CAR & DRIVER
Audi Dealers Do It Best, Tesla's Are Worst, According to Car-Shopping Study
The study measured how well dealerships are selling cars to potential buyers.
Permalink >
July 2018
Audi topped an annual study called the Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index (PSI), which measures how well dealerships are doing at selling cars to potential buyers. Tesla finished last. Pied Piper Management (a real company, not the fictitious one on the Silicon Valley television show) said the results of its study, which carries the full name of 2018 Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Auto Industry Benchmarking Study, came after mystery ...
Read More >
» View PDF of Article (10.05 MB) 
Automotive News
Audi tops study of sales-prospect satisfaction
Permalink >
July 2018
Audi, for the first time, landed atop an annual dealership study that evaluates brands based on how effective salespeople are at handling consumers and closing deals. The 2018 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index measures how mystery car shoppers sent to 3,466 dealerships in the U.S. were treated and later surveyed by consultant Pied Piper of Monterey, Calif. The latest study was conducted from July 2017 to June 2018. Audi, whose score rose ...
Read More >
» View PDF of Article (4.27 MB)
Wards Auto
Auto Dealership Mystery Shopping Indicates Which Brands Rock
Permalink >
July 2018
For the first time, Audi dealers top the Pied Piper Satisfaction Index. In the cellar is Tesla. A by-brand mystery-shopping study of how well auto dealerships deliver customer satisfaction indicates top scorers had something in common: They helped customers more. “‘Helpful’ is one word that determines how dealerships did,” says Fran O’Hagan, president and CEO of Pied Piper Management, a consultancy that sent secret shoppers to 3,466 dealerships ...
Read More >
» View PDF of Article (4.43 MB)
Automotive News First Shift
Audi Tops Mystery Study
Permalink >
July 2018
Audi rises to the top in mystery shopper study. For the first time, the Audi brand was ranked number one.
Read More >
Press Release: AUDI DEALERS RANKED HIGHEST BY 2018 PIED PIPER PROSPECT SATISFACTION INDEX(R) (PSI(R))
12th Annual U.S. Industry Benchmarking Study Measured Treatment of In-Person Car-Shoppers
July 2018
Monterey, California – July 9, 2018 – For the first time, Volkswagen Group’s Audi brand dealerships ranked highest in the newly released 2018 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) U.S. Auto Industry Benchmarking Study. The study measured treatment of car-shoppers who visited 3,466 dealerships throughout the country. Study rankings by brand were determined by the Pied Piper PSI process, which ties “mystery shopping” measurement and ...
Read More >
» View PDF of Article (535 KB)
Automotive News First Shift
M-B Tops “Mystery Survey”
March 2018
For the eighth year, Pied Piper measures how every brand’s dealers respond to customer inquiries through dealer websites.
Read More >
Automotive News
Mercedes-Benz stores take first in online response study
Permalink >
March 2018
Mercedes-Benz dealerships took the No. 1 slot in an online lead-responsiveness study, displacing two-time consecutive champ Porsche, Pied Piper Management Co. said Monday. The eighth annual Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index Internet Lead Effectiveness Benchmarking Study, conducted through secret shoppers between April 2017 and March, measures the response time and quality of 17,391 U.S. dealerships to customer queries received through the ...
Read More >
» View PDF of Article (3.03 MB)
Wards Auto
Dealership Study: Overactive Filters Block Some Legit Customer Leads
Permalink >
March 2018
Bots don’t buy cars, but efforts to block them can unwittingly prevent real customer digital leads from reaching car dealerships. When Internet filters diligently battle bots and spammers, such collateral damage can occur. That’s an ancillary finding of the 2018 Internet mystery-shopping study by consultancy Pied Piper Management Co. Overall, it annually measures how dealerships by brand respond to customer inquiries received through dealer ...
Read More >
» View PDF of Article (1.77 MB)
Press Release: MERCEDES-BENZ DEALERS TOP RANKED FOR RESPONSE TO WEBSITE INQUIRIES REPORTS PIED PIPER PSI(R)
Industry average performance improved, but 1 out of 4 customers still failed to receive a personal response within 24 hours
March 2018
Monterey, California – March 5, 2018 – Mercedes-Benz dealerships ranked highest in the 2018 Pied Piper PSI® Internet Lead Effectiveness® Benchmarking Study, which measured how auto dealerships responded to customer inquiries received through dealership websites. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) brands Chrysler, Ram and Dodge were among the most improved compared to the previous year, along with Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Buick. Study rankings by ...
Read More >
» View PDF of Article (561 KB)
Wall Street Journal
Hello, This is Stark Industries. No, We Do Not Make Iron Man Suits
Permalink >
August 2017
Companies that share names with fictional firms from cult movies and shows can get into some stupefying situations. ‘Yeah, great latex salesman.’ Pied Piper, a Pacific Grove, Calif., firm that rates the effectiveness of car dealer networks, was founded 10 years earlier and located 90 miles to the south of the fictional technology startup of the same name in the HBO show “Silicon Valley.” Founder Fran O’Hagan said he was recently “presenting to a ...
Read More >
» View PDF of Article (738.6 KB)
