The Basics Of Customer Retention For Dealerships

Customer Retention with Subscription/Lease Programs

Consumers can now swap cars with a subscription service, and dealers can become a part of this trend to offer a lease program. This is an important part of customer retention and brand loyalty in the automotive industry. For customers who enjoy the latest vehicle, they can swap cars every year to every few years, based on their preference and new car releases.

Tips to improve customer retention are listed below.

Building Bridges Within Departments

Many dealership departments focus on their own objectives instead of the dealerships’, but don’t blend their strategies with other departments. The departments must make a team effort for the dealership to achieve success by clearly communicating amongst themselves.

Information Available To Consumers

Once a customer has read a review, or visited a website, their first impression is established. Dealerships should be aware of the information available on their website, including special offers and promotions. Trust between the customer and the dealership is achieved through the importance of the first impression, and this includes the digital presence.

Training Your Sales Associates

The relationship between the salesperson and the customer is critical. The sales associate must be well trained, and endorse the services and products of the dealership throughout the buying process. Should the customer leave before buying a car or closing a transaction, they will still understand the benefits the dealership has to offer. Even part-time associates require full training.

Focus on Customer Satisfaction

Less obstacles promote profits and success. Customer satisfaction is easier to achieve if services are completed quickly and efficiently. A two-hour wait will make any customer lounge lose all appeal. The dealership must view their services and products through the eyes of their customers. Employee feedback is also essential to improve services and customer service.

Retain Customers With AutoAwards’ Loyalty Program

At AutoAwards, we link departments together between service and sales to seamlessly offer customers a full suite of digital purchases. With our Loyalty Program and marketing suite, we take a customer from buying their first vehicle to becoming a service customer, through returning for their next vehicle purchase. We offer high-quality training for your entire staff in each department. In addition, our programs also offer member privileges to create inviting lease packages.

Use Prepaid Maintenance Programs to Retain Customers (For Automotive Dealerships)

Many product providers focus their marketing campaigns around dealership customer retention. They seldom provide specific reporting, or incorporate strategies to bring customers back to the dealer. The most important aspect is bringing customers back to the store several a year during their cycle of ownership. This standard is met by PPM, or prepaid maintenance programs.

The Advantages

Dealers using PPM with their retention plan are seeing real results nationwide. The program has five basic requirements.

1. The return trip must be positive and valuable.
2. The product must mutually benefit the customer and dealer.
3. There must be enough properly trained staff to ensure the traffic increase is handled smoothly.
4. The dealer must have a goal, and a starting point.
5. The plan must include every department in the dealership, including the goals, strategies, and measurement of success.

The Goals

PPM has the capability of achieving every goal listed above. The difficulty is in the numerous moving parts that must be properly placed before the goals can be reached. The dealership must make the right choice, and there is a wide variance among prepaid maintenance programs.

Third-party F&I providers and OEM programs both have some type of offering, although they were not all equally created. Even with the best intentions, not all programs provide benefits for the dealer, customer, and provider. Sometimes this is due to the presentation of the program.

Once the retention goals have been satisfactorily laid out, the PPM programs attributes must be considered. Some will establish retention, but some won’t, and each program component can be tested and measured for success.

Create Your Automotive Dealership Loyalty Program

AutoAwards offers assistance creating loyalty programs that support dealership-designed prepaid maintenance programs. We help execute your loyalty program to make it profitable. Contact us to find out how to start your dealership’s prepaid maintenance program and retain customers.

What is it Costing Your Dealership to NOT have a Dealer Rewards Program?

Driving sales via dealer rewards

How can a dealership increase customer loyalty and drive repeat business in a way to maximize profitability while minimizing costs? Examining aspects of successful loyalty programs, it is possible to create a flexible dealer rewards program that can set your dealership apart.

Below are some characteristics of successful loyalty programs in other industries:

• Using sales data: Target analyzes sales data to focus on its highest-value customers. Their RED card gives customers a 5% discount while providing repeat business and credit card interest to the company.
• Integrated experiences: Starbucks has integrated their payment system with mobile technology for a more enjoyable customer experience while providing Starbucks the ability to tailor their program to specific individuals.
• Difference between real cost and customer value: Starwoods incentivizes reward redemption during times when they have low occupancy. Their program also provides high value to customer ancillary benefits such as flexible check-in times and Internet access that come at low-cost to the hotel.

