Innovations in technology can be both exciting and intimidating as new breakthroughs gradually develop throughout society.
Mobile phones are one of the most important innovations of the 21st century, enhancing communication while eventually evolving into handheld entertainment, but I’m sure everyone has a friend or family member who still hasn’t made the jump to a smartphone! Fast forward to today where we’re already seeing the next big breakthrough—Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Businesses are rapidly incorporating AI to enhance their offerings and become more efficient, and the automotive industry is no exception. In this article, we’ll tackle the myths about AI and learn more about how AI can benefit both dealerships and their customers. But most importantly, we’ll discuss how important it is to find that perfect balance between AI and the human touch.
AI: Beyond the Myths
AI has entered mainstream vocabulary over the past few years, but everyone still has a different idea of what “AI” is actually referring to. Sci-fi stories have given us decades of unrealistic (but entertaining) portrayals of AI doing everything from robots replacing human jobs in movies like WALL-E, to dystopian futures where society is ruled by evil robots like The Terminator.
Rest assured, AI isn’t here to replace humans, but to empower our capabilities. AI is a tool that can automate repetitive tasks and thoroughly analyze data to help users make informed decisions quicker.
While the possibilities are endless, this Forbes Advisor survey shows 56 percent of businesses are implementing AI within customer service, and another 51 percent are adopting AI for cybersecurity and fraud management.
Your AI Needs to be Just Right
Maintaining an online presence is absolutely key for dealerships in today’s world. Consumers appreciate the convenience of digital retail, with this report by Motus showing 80 percent of dealership customers prefer some kind of hybrid or online-only experience for vehicle purchases.
A big part of making your virtual showroom stand out is excellent customer service, which includes utilizing an online chat service to assist customers and quickly answer questions. But selecting the best chat service for your dealership can get tricky. We’ve seen companies advertise chat services that are 100% reliant on AI, while others go the complete opposite route and are 100 percent reliant on human responses!
While your dealership weighs the pros and cons of those two extremes, we recommend a provider that falls somewhere in between. Not too much, not too little, but the “Goldilocks of AI,” something just right.
Let’s look at three fictional dealerships and the AI services they use to help illustrate this point:
Papa Bear’s Motors
This dealership uses a chat service that is 100 percent reliant on AI.
This AI service is offered at an attractive price point through the dealership’s website provider, but the AI itself is powered and integrated with another popular AI tool. While this keeps the price point low, if the source tool experiences any outages or issues, the dealership’s chat service will be affected.
The AI has the ability to analyze data and customer preferences, allowing it to tailor responses beyond standard prompts, and its quick and accurate responses further increase customer satisfaction. Everything runs smoothly until a customer asks a question outside of the AI’s programmed capabilities. For example, discussing vehicle pricing and financing options can get too complex for the AI to accurately provide the requested information. Without an easy way to provide that information, the dealership risks losