It all starts with a process
Reaping the benefits from digital leads involves a follow-up process — one that requires greater flexibility from dealers and a willingness to take advantage of their technology’s potential, according to Jeremy Wyant, Leader, Digital Performance Group at SCI MarketView.
“Most, if not all, dealerships today already have phenomenal pieces of software. Whether it’s DMS or CMS that they are using, they already have powerful tools,” said Wyant, in an interview with Canadian auto dealer. “But in most cases, they are only using 25-50 per cent of its actual capability.”
It’s an issue that has pushed many dealers to consider how they can get more out of their tools to improve their process of responding to leads, said Wyant.
Dealers are also looking at different tools on their websites to generate more leads and provide a better process or experience for the customer. This includes things like online chat, purchasing, forms for trade-ins and appraisals, and even texting.
Texting and availability
“I see a lot of progressive dealers moving into texting and I think it’s great,” said Wyant. “I’m a millennial myself, and I make a joke to anyone I talk to that I hate talking on the phone. I definitely always double check the number whenever someone calls me and think, ‘do I really have to pick up or can I text them right after?’”
Wyant said it’s exciting to see dealers moving in this direction as there is a lot less pressure when looking at a text. But not all dealers are eager to bring the client conversation to the Smartphone, for example, as customer texts can be sent to their personal mobile phones, off-hours, and there is often an expectation that the dealership will be available to respond quickly.
“I understand anxiety from a dealer’s perspective of how do we support this? How can we have an expectation that our sales representatives are going to be available 24/7?,” said Wyant. “I think the progressive dealers have a sales team, often millennials themselves that understand that it may not be required to be texting at 11 o’clock at night.”
“We need to do a better job at following-up to get that sale instead of sending one email and saying goodbye” — Jeremy Wyant, Leader, Digital Performance Group at SCI MarketView
But if they are able to do it, their chances of making a deal are substantially higher than another dealer who may not respond until 9:30 a.m. the next morning. After all, the problem with not responding is that dealers tend to miss opportunities with potential leads as many consumers conduct their research at night — between 9 p.m. and midnight, according to autoTRADER.ca’s 2018 Search Trends.
“Our data shows that, when many of your potential customers are looking at vehicles, you’re not open,” said Michael Bettencourt, Managing Editor at autoTRADER.ca. “Folks tend to be online a lot later than a lot of dealers are open. It goes to say, whether you’re a millennial or however old your customers are, there is a huge percentage of the online consumer market that prefers doing things after 9 p.m.”
That makes sense, considering that Canadians that have families often find the period between coming home from work and putting their kids to bed to be a hectic time. And that busy period does not leave a lot of time to go to the dealership.
Consumers that don’t have children to rush home to are not sure the in-store experience will meet their expectations. They want to be treated as individuals and receive a more personalized treatment.
There is also a fear that dealers will not understand where they are in the sales journey, and there remains for some the issue of trust, according to a 2018 WardsAuto article.
“By meeting them where they are, a dealership can give them the information they want when they want it and be considered as a trusted resource rather than another shrill ‘BUY TODAY’ voice in the crowd,” said the article’s author Valerie Vallancourt.
Dealers struggle with follow-up
So what can dealers do to improve their success with online leads? According to SCI’s Wyant, they need a follow-up strategy — although many do not have one.
Recent data from SCI’s mystery shops across the nation, which looks at how dealers handle internet leads, reveals an 87 per cent response rate — meaning 13 per cent of leads submitted were not responded to at all. From that initial response rate, 56 per cent sent an email; 43 per cent made a phone call; and 1 per cent sent a text message.
The company evaluated the initial email and 14-day follow-up activities based on a sample of dealers from every province in the country and 22 OEMs. Based on their Initial Quality Response scoring algorithm, the average initial email response scored 43/100. Wyant says the measurement is based on the quality of the email content, while also using SCI data to predict the likelihood of making a sale from that content.
When it comes to response times: 33 per cent replied within 15 minutes to an email lead; 30 per cent between 15 minutes and one hour; 33 per cent between 1 hour and one day; and three per cent within a day. The average response time for an email was 42 minutes; by phone it was 48 minutes; and by text message it was 24 minutes.
Once the initial response was made, SCI data found that, of the 53 per cent of leads that initially emailed a sales representative, dealers followed up with 2.8 emails on average. By phone, of the 78 per cent of leads that initially called, dealers followed up with 3.4 voicemails on average. And for text, 100 per cent of the leads that initially texted were followed up with one text on average.
Overall, 36 per cent of dealers that received an inquiry did not send any form of follow-up communication post initial response.
“It is overwhelming,” said Wyant. “It kills me that dealers spend tens of thousands of dollars a month marketing to generate leads, hand a lead over to a sales person — have them make one attempt that took four minutes to draft a low-quality email, and never actually attempt to get the business again.”
He says that issue is occasionally related to the technology side of things: many Canadian dealers don’t have technology that supports a process that will prompt the user with the list of leads they have to deal with, and what needs to be tackled today.
“Overall, the challenge dealers face is twofold: they must establish a consistent customer engagement process, and they must allow flexibility in that process to engage with customers on their terms” — Phil Oriani, Shift Digital
But that doesn’t mean dealers can’t take action.
They can overcome these challenges by building a process that works for them, which can be automated through their technology. They can train employees on how to properly respond to a lead, and they can monitor and measure their leads.
Dealers can also add tools that integrate with their CRM software, for example. If they can opt out of their contract without paying a substantial cost, they can also choose from a host of lead management tools offered by companies like SCI MarketView, DigitalShift, and RAPID RTC to name a few.
Some companies will offer products that fit with the dealership’s processes, that ensure sales reps can respond to leads anywhere and anytime, that provide Concierge Teams that can pre-qualify leads before a sales staff takes over, and that help salespeople re-engage with the lead after the initial conversation.
“We need to do a better job at following-up to get that sale instead of sending one email and saying goodbye,” said Wyant.
A twofold challenge
Overall, the challenge dealers face is twofold: they must establish a consistent customer engagement process, and they must allow flexibility in that process to engage with customers on their terms, according to Phil Oriani of Shift Digital.
“The root cause of these issues typically stems from the high amount of turnover and lack of training for new and existing employees who are using technology to build and nurture customer relationships,” said Oriani, who works with retailers and dealers to ensure his company’s products are able to grow with the client’s specific marketing needs.
He said CRM usage and customer engagement needs to become part of the dealership culture, and that buy-in mentality needs to happen at the top and filter down through the organization. This in turn also helps the dealership become less vulnerable when key employees decide to move on.
Although not necessarily right for all dealers, Oriani said the larger, more progressive ones have had success in maintaining customer engagement processes supported by technology by centring them in a business development centre (BDC).
“We do think, especially with consumers doing more and more of the buying steps online, that a centralized CRM/BDC implementation will ease the transition and improve customer experience when a customer moves from online shopping to a physical visit of the dealership to complete their transaction or take delivery of their car,” said Oriani.
Whatever dealers choose, one thing is certain: there are numerous options in terms of tools and companies that will help them improve their digital responsiveness to leads. But it’s the process that will ensure that responsiveness generates success.