Implementing even a moderately successful program, such as those detailed above, can have a dramatic effect on your bottom line. For example, with a 15% sales customer retention rate through a dealer rewards program, a dealership with 1,050 annual vehicle sales could see approximately $1.2 million in additional profits from retained customers after 3 years.

To get started on building such a profitable program, consult with a company who knows the automotive dealership industry and has a proven track record of success, such as AutoAwards. A simple phone call could make a dramatic difference in your bottom line.

2 Tips to Keep Your Current Client Base Engaged

Okay, so you’ve got great advertising and marketing, a catchy commercial, and that big holiday sale coming up. But will these impressive ads, which are enticing to new customers, have the same effect on your current client base?
Loyal, life-long customers truly keep your business going. This is why it is important to evaluate your strategies and figure out if you are doing enough to maintain dealership customer retention.

The client base you already have is 60-70% more likely to buy another vehicle from you in the future, while your ads and commercials may only generate anywhere from 5-20% in new customers. Here are a couple of strategies to think about when it comes to dealership customer retention:

1. Get to Know Your Clients

Emails and newsletters aren’t enough to keep your current customers interested. Think about your customers and go deeper into who they are, their personalities, and what makes them tick. Sort them into different groups. Making these personal connections is important in maintaining your current customer base.

2. Customize Messages to Your Clients

From there, target advertising and special messages toward these specific groups of people, and don’t forget to deliver these via their preferred method of contact. Your valued customers will know you listened to and understood their concerns and needs before, and still care enough to reach out with opportunities concerning them.

Connections and memorable experiences are important. Take these steps to strengthen your dealership-consumer relationships and assure your clients that you care.

For more information and to start your customer retention strategy with Auto Awards, contact us at (302) 696-6000.

How Dealerships Can Build Better Relationships With Their Customers

Providing excellent customer service is crucial to building customer loyalty. This can be achieved by creating a connection with each customer that is genuinely meaningful to them. Automated messages, when done right, can be used to build and improve on customer loyalty. Here’s how it’s done:

Create Personalized Marketing Campaigns

Automotive marketing consultants always stress the importance of creating personalized marketing campaigns, as opposed to sending out mass messages that have the same content. Targeted messages perform a lot better, as they take into account every customer’s preferences, such as the type of vehicles they own or are interested in, their maintenance history and so on.

Promptly Address Customer Feedback

Social media and automated surveys make it easier for you to find out what your customers think of your business. Many customers give their feedback by making posts on automotive business social media pages. Whenever one of your customer makes a post, whether it’s positive or negative, be sure to take the time to follow up with them. This shows that you care about their needs.

Simplify Things For Your Customers

Automated marketing solutions can make the lives of your customers a lot simpler. For example, they can be used to send reminders when a vehicle is due for maintenance or to let them know when their car is ready to be picked up after they bring it in for service.

Put Together Special Promotions

Special promotions, such as coupon codes sent by text message or email, can be a great way to keep your customers interested in your business. By using them, you can increase their loyalty.

Provide Useful Information

One great way to keep your customers coming back to your website, blog or social media pages is by creating content they find useful. This can be news about automotive safety, maintenance tips and so on.

Get Your Very Own Marketing Program

Get in touch with Auto Awards for a consultation on how to set up a custom marketing program for your automotive business. They can provide you with the tools you need to acquire new customers and keep existing ones loyal.

How Using Loyalty Offers Grows Your Vehicle Dealership

We are all aware that the expense of gaining a new client is steeper than retaining an existing one- it is almost five times higher. This significant statistic demonstrates the essence of maintaining a long-term client. A loyal client is a regular visitor, spends more often than other buyers, and provides great reviews and feedback regarding a dealership’s products or services. A loyal customer also refers a dealership to their family and friends.

What is The Concept Behind Loyalty Awards?

Building a strong relationship based on respect and trust with existing clients through value-added offerings such as loyalty awards affords one the chance to boost profits from people they are familiar with. Car loyalty programs that focus on retaining buyers provide an opportunity for entrepreneurs to solidify their relationship with customers.

