom your ride with accessories and see the end result in 360 degrees.
Not to mention there are smartphone apps that let you do the same thing and then let you admire your build in 3D. Some will even automatically send your build sheet to the nearest dealership to aid with the purchasing task.
The procedure Pied Piper followed is simple and effective. The company sent customer inquiries through 1,757 motorcycle dealership websites, asking some details on one of their listed bikes. The “mystery shopper” also provided the dealerships a contact name, email address and phone number to see how much it will take to get an answer and which way the dealerships prefer to provide it.
Overall results show the industry average performance got improved a lot. To make yourself a picture, in 2008, the study showed that motorcycle dealers responded within 24 hours by any means in only 30% of the cases. This increased to 72% in 2013, and 89% in 2016, an increase also boosted by the technology development.
Pied Piper’s study also shows that 8 out of 10 bike shoppers prefer to research their next purchase online before setting foot in a dealership. This really makes sense, since most dealerships websites come with a neat configurator where you can build and custom your ride with accessories and see the end result in 360 degrees.
Not to mention there are smartphone apps that let you do the same thing and then let you admire your build in 3D. Some will even automatically send your build sheet to the nearest dealership to aid with the purchasing task.
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