Consent Management for Dealerships: 5 Questions to Ask Before You Buy

Every system works a little differently, so what are the questions to ask when comparing solutions? How do you ensure a true coordination layer between all the software, service, and AI providers calling, texting, or emailing your customers? You know you need something that collects opt-in and opt-out events from every vendor you authorize and keeps clean, timestamped records for every customer, but what else is important? 

Here is what to ask to get the information you need.

1. Which vendors are already integrated with your consent management platform, and can I see the list?

Getting vendors to prioritize, build, and maintain an integration can take years, so understanding the list of available vendors is the most important question to ask before signing up. 

Check the list and see how many of your vendors are reflected. Look for your 3rd-party lead providers, website providers, sales and service email, text, and call providers, service schedulers, and anyone else contacting your customers as your dealership. 

In our experience, most automotive vendors are excellent at honoring opt-out requests that come to them directly. However, very few vendors log the information back to your CRM, even if that’s where they get opt-in data to start with. In fact, fewer than a handful of the 100+ vendors we've talked to log the information back to your CRM, even if that’s where they get opt-in data to start with. This puts you at risk if you are only relying on CRM data and don’t have integrations with the vendors calling, texting, or emailing on your behalf. 

‍

2. What does a vendor have to do to integrate with your consent platform, and what does it cost them?

If few vendors are integrated and you’re still interested, it’s worth learning about their consent management design and how it may affect you and your current processes. 

• “Do you have a team pursuing vendor integrations? Who is responsible for getting vendors integrated?”
• “Do you charge vendors to access your consent management tool?”
• “How will this integration change the send process for vendors? For example, once integrated, how long will it take to process consent data prior to running their normal processes?”

Few consent management solutions have a dedicated vendor support team. Some use vendor integrations as an additional income stream, charging each of your vendors for access. Some offer a real-time webhook to stream data, while others have rate-limited lookup processes that would require vendors to call the system prior to sending messages, delaying messages to your customers. Any of these details may be acceptable to you, but it’s important to understand upfront. 

‍

3. How does your consent management tool work with my CRM?

You want your CRM to have the most up-to-date information possible. Drill into the specifics of how the consent management tool interacts with your CRM by asking: 

• “Does your tool write opt-out back into CRMs?”
• “What happens if someone shows ‘opted-in’ in your system, but ‘opted-out’ in the CRM?”

The wrong answers will rely on dealer workflows and manual processes. 

‍

‍4. What consent data gets collected?

Table stakes for any consent management system is collecting opt-outs and opt-ins. 

Additionally, they need to be collected as consent events (not statuses). An event is traceable and includes: 

• Who
• What
• When
• How 

Events matter because consent is dynamic. Someone can opt-in and then opt-out only to opt-in again. Timestamps and sources -- which statuses don’t have -- are key to track this information. 

Better systems will also collect communications data, so you can audit your vendors and validate that they are accurately applying consent preferences and spot problems before you get a demand letter. 

‍

5. What can I actually see in the consent dashboard?

Being able to see and act on the data collected by your consent management tool is key:

“Show me what the experience looks like in your platform”

• “What kind of reporting is included with your consent management tool?”

If the answer to any of these is a roadmap date, you are buying a plan, not a tool.

‍

One thing no tool will do for you

No consent platform removes your exposure. Compliance ownership stays with the dealership. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something they cannot deliver.

A good coordination layer narrows your exposure. It makes one opt-out visible to every vendor you have authorized, keeps the audit trail in one place, and puts the write-back rules in your hands instead of theirs.

"Before Foureyes, all our vendor communication felt a bit Wild West, no visibility, everyone doing their own thing, even with opt-outs. Now everyone's playing off the same sheet of music." –  Jeremy Nowling, Sales and Digital Retailing Director, Rohrman Auto Group

More than 100 automotive vendors are integrated with the Foureyes consent standard. See who is participating and how it works.

‍