Insight into how car dealers can tackle dubious data

9 December 2015

The biggest obstacle today’s dealer has to overcome is acquiring and inputting accurate and up-to-date data, according to Marketing Delivery managing director Jeremy Evans.

As headline sponsor at this year’s AM Digital Marketing Conference, which takes place on 3 February 2016 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, Evans will explore the increasingly complex customer purchase journey which sees consumers abandon the decision to buy at various points as well as utilising multiple communication channels whilst expecting a seamless service from dealers.

Evans said: “Customers use multiple communication methods when buying a new car or booking a service.

"There is no linear journey to purchase anymore. Having to keep up with potential customers as they flip from one communication to another is a challenge in itself, but customers expect dealers to know them, they do not want to explain themselves each time they make contact. Accurate data has always been vital, but now it is the very lifeblood of the business.”

Whilst gaining a holistic view of one customer or vehicle history from often disparate data sources is no longer such an issue due to technological advances enabling relatively simple data extraction and analysis, the quality of the data remains a problem.

“Basic information such as the MoT due date or the date of the next service is imperative yet dealers continually fail to capture these details. We continue to see missing mobile numbers, no email recorded and no next service dates even when the customer has been in contact with the business just a few weeks previously.

Data needs to be continuously assessed, gaps identified and action taken.

“Sending an email about a service or sales offer is not a magic formula to drum up trade, they need to be carefully crafted and highly targeted to have any effect or dealers risk customers hitting the unsubscribe button.”

Evans will highlight facts and figures from their extensive work with dealers to illustrate the potential results when customers are exposed to offers which more accurately reflects their circumstances compared to lack of details or failure to apply information when distributing digital campaigns.

For example, an analysis of over 2,000 sales enquiries shows top performing dealerships achieve an average sales conversion rate of 31.3%, significantly out-performing the industry average of 25.4%.

He said: “In a bad dealership we have found up to 200 records have not been accurately maintained in the previous month with basic information such as the next service date missing, this equates to around £50,000 of lost service revenue per month.”

Outlining how to become a high conversion dealership, one of Evans’ recommendations include following up every sales enquiry with a mobile-friendly interactive message after 24 hours, 72 hours and 14 days. After 14 days, enquiries that haven’t resulted in a sale, receive car alerts that updates the customer when new stock arrives that matches their enquiry.