The migration to digital retailing in automotive is inevitable. But that doesn’t mean all of today’s customers are completing their entire buying journeys online. In fact, the large majority of customers abandon the online-only process at some point.
That’s when your dealership needs the right sales tools to re-engage with customers.
Here’s an example. Jane is shopping for a car on a dealer site from her couch at 10pm after a long day of work. She spends 15 minutes picking out the right vehicle and exploring the payment calculator. But she’s too tired to continue after making those selections, so she closes her laptop and heads off to sleep.
In the past, dealers were unable to help Jane pick up where she left off in the journey. They would be lucky to even capture her email address and spam her blindly about some 4th of July or back-to-school promotion.
It’s critical that your dealership has sales tools that help your staff re-engage Jane in real time by sending an automated remote deal link—so she can pick the deal up exactly where she left off.
We’ve learned a lot about the power of re-engaging digital consumers through AutoFi’s Quick Quote tool that automatically sends a link to the digital customer when they abandon the process, 24/7. Here’s are the benefits:
Scheduled appointments. It’s not just the tired folks like Jane who bail; lots of people still prefer to come into the showroom and speak with a sales director. As soon as the customer abandons the journey online, AutoFi’s Quick Quote can send a link scheduling an in-person appointment with a rep to finish the deal. Dealers using Quick Quote see a 96% jump in scheduled appointments after activating the tool.
Trade-in inquiries. Vehicle shortages have been covered extensively by major news outlets and on our blog. Clearly it’s a win-win to offer customers great values for their cars, while growing an acquisition channel for the dealership. Dealers using Quick Quote see their trade-in inquiries increase 119% by sending automated, remote nudges and hard cash offers around the clock.
Credit applications. One of the important steps in the buying journey is also a common abandonment point for customers wary of commitment. With Quick Quote nurturing these folks back into the funnel, credit applications jump an average of 234% at dealerships using the tool.
What does all this mean for your dealership? It means your point of sale needs to be flexible enough to accommodate customers however they prefer to transact, at every stage of the funnel. Customers want to decide for themselves exactly how much of their buying journeys will be digital, and how much will happen in person. Your dealership has to provide persistent, pro-active tools at each stage of the process to close more deals and dominate the competition.