What Should You Consider Before Adopting a Loyalty Award?

Before dealers implement loyalty grants, there are factors that need to be considered. Most importantly, dealers need to determine how a loyalty offer will affect customer relationships and sales. To be effective, loyalty offers need to pay attention to the buyer’s experience and customer service.

How Can Clients Benefit From Loyalty Offers?

Loyalty program clients can gain reward points by referring new customers, visiting service departments, posting online reviews, and through vehicle purchases. The clients can redeem the points to eat at a local restaurant, enjoy themselves at entertainment joints, make a new purchase, or towards servicing their vehicles.

A dealer can use loyalty offers to grow a client base that will use their personalized offers. These customers will be eager to earn points from purchases and will frequent the dealership with the aim of increasing and redeeming their points.

The Take Away

Many people in the motor vehicle market have embraced loyalty programs to expand their client base and maximize their profits. To make the most of loyalty programs, consult Auto Awards to experience the impact it will have on the growth and development of your business.

5 Ways Automotive CRM Software Can Grow Your Dealership

In the last few decades, technology has changed the way business is done in many industries and the automotive sector is no exception. Car dealers were required to change how they do business and interact with their customers. Customer relationship management (CRM) software is now commonly used. In fact, CRM software for automotive industry can bring dealerships immense advantages, such as:

Know What Customers Want

Car dealerships can’t read a customer’s mind. When it comes to sending an email to offer a promotion, it’s hard for dealerships to know what information to send to a customer. Dealerships previously wouldn’t know whether a customer wanted to purchase a car or needed car services.

With customer relationship management solution software, dealerships can have real time data reporting to know what information their customers want. By knowing exactly what information to send to a customer, whether they need a car service reminder or want to know the newest car models on the market, a dealership can build relationships with them.

Automating Various Tasks

A CRM solution can help schedule tasks and automate follow up activities. That way, every department will never miss opportunities that could lead to sales and help create memorable experiences for customers.

Ensuring Dealerships Stay in Touch With Customers

Customer loyalty is all about staying in touch with those who have done business with you in the past, no matter how long ago it was. A CRM gives you a centralized contact management database that you can access at any time, which makes it easy to contact your customers whenever you want to.

Providing Opportunities for Personalized Campaigns

Personalization can help you boost your sales. CRM software systems help by enabling you to create targeted marketing campaigns aimed at specific customers or groups.

Preventing Lost Deals

While you still need to make efforts to provide superior customer service if you want to win over your customers, a CRM can give you the tools to close more deals. This type of software lets you manage tasks at all stages of the sales process so that you keep engaging customers throughout the buying cycle.

If you’re interested in what CRM software for automotive industry can do for you, just get in touch with AutoAwards for a consultation.

AutoAwards’ Dealerships Reached A 16% Increase In Sales And Strategized Milestones

Dealerships with customized loyalty platforms continue to see incremental sales growth as AutoAwards’ dealership clients reach 1.1 billion dollars in customer pay sales, see a 16% increase in customer pay sales and welcom their 2.2 millionth member associate in August.

Odessa, DE – The future looks bright for dealerships with customized auto loyalty platforms targeted at retaining, rewarding and driving incremental business. As the overall automotive industry continues to fluctuate, dealerships have started to plan to better manage the eventual downturn.

“Nobody wants to experience what we did in the downturn. Our existing and new dealership clients want to build an unbreakable bond with clients today so that relationships can be harvested down the road,” said Chandler Greene, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at AutoAwards. “Our clients understand that if they live by the door and focus solely on conquest sales, if the traffic shuts off like in the down turn, they potentially die by the door.”

AutoAwards, by NuCar Consulting, was developed 24 years ago as their own automotive dealerships (NuCar Connection- Delaware) were looking for a better way to reduce traditional marketing, drive market share and better maintain their own customer base.

“We were fortunate enough to have an executive GM that saw the industry changing and taught us that the most valuable asset we had was our loyal customers. Unfortunately, at the time, we were not investing in our best customers, but trying to find new ones. Fortunately, it was one of the best life lessons I learned,” said Greene.

