How automotive CRMs help dealerships redefine customer experience
The quality of provided customer experiences has already become a key differentiator for businesses operating in the auto dealership sector.
Modern auto buyers expect outstanding customer experience at any stage in their journeys. However, car dealerships can rarely meet these high expectations efficiently. According to Capgemini's 2024 survey of what sectors do customers trust most for customer experience, the auto dealership industry lags behind other consumer-oriented industries, taking the 11th place out of 13.
Luckily, dealerships can implement and use automotive CRM systems to collect and analyze customer data, personalize communication with customers, and automate routine customer-facing processes, which can help enhance customers’ experiences across different channels. This article explores the concept of automotive CRM software and highlights how these solutions can help auto dealers ensure outstanding experience for their customers throughout their journeys.
What is automotive CRM software?
Automotive CRM software is tailored to the specifics of the auto dealership sector and helps auto dealers consolidate fragmented customer data gathered across multiple channels (websites, mobile apps, email, etc.) into one centralized repository. They also feature industry-specific data models and include functionalities tailored to auto dealers’ needs, such as:
- Lead management
- Contact management
- Sales management
- Vehicle inventory management
- Car service management
- Analytics and reporting
3 ways to improve customer experience with automotive CRM
1. Improving customer communication and service
As mentioned earlier, automotive CRM software helps dealers consolidate demographic, behavioral, and other customer data like contact details, service records, and purchase histories. Moreover, an automotive CRM system can automatically create detailed customer profiles based on this data. Marketing, sales, customer service, and other teams can use these profiles to better understand customer interests, behavior, and past purchases and learn their current position in the sales funnel, which can help personalize communication and provide more tailored service to each person.
Real-life example:
The implementation of automotive CRM software helped Tynan's Auto Group, a US-based car dealership operating since 1963, tailor communication with hot leads and personalize service follow-ups based on a customer's needs and their position in the company's sales funnel. In practice, improved personalization enabled the company to increase engagement with marketing messages while increasing car sales by 36% and repair orders by 50%.
2. Automating customer-facing processes
Automotive CRM software can help car dealers streamline a wide range of customer management activities, with sending onboarding emails, routing customer service tickets and assigning them to agents, and sending appointment reminders as examples. These automations can make life easier for both sales agents, who can spend less time on tedious clerical tasks, and customers, who are serviced and provided answers to their questions quickly.
Real-life example:
The adoption of automotive CRM software enabled Destination Auto Group, a Canada-based auto dealership, to automate sales appointment confirmation, a time-consuming and error-prone process if handled manually. Just two months after automating sales appointment confirmation, the company was able to significantly increase customer engagement rates (for instance, there was a 142% increase in texts received). The automation also helped Destination Toyota, one of the company's retail stores, increase its appointment confirmation percentage from 35% to 61%.
3. Personalizing customer journeys
An automotive CRM system can also be equipped with AI-powered analytics capabilities, which help auto dealers to get an in-depth view of their clients’ preferences and behavior and create tailored customer journeys in order to provide more engaging online experiences.
Real-life example:
The implementation of data mining-enabled CRM software allowed Larry H. Miller Honda Boise, a US-based car dealer, to improve the efficiency of its sales follow-up calls, increase data mining sales by 152%, and generate $275,000 in gross profits in a one-year span. The CRM system enables the company to automatically segment customers based on their past payment histories and Annual Percentage Rate in order to define those with high probability of switching to a newer vehicle and making a repeat purchase.
The company then uses the information associated with these qualified leads (payment and service histories, cars they currently own, and other data) to develop personalized scripts its reps can follow during cold calls to convert leads into sales more effectively. “With all the information the system provides, it becomes a courtesy call. It’s not a cold call. It’s you giving them a call to provide a needed service,” as said Stephen Smith, BDC and Internet Manager at Larry H. Miller Honda Boise.
Final thoughts
The quality of provided customer experiences has already become a key differentiator for businesses operating in the auto dealership sector. Unfortunately, only a few auto dealerships are now ready to provide superb customer experience at any point in their customers' buying journeys, so the sector requires a significant overhaul of their processes. Implementing and using automotive CRM software is one of the proven ways for dealerships to enhance customer experience.
In practice, automotive CRM systems enable auto dealers to personalize communication with customers, automate clerical customer-facing activities, and leverage data analytics to personalize customer journeys, which can all help companies increase customer satisfaction and retention. However, choosing a reliable automotive CRM system can be daunting, especially if your company has not used such a solution before. A reliable CRM implementation partner can analyze your company's workflows and needs to help you choose the most appropriate solution. As an option, such a partner can also assist you in implementing the solution by handling requirements analysis, architecture design, customization, data migration, CRM delivery, and other tasks.
