Impel is an exhibitor at the 2024 Digital Dealer Conference and Expo from October 8-10, located at booth 609
Impel announced on Oct. 4 an artificial intelligence (AI) integration with Cox Automotive’s Xtime that will provide scheduling benefits dealers and customers.
Devin Daly, CEO and Co-Founder of Impel, stated AI-powered automation is the foundation that enables automotive dealers to drive transformational gains in customer retention and lifetime value.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Xtime to help dealers manage their service drive more effectively and efficiently,” said Daly in a press statement announcing the partnership. “It’s a game-changing combination for OEMs, dealers, and consumers alike, and we couldn’t be more excited to continue leading the AI revolution in automotive retailing.”
Streamlining the Scheduling Process
Dealers are currently focused on customer retention and fixed operations to drive business performance. But traditional scheduling processes can create long wait times and customer dissatisfaction as busy service agents try to answer calls and handle check-outs while coordinating calendars and lane capacity. Back-and-forth customer communications and hand-offs to multiple team members can create organizational drag and inefficiencies, especially for staff that are stretched thing.
And while online scheduling software offers the ability for self-service, the need for extensive customer information oftentimes necessitates service rep intervention and can cause customer frustration.
Impel’s integration with Xtime solves these operational challenges, according to officials from both companies. This is accomplished by continuously mining DMS records and reaching out to customers with timely and relevant communications, and then answering questions and booking appointments in a natural, conversational manner. This capability enables dealers to maximize service revenue without the need for additional headcount.
Benefits to Dealers
“Delivering exceptional customer experiences at scale, while at the same time driving greater operational efficiency, is only possible with the application of intelligent technology,” said Daly. “Appointment setting and scheduling have long been the Achilles’ heel for resource-constrained service teams. By integrating Impel’s enterprise-grade Automotive AI with Xtime’s industry-leading scheduling platform, dealers can finally deliver the personalized, seamless experience customers expect – all without the need for human intervention.”
Powered by deep integrations with all major DMS platforms and Xtime scheduling services, Impel AI can access customer records and shop calendars in real-time to optimize and schedule appointments automatically. Impel’s humanlike conversational AI recognizes customer preferences and recommends the most relevant options by understanding nuanced cues and generalized comments. Once Impel AI initiates outreach, customers can engage the AI at any point in time—even months later—to book an appointment at the time and day of their choosing.
The benefits to dealers include:
- Business impact: AI scheduling enables dealerships to book an average of more appointments, helping increase service revenue and generating greater customer retention.
- Enhanced experience and greater customer satisfaction: By answering service questions and scheduling appointments in a natural, conversational manner, dealers can deliver white glove service to customers, even after hours.
- Increased service staff productivity and efficiency: Service team members can focus their efforts on building relationships with in-person customers and handling more complex service requests. Additionally, reducing inbound call volume enables agents to concentrate on service to customers in the service bays.
Dealer Response
Early pilot testing has been enormously positive, according to Impel officials. Mario Murgado, President of Murgado Automotive Group, offered that the integration delivers a concierge-like service for customers.
“It’s like having a dedicated assistant that not only reminds them of service milestones and follows up in friendly fashion—but is also available at any time to schedule appointments by email or text, day or night,” said Murgado. “This is transformational for the industry and having already seen incredible results with Impel’s Service AI, we couldn’t wait to leverage the new end-to-end capability which provides inarguable ROI.”
Murgado offered his group has seen marked increases in service appointment set rates, with a significant portion of appointments being set directly by the AI without human intervention
“Our service reps are reporting lower inbound call volume and a greater number of appointments, and we’re looking forward to the resulting revenue gains based on direct attribution we can track,” he said.
