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Hey everyone,
Hope you’re all having a great weekend! Lots to unpack in today’s newsletter.
Let’s dive in…
— CDG
Retail is evolving before our eyes. Innovators like Carvana have changed what shoppers expect from a digital showroom.
Some dealers are testing agent-to-agent tools that offer a similar friction-free experience. And others are finding new ways to keep the traditional model alive by improving customer experiences in their own way.
All that considered, we wondered: What happens to a lead these days, and how can retailers capture it better, whatever their model?
Truth is, there are multiple answers.
But today's newsletter covers why picking up the phone matters so much, the reason some stores lead with price and others with a person, and what to do when a customer no-shows a service appointment.
Stores are earning their best scores by picking up the phone.
We ran 30 mystery shops with LeadVantage, which uses AI-powered mystery shops to monitor dealership lead handling, across sales and service.
Given dealers' concerns about Carvana's new-vehicle model, we started with its seven CDJR stores.
For a proper comparison, we also shopped 10 traditional franchise dealers in the same markets (six CDJR dealers and four selling Chevrolet, Ford, or Buick/GMC), plus Carvana.com itself. (Carvana did not respond to a request for comment.)
Back to the process: LeadVantage's sales audit scoring gives phone calls the most weight.
A first call is worth up to 20 points, a first text up to 10, and a first email up to five.
A channel with no contact earns zero. That weighting works against any store that doesn't call.
LeadVantage CEO Woody Hunt noted the score is the only subjective part of LeadVantage's solution, since it's based on points LeadVantage assigns to each metric.
The results:
Nine of the 10 traditional dealers called. The six that scored 80 or above, which LeadVantage rates as "great," all called within 24 minutes.
Carvana's seven CDJR stores placed no calls and scored between 26 and 38.
The one traditional dealer that didn't call scored 38. LeadVantage rates anything under 50 as "poor."
Scores at the traditional dealers ranged from 38 to 92. Hunt said that spread reflects what LeadVantage sees.
“Looking at the other scores, I think it's just representative and reinforces that every dealer has a different process—which we see over and over, even across the same CRM and same AI tools used,” Hunt said.
Woody Hunt
LeadVantage
For context, dealerships LeadVantage has shopped nationwide average a score of 64, with about 84% calling the shopper after they submit a vehicle inquiry.
Carvana, on the other hand, led the crew on texting speed.
All seven of its stores texted within 10 minutes of the lead. Nationally, about 62% of those dealerships texted within 15 minutes.
Email went the other way.
Traditional dealers' first emails came in about three minutes, at the median. Carvana's median was 47 minutes, and two of its stores took about two days.
But Hunt said the gap may be by design.
"I'm guessing this is deliberate and possibly strategic; engaging via text likely converts higher than email," he said.
What to do: LeadVantage recommends that every dealer, whatever the model, should call, text, and email customers within five minutes of receiving a lead. If you're skipping one of those, have a clear reason (and data to back it) for why.
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Each model shopped is getting one piece of follow-up right.
Most of the other franchise dealerships in the area put a named rep, and often a manager, in front of the shopper, and kept following up:
Emails sent by the same dealers (you guessed it) suggested pretty similar.
Dealership emails that named a rep: 10/10
Dealership emails that suggested an appointment: 6/10
Carvana emails that named a rep: 0/7
Carvana emails that suggested an appointment: 0/7
Hunt said that at franchise stores nationally, a human typically engages with a lead at some point, even when automated or AI follow-up is used. At Carvana's CDJR stores, LeadVantage couldn't identify one.
"Nearly identical messaging and follow-up patterns across all Carvana CDJR stores suggest the same automated process," Hunt said.
To Carvana's credit: That approach lines up with what Carvana has told investors about its business overall.
In its Q4 2025 shareholder letter, released in February, the company credited its AI-powered customer care tools for "meaningful customer experience gains: more than 30% of car buyers and 60% of car sellers now complete the entire process without interacting with a Customer Advocate until their delivery or pickup. This growing subset of customers is higher converting and has a higher reported Net Promoter Score."
Adding to this, five of Carvana's seven stores emailed the shopper a price quote, while only 40% of the other franchise dealerships did.
The takeaway: Carvana's stores were more likely to put a price in front of the shopper.
Five of seven emailed a price quote, compared with only four of 10 franchise dealerships. The other dealerships, however, were more likely to include a specific rep’s name in their outreach, which made for a more personable approach.
Pair those two strategies (price transparency + personalization), and you’ve got the combination shoppers are probably hoping to find in their inbox.
Service departments are confirming appointments, but going quiet after a no-show.
LeadVantage's service audit notes the first available appointment and tracks confirmations, reminders, and any follow-up after a missed appointment.
Results from four of the 10 traditional dealers are in. (We'll update the online story when the other six come in.)
Here's what the 11 completed service shops showed:
All seven Carvana stores scored 72. Their first available appointments ranged from one hour to three days, and each confirmed the appointment and sent a reminder using at least two methods.
Two of the four traditional dealers did the same as Carvana; the other two confirmed by one method and sent no reminder.
Only one of the 11 stores followed up after the missed appointment: The nearby CDJR store in the Dallas area, which scored 91, the highest in the service shops.
That gap exists elsewhere, though.
What we mean: Nationally, about two-thirds of LeadVantage's service shops over the past year (65.7%) got no follow-up after a missed appointment.
Hunt said Carvana's stores sent confirmations right away and appear to use Tekion for service scheduling.
"It looks like they're all using Tekion, which makes sense since they can use it out of the box, given they don't have a service department (or existing homegrown tech stack) for the national brand to my knowledge," Hunt said.
Brad Thomas, LeadVantage's VP of customer success, said the Carvana franchise store service messages came from a Tekion address, while Carvana's sales messages came from Carvana's own email address and text short code.
“So, at this time, Tekion appears to be used specifically for service shops,” Thomas said.
Brad Thomas
LeadVantage
Either way, LeadVantage's reports recommend:
At least one automated text or email to confirm a scheduled service appointment.
At least one automated text or email the day before the appointment as a reminder.
Calling, texting, or emailing customers after a missed appointment to attempt to reschedule the service visit.
The signal: Confirmations and reminders are table stakes, and most stores in our shops handled them. The no-show is where nearly everyone dropped off, and that's the easiest customer to win back.
Bottom line: Neither model here came out of these mystery shops perfect, and each has something to teach.
Consistency: Carvana's stores texted every sales lead within 10 minutes and confirmed and reminded every service appointment the same way, every time.
The phone and a name: Most traditional stores called, named a rep, and kept following up, and scored higher for it, but results varied more from store to store.
The no-show: Only one of 11 stores followed up after a missed service appointment, a step LeadVantage recommends, since most stores skip it.
