Harley-Davidson Dealerships Ranked #1 for Responding to Website Customers, Reports Pied Piper PSI®

• Annual industry study rated Powersports and
  Outdoor Power Equipment brands that sell motorcycles or UTVs

MONTEREY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Harley-Davidson dealerships ranked highest in the 2019 Pied Piper PSI^®
Internet Lead Effectiveness^® (ILE^®) Industry
Study, which answers the question, “What happens when UTV or motorcycle
customers visit a dealer website and inquire about a vehicle?” Scores
ranged from zero to 100, with 21% of dealerships nationwide scoring
above 60, demonstrating an effective website-response process. However,
58% of dealerships scored below 40, struggling to respond effectively to
today’s website customers. Customers nationally received a personal
reply to their website inquiry within 24 hours only 47% of the time on
average.

Dealerships selling BMW or Ducati motorcycles were tied for second,
followed by Indian and Kawasaki. Brands which improved the most from
year to year were Harley-Davidson, BRP’s Can-Am brand, and Mahindra
tractor dealers. Brands suffering the greatest decline from year to year
were Bobcat, Kubota and Husqvarna.

Pied Piper sent customer inquiries through the individual websites of
4,208 dealerships, asking a question about a vehicle in inventory, and
providing a customer name, email address and local telephone number.
Pied Piper then evaluated how the dealerships responded by email and
telephone over the next 24 hours. Twenty different measurements
generated a dealership’s PSI-ILE score.

The most basic measurement is whether a customer received an email
response of any type—even an automated reply—within 24 hours.
Industrywide, on average 18% of customers received no email reply of any
type. A more meaningful measurement is whether the customer received a
personal email response within 24 hours. Ducati and BMW dealerships were
the most likely to provide a personal email response within 24 hours,
more than 60% of the time on average. In contrast, Bobcat, Toro, Zero,
Kubota and HiSun dealerships provided a personal email response within
24 hours less than 35% of the time on average.

“Consider how dramatically retailing has changed over the past 15
years,” said Pied Piper Management Company LLC President and CEO Fran
O’Hagan. “If you wonder where all the traditional customers have gone,
look instead for customers attempting to interact through dealer
websites. Today customers visit dealer websites before visiting in
person, and today the opportunity for dealers to ‘meet’ first-time
customers often happens on-line.”

The 2019 Pied Piper PSI^® Internet Lead Effectiveness^®
(ILE^®) Powersports & Outdoor Power Equipment Industry Study
(U.S.A.) was conducted between September 2018 and March 2019 by
submitting customer inquiries directly to the websites of 4,208
dealerships nationwide representing all major brands. Examples of other
recent Pied Piper PSI studies are the 2018 Pied Piper PSI (In-Person)
U.S. UTV Industry Study, in which BRP’s Can-Am brand was ranked first,
the 2018 Pied Piper PSI-ILE (Internet) U.S. Auto Industry Study in which
Mercedes-Benz was ranked first, and the 2019 Pied Piper PSI for EVs
(In-Person) U.S. Auto Industry Study in which Tesla was ranked first.

Complete Pied Piper PSI industry study results are provided to vehicle
manufacturers and national dealer groups. Manufacturers, national dealer
groups and individual dealerships also order PSI “mystery shop”
evaluations—internet, telephone, or in-person—as tools to improve the
sales effectiveness of their dealerships. For more information about the
Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index^®, and the proprietary
PSI process, go to www.piedpiperpsi.com.

About Pied Piper Management Company, LLC

Monterey, California based Pied Piper Management Company, LLC was
founded in 2003 to help brands and manufacturers improve the performance
of their retail networks. Go to www.piedpipermc.com.

This press release is provided for editorial use only, and information
contained in this release may not be used for advertising or otherwise
promoting brands mentioned in this release without specific, written
permission from Pied Piper Management Co., LLC.

Contacts

Pied Piper:
Ryan Scott, (831) 648-1075
rscott@piedpipermc.com