CitNOW Group: Uniting Customers and Retailers Through Technology 2022 Report

The automotive customer has changed in recent years, but has the sales and aftersales experience aligned with new customer expectations? Whilst the industry has been focusing on digitising processes, the focus should now shift towards building improved customer experiences, harnessing technology as the key enabler.

We have identified four key elements for success: omni-channel, people, seamless and communication, which underpinned by the right technology, will transform every customer moment. In our latest report, we explore how to seamlessly and efficiently unite the retailer and customer to engage and exceed customer expectations at all touch points within their sales and aftersales journey. We present exclusive research from 1,000 car owners alongside research on the online retail experience and industry insights to understand the current digital retail experience, and how this compares to what the customer wants.

CitNOW Group: technology to maximise your sales and aftersales processes

In a digitally-led world, customers are more informed than ever before. Across all areas of retail, they frequently research prospective purchases inside and out before even visiting a retailer in-person. Another consideration, and perhaps the most important, is the evolution of what a customer wants. The recent Salesforce report ‘State of the Connected Customer’ found that 88% of customers feel the experience a company provides is just as important as its product and services – and almost half of the same group say they’ve stopped buying from a company because its competitors provided a better experience.

With this in mind, it’s clear that the automotive industry must continue to transform their operations so that customers receive the sales and aftersales experiences they want and expect – whether that’s online, in person, or more than likely, a combination of the two.

In this article, we’ll explore how retailers can transform their sales and aftersales processes with the CitNOW Group’s solutions, and the associated benefits for both customer and retailer alike.

Common challenges

Delivering on customer expectations, while maintaining a smooth, agile and dynamic sales and aftersales operation, requires the overcoming of a number of challenges.

A strong sales funnel is imperative in today’s digital world, with retailers focusing on maximising every sales and aftersales opportunity that comes their way – both online and offline. This requires many different elements to come together, including the maintenance of good customer communication, building strong and trusted relationships over time, and specific targeting with the right contact and offers at the right time. Automating follow-ups and reminders is a key part of enabling this process.

With developing a strong customer experience comes the need to better streamline internal processes. The implementation of technology has to be planned carefully: adopting a well thought out family of solutions that complement each other, will be essential to ensure real-time data consistency and internal efficiency. This applies to customers too, as they want a seamless multi-channel experience without having to double-key or continually repeat their details.

How our solutions can help

When you deploy a range of solutions from the CitNOW Group, you can empower your customers, but you can also get so much more. Your business and workforce will benefit from customers leading the experiences they want, translating to stronger sales and profitability in the long-term.

These solutions encompass customer-facing areas which help with engagement, and internal systems that help with processes and efficiency:

• • Sales: the ability to fine-tune the nature, quality and timing of contact at every stage of the customer experience can improve your conversion rates. CitNOW Group solutions make this viable as an end-to-end process, for automotive sales enablement. This includes:
    • High-quality advertising assets with Auto Imaging
    • Multi-platform customer response with Web1on1
    • Personalised showroom videos delivered with CitNOW Sales
    • Fair and accurate part exchange appraisals with Tootle
    • Lead capture, response and customer management through Dealerweb
  • Aftersales: there is still a major opportunity for further profitability after a customer has purchased a vehicle, whether it’s for repairs, regular servicing, or MOTs. Our solutions make this an easy process for customers and aftersales teams alike, every step of the way, through:
    • Identification and follow-up of outstanding service work, plus booking and check-in of customers for repair work directly against your live workshop diary, managed through REALtime Communications (RTC)
    • Creation of personalised videos to detail the work required on a vehicle or give it a visual clean bill of health with CitNOW Workshop
    • Creation of detailed eVHCs, Online Customer Authorisations and utilisation of digital jobs cards through REALtime Communications (RTC)
  • Insights: data can help dealerships understand where improvements can be made to processes and communication – connecting with customers and maximising productivity to drive success. CitNOW Group’s data-rich solutions include:
    • Management and tracking of showroom activity with real-time productivity and profit figures, plus stock management information, in Dealerweb
    • Analytical tools and embedded customer feedback prompts to measure video success in CitNOW Sales and Workshop
    • Reporting capabilities and actionable insights in a single place, across your business processes, through REALinsights from REALtime Communications
    • Powerful dashboards for sales, aftersales, call centres, stock management and finance to display performance against targets and key KPIs, through REALtime Communications

In summary

In just about every area of your dealership, there is potential for technology to help you do things faster, easier, more cost-effectively and in ways that serve your customers better. The real opportunity lies in being able to integrate the right technology into the right part of your processes, supplied from a provider that helps you join the dots with ease and maximise every opportunity to boost your bottom line.

CitNOW Group has the technology stack to unite automotive professionals across the customer experience. We can help you transform the car buying and owning journey through engaging communication, whilst also gathering insights to optimise and drive your growth. Learn more about all of our solutions here.

Join us at AM Live, 10th November, Birmingham

We are delighted to be part of AM Live once again this year. Join us at stand C10 on the 10th November at the NEC in Birmingham where we’ll be demonstrating how technology can enable you to exceed customer expectations and drive internal efficiency.

Don’t miss out on:

• Our 30-minute presentation at 10.45 exploring how technology can be utilised to unite customers and retailers presented by Carol Fairchild, Chief Customer Officer
• Pick up a copy of our brand new report to discover the latest industry and consumer research and how these can be applied to drive exceptional customer experiences
• Book an appointment with one of the team at marketing@citnowgroup.com for a one-to-one consultation on the day

If you haven’t registered for the event, you can do so here.