A recent study from Boston Consulting Group revealed that out of 2,000 survey respondents, only half of car buyers were fully content with their recent purchasing experience. The biggest disappointment was the “awareness phase” when prospective buyers start feeling inspired to search for their next car.
This highlights the need for improvements in the digital customer journey. Moreover, it translates to an opportunity for car dealers to get ahead of the curve by creating an exceptional customer experience that’s informative, convenient and memorable.
In this article, we’ll provide actionable tips for how to achieve just that.
Enhancing the Customer Journey
1. Have an Omni-Channel Presence
If a car buying journey starts online, how can it continue at your physical dealership without any friction?
Creating a robust, omni-channel ecosystem that includes an informative website, social media channels, and responsive customer service is essential to creating a seamless customer experience–from online to in-store.
In a rapidly evolving market, adopting an omni-channel approach is a must to adapt to the modern car buyer, unlock new online audiences, and maintain a competitive edge.
2. Optimize Your Car Listing Content
In a sea of competitors offering the same vehicles at similar price points, how can your dealership stand out?
Hint: with your branding and how you present your vehicles.
Starting with the basics, using real, actual photos of your stock is crucial. According to Kelley Blue Book, 90% of vehicle shoppers prefer viewing actual photos of new vehicles on the dealer's lot over stock images.
And why not incorporate the most popular format of all: video? A recent study by Google revealed that over 75% of auto shoppers were influenced by online video in their purchases. From an SEO perspective, advertising your videos on platforms like YouTube help expand your reach and drive even more traffic to your website.
3. More Personalization!
What better way is there to enhance the customer experience than cater to individual needs and preferences? When car buyers are presented with relevant options and information, it’s more likely to lead to a purchase.
Meta’s Automotive Inventory Ads (AIA) are a perfect example of this. Their Machine Learning and AI personalize the customer experience by leveraging customer data and presenting active car buyers with relevant ads based on their online behavior, interests and geographic location.
Following the release of Meta’s new Product Level Video (PLV), an extension of AIA, sellers can now advertise their entire catalog with engaging videos, rather than only images. For car dealers, it’s a no-brainer: they can advertise their entire inventory seamlessly and in multiple formats, while fully leveraging Meta’s vast user base and smart targeting capabilities.
Improve the Customer Experience with Phyron
Currently serving 3,000 auto retailers in 30+ countries, Phyron is the content-creating powerhouse for car dealers. The best part? It’s 100% automated.
Consistent Photos Every Time
With multiple showrooms and on-site photographers, there’s a slim chance that your images will look uniform and reflect your brand positively. We also can't ignore how expensive and time consuming manual photography and editing is.
That’s why we developed the Phyron Photo App.
Its detailed guidance and intuitive support functions mean that your photos will be captured consistently and accurately every time–regardless of who’s taking them. Once your pictures are ready, our AI platform will automatically enhance them and add your branding, as well as custom backgrounds, flooring, lighting, and more. What used to take weeks now takes minutes.
Personalized Videos, at Scale
Creating unique videos for each car in your inventory demands a huge amount of resources, but not with AI and automation.
Using only your simple data (car specifications and photographs), we can create an unlimited number of videos that highlight each vehicle's unique features and top selling points in the most engaging way possible. Phyron AI videos come in 4 formats for 18+ placements, ensuring that you have the right video for every customer touch point.
Fully Automated and Always On
By connecting to our API or through a feed, we’ll not only fetch your data and create your content, but publish it on every online channel in real time. Interested in advertising your entire car catalog with Meta's Automotive Inventory Ads? We’ve got you covered.
Ready to elevate your car dealership's customer experience? Contact us today to discover how our AI-powered solutions can transform your digital presence and drive more sales.
