Managing customer conversations in an omnichannel world

It’s good to talk. In the car retailing business, where establishing a rapport with customers is paramount, it is even better when your staff have meaningful conversations which evolve into lasting relationships. 

The most recent Consumer Attitude Survey by the National Franchised Dealers Association found 33% of customers were either “very satisfied” or “fairly satisfied” with the customer service delivered by retailers when buying a car. This dropped to just 26% when asked about their customer experience of aftersales.  

How car retailers communicate with customers is a driving factor in measuring satisfaction, with these results indicating room for improvement across both departments.  

Research by JudgeService, the customer reviews platform for franchised retailers, identified a direct correlation between customer satisfaction and the positive attitude of showroom staff, with communication being a key feature behind these successful relationships. 

Its study of over 50,000 car buyers showed how positive attitudes and good communication skills resulted in high promoter scores and increased sales. 

The research concluded that customers appreciate being looked after and feeling valued and are more likely to return to make future purchases; a reminder that building relationships does not happen by accident.  

Having positive and proactive customer-facing showroom staff is vital. So is having the processes in place to ensure that every customer interaction with your business is as positive as it can be – day in, day out. Leaving this to chance is not an option, there is too much at stake. 

Evolving your communication channels

As a sector which has evolved to embrace omnichannel retailing across physical and digital sales, the way your business communicates remotely with customers requires personalisation.

Customers have developed more sophisticated expectations in the way they interact with retailers across non-automotive sectors and expect the same level of flexibility from car retailers. They know which communication channels work best for them and will expect you to use them.

Today an increasingly typical scenario sees showroom and aftersales staff using business mobiles to communicate with customers via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, email and Live Chat, or a combination of any number of them depending on customer preferences.

The convenience and immediacy of all these channels resonates with customers but, as retailers are increasingly finding to their cost, these conversations can be virtually impossible to manage within the business, especially when a member of staff is unavailable, on holiday or has left. This is where the digital trail can go cold and customer resentment builds.

CitNOW Conversations – your communications hub

Our solution to this is CitNOW Conversations, a brand new, innovative solution delivering seamless, multi-channel, two-way, customer communications across your business.

Designed specifically for automotive retailers, this powerful communication tool supports and complements the showroom experience delivered by retailers with a compelling edge.

This centralised desktop hub, accessible through a browser, consolidates all those mobile based messages and provides a single point of reference for all conversations no matter which messaging channel is used, ensuring more coordinated and streamlined communication, 24/7.

Furthermore, customers can use whichever combination of communication channels they prefer. They can switch between Live Chat, WhatsApp and email and it does not matter as all the messages are consolidated and funnelled into the CitNOW Conversations dashboard.

And if the member of staff changes during the sales or aftersales journey, the conversation history is available to the new staff member, allowing them to review what has previously been discussed, avoiding frustrating the customer by asking them to repeat a conversation.

Having one platform for all communication channels, drives efficiency whilst elevating the customer experience and delivering valuable management insights.

Also, unlike messaging via mobile phones, it is GDPR compliant with user privacy and data protection in place, ensuring personal information is handled with care and security.

Additionally, because it was developed for the unique needs of car retailers, it works seamlessly across vehicle sales and aftersales departments, especially when integrated into lead management and aftersales management systems, such as Dealerweb.

Engaging with car buyers

The platform is designed to make it easier for car buyers to start conversations and saves time by efficiently qualifying leads and speeding up your sales processes with multi-channel communication and automation.

Conversations around new and used car sales, where customers are looking for quick responses, no longer need to be dependent on a particular member of staff being in the showroom on a given day. The system ensures the baton is picked up by a colleague, so the customer is not kept waiting.

Engaging with aftersales customers

CitNOW Conversations works in the same way when customers require aftersales work.

It can also help maximise workshop productivity by driving more service bookings with automated invites and by keeping customers updated on their vehicles through notifications.

Future possibilities

Our rollout of CitNOW Conversations started towards the end of 2023 when CitNOW partnered with a leading OEM and we are already seeing how it is delivering better communications management. Find out more by reading the full BMW and MINI press release.

Retailers are also appreciating the insights being generated by the platform and the way it replaces ad hoc mobile phone communications with something smarter, more professional and GDPR compliant.

With communications at the heart of all businesses, we are already exploring how we can integrate CitNOW Conversations with other CitNOW Group products, so we will keep you posted on future developments over the coming months.