At a time when a handful of factories have also launched points-based loyalty platforms, the question remains: Whose customer is it anyway? Large multi-franchise dealerships still want and need to cross-pollenate their customers and invite them to cross-shop brands, while factories have developed metric-based standards, directed at automotive brand loyalty, regardless of the dealership location. There is potentially a large financial reward or punishment with either path.

“In my mind, we have a job to do. Our dealership needs to keep customers spending money at our stores. The experience has to be so good that they become a vehicle of growth by bringing us new customers into our world,” said Rob Spanka, CFO of the Fred Beans Automotive Group and a 14-year client of AutoAwards.

There is no doubt that automotive rewards programs changed the industry and help dealerships reach retention goals and benchmarks established internally, or by the factories. The numbers speak for themselves when 90.1% of customers participate in at least one loyalty program and 69.2% change their habits to earn rewards. The concept has proven to work time and again in most industries around the globe.

ABOUT AUTOAWARDS:

Since our founding in 1991, AutoAwards by NuCar Consulting has been widely recognized as the industry leader in automotive and marine loyalty marketing, earning longstanding relationships with many of the industry’s most successful dealer groups and OEMs.

Contact
Chandler Greene
Vice President of Sales and Marketing – AutoAwards by NuCar Consulting
Phone: (800) 405-4227
chandlerg@nucarconsulting.com
www.autoawards.com

3 Ways Auto Dealerships Build Reputations Through Social Media

Social media has become a huge part of the comprehensive marketing and advertising strategies of many businesses, but automotive dealerships don’t seem to quite grasp how social media can be used to create more business. So how exactly can car dealerships utilize the tools of social media to build their reputation in automotive industry marketing?

1. 1. Develop A Strategy

It is important for auto dealers and retailers to develop a strategy that will work to their advantage. This requires developing a game plan that will benefit them long-term. What a business does online has a huge effect on how potential customers perceive their brand.

1. 1. Have Long-Term Goals

It is wise to get a sales rep to create a Twitter or Facebook profile, but it is important to consider a few things beforehand, such as what the long-term goals are and how social media can improve the brand of the business. Other things to consider can include what the best ways to meet long-term goals are and how negative impact can be avoided.

1. 1. Receive Feedback Online

It’s important to build and engage in social media. Social media is a great way to find out what the customer really thinks about the business. It’s also important to pay attention to customer feedback and to stay in the loop. It’s also important for the customer to voice their opinion.

Inquire about getting a consultation with Auto Awards. It’s a great way to improve your automotive brand on social media and more.

Email Marketing – An Effective and Affordable Marketing Strategy for Auto Dealerships

It is no secret that email marketing has revolutionized and taken online marketing by storm. This form of marketing involves the act of promoting a product via email. The use of email as a marketing strategy has also been used by auto dealerships to promote their products. This article looks at how auto dealerships can use email marketing to their advantage.

Cost Effective

Email marketing is cost effective in that it helps the dealers to communicate with the clients without necessarily spending costs on traveling. Automotive email marketing portrays an excellent return on investment.

Robust Customer Relationship

Sending emails regularly helps in creating a bond between the client and the auto dealers since the clients are kept “in the know” about the current happenings of the business. Sending personalized messages on birthday cards can also create a warm bond between the seller and buyer, something that can lead to improved customer retention.

Increased Sales

Most audiences are usually segregated based on the products or the services they prefer. By using E-mail marketing, auto dealers can choose a particular product to attract the client. By doing this, the dealer will be able to only send the client what they want to see and learn more about. By targeting emails based on list segmentation, dealerships can reach their clients and produce more sales.

Easy to Track

Auto dealers can monitor the actions of their clients. All actions available within email can be checked. Dealerships can check the number of clicks on their emails, and most importantly, determine the number of clients who visited their page of content.

Positive Reputation

E-mail marketing builds trust between the customers and the auto dealers. This happens when the dealers send emails to their clients about upcoming products, business tips, and thank you messages. The clients on their behalf may forward the emails to their friends, hence creating a trusting relationship.

With these points in mind, email marketing is a great marketing strategy that should be employed by auto dealers if they want to increase the ability to send targeted content to potential and existing customers. Start your auto dealership email marketing campaign today by contacting AutoAwards.