Did you ever wish you could clone yourself or someone on your team? It would give you an extra set of hands, as well as another individual that knows exactly what needs to be done and when. Unfortunately, science has not gotten closer to making this happen, but technology can make dealership operations easier by way of automated technologies.
Before we get into the benefits, let’s discuss the meaning behind this innovation. Automated technologies represent software and electronic devices that can accomplish tasks or processes automatically, which decreases the time humans have to intervene. In a dealership, there are a variety of ways to simplify your day using automated technologies, especially concerning the customer experience.
AI and machine learning can ensure that potential car buyers never fall through the cracks, and free up your time to focus on more high-level management tasks. So, what automated technologies should you invest in to better enhance the customer experience, and make your life easier? Read on for our tips below.
Chatbots
While you would love to have a reception desk representative available at all times for questions, this, unfortunately, is not feasible. However, when they leave to go home, you can still have a “digital assistant” to help answer potential customer questions. Chatbots are an excellent way to interact with customers when everyone may be offline.
A customer may have an inquiry about a specific car model, or may even want to schedule a test drive. Chatbots are typically designed to answer simple questions, redirect their inquiries to the appropriate person, and even notify you of their interest once you return to the office.
Overall, customers are seeing the benefits of chatbots. A recent survey revealed that 64 percent of participants felt that 24-hour service was a benefit of chatbots, while 55 percent enjoyed that it provided immediate responses. Chatbots are becoming an efficient “after-hours” associate that can keep customers engaged.
Triggered Emails and Landing Pages
Are you running some discounts and incentives? In addition to offering these benefits to walk-ins, you can also spark the attention of returning customers by launching an advertising campaign and creating a landing page to go with it. Landing pages are standalone pages that are meant to collect information—such as emails—to send offers, or invite customers to join a mailing list.
From this, you can then set up for your marketing automation software to send out emails based on online behavior or your audience. For example, if a customer is ordering a service appointment online and then abandons the cart, you can set the software to send a message inviting them back automatically.
A recent statistic revealed that consumer-based marketers who connect with customers through automated emails see conversion rates as high as 50 percent. So, automated emails are bringing results. Additionally, you can trigger emails for many actions, which allows you to follow up without having to worry about handling this yourself or take up the time of another person on staff.
F&I
For a long while, the F&I process has been one of the most stressful parts of the car buying process for consumers. Many cite it as the part with which they are least satisfied. Using automation to improve on this process can do wonders for your car buying process and overall conversion rates.
For example, there is software that allows interested car buyers to fill out their financial information online, and seek pre-approval for a car. If they are approved, the software will send a notification for you to follow-up. So, by the time they walk into the office, a majority of the F&I process is complete. This efficiency can lead to better customer experiences and more time for long-term customer cultivation.
Remarketing
Getting the word out about your inventory can be daunting. While Facebook offers paid ads, the process still requires you to go through the process of adding demographic information and setting up the reach of each ad. Remarketing takes much of this task away.
Remarketing allows you to set up ads that can be seen by individuals that have already been to your website. For example, if a customer were to visit your site, or click on a previous ad, they would then be shown other ads depending on their online behavior and website visit patterns.
So, instead of having to create many ads you hope they see, the software’s algorithms will use your ads, the customer’s website behavior, and additional demographic data to ensure the right people see your ads at the right time. Statistics have shown that it can be largely successful if done correctly.
Final Thoughts
Automated technologies may seem like they are overwhelming to incorporate into your dealership’s operation processes, but at their core, they are meant to make life much more straightforward. They free up your time, as well as the time of your marketing and operational staff. Repetitive activities that had to be done, can now be handed off to software or an app program.
Again, human intervention is required in the initial set-up of many of the activities above, but fortunately, this is minimized by the advanced capabilities of today’s technology. So, see how some of the automated technologies mentioned above can make life easier for yourself and your team.