Discover more about how CitNOW Conversations can deliver seamless, multi-channel, two-way communication in both your sales and aftersales departments. 

Aftersales conversion

Overall conversions across Aftersales remain consistent, with performance for Red eVHC work tracking at 46%, which is just marginally lower than the same month last year, where it tracked at 46.81% conversion, a positive sign especially when you add in that Amber conversion increased 5.5% compared to 2023, now tracking at 9% for April.

Breaking these results down by Volume and Premium vehicles has also given us a different view on performance levels.

Comparing Jan-Apr 2024 to the same period last year, for Volume brands we can see that 44.8% of retailers improved their eVHC red work conversion performance by 1% or more, with 57.3% of retailers conversion levels falling by 1% or more.

For the improved retailers, eVHC conversion increased to an average of 57.5% conversion, an average improvement of 19.7% with the minimum being a 1% improvement, to the top performing retailer trebling last year’s conversion and improving their metric by 319%, moving from 16% conversion up to 68% conversion.

On the flipside the retailers that declined in performance fell from an average of 59% to 47.2% conversion, a decline of 20% on average.

For Premium vehicles, we saw a similar story with 44.4% improving performance and 55.6% falling behind compared to last year.

The improved retailers eVHC conversion increased on average to 53.3% conversion, an average improvement of 24.4%, again with the minimum being a 1% improvement, to the top performing retailer nearly doubling last year’s conversion and improving their metric by 172%, moving from 22% conversion up to 60% conversion.

For retailers that declined in performance they fell from an average of 50% to 40.3% conversion, a fall of 19.4%.

Both these scenarios show conversions can both rise and fall, almost in equal measure. What is needed to focus to drive continual growth year on year, if that was achieved overall conversion would increase considerably.

John Law, Executive Director, CitNOW Insights commented, “Reviewing these numbers it’s interesting to see the change in performance levels for both volume and premium brands, with very similar shifts in performance for both.

The challenge for retailers is not to become complacent and allow performance to drop off, those retailers that can continue to utilise technology and people at the right stage of the eVHC process will continue to deliver the most optimal results and grow year on year.”

Follow us on LinkedIn to see this article and all our other Auto Talk news.

Effective stock management and strategic pricing

Even though Used Car prices have fallen since the start of the year, retailers are still enjoying strong GPPU performance, with average GPPU for April 2024 tracking on average at £1448, which is the virtually the same as the 2023 average GPPU of £1449.   

These GPPU results have been achieved regardless of the decline in used vehicle prices seen across all age ranges.  

Notably some age ranges have seen lower levels of decline in the retail sale price than others with 0-3 age vehicles falling just 1% comparing April 2024 to all of 2023 averages, and a similar 2% decline has been seen for the 4-6 and 7-9 age brackets.  

The biggest loss however has come from the 10+ age bracket, with the average vehicle retail sale price fell from £10,945 down to £8,567, a decline of 22%. 

Retailers that closely manage their stock will of course be the winners in the longer term as they can see the stock that is generating the best margin, from our data we can see that GPPU for 0-3 vehicles has fallen 7% YTD to £1528, but 4-6 vehicles have increased by 6% up to £1292, and 7-9 vehicles have increase their GPPU even more by an average of 11% to £1496. 

Looking at the decline in GPPU for 0-3 age vehicles we can see that on average these vehicles are priced at £26,253 and are taking 62.8 days to sell. These longer sale times, and higher prices may be impacting the customers purchase decision, causing retailers to lower the price to make the sale, impacting the GPPU. 

When you look at the 4-6 age vehicles these are on average 49% cheaper that their 0-3 counter parts and are being sold nearly twice as fast, with average days to sell sitting at 36.9 days. Its easy to understand why any consumer with a set budget will opt for these slightly older vehicles over and above the 0-3 age range.  

One thing to consider however with the sale of older vehicles is the longer-term retention of these customers from an aftersales perspective, as once the used car warranty has expired customers will be open to shop around for the better price for their service. This is something retailers need to consider during the sales process and have in place tools to lock these customers in long term through service plans, or extended warranties. 

John Law, Executive Director, CitNOW Insights commented “These numbers highlight the importance of clear pricing strategies, in a declining market trying to keep the retail sale cost high will only impact the days to sell, it’s a balancing act for retailers but having the right tools in place can make this easier.”

Follow us on LinkedIn to see this article and all our other Auto Talk news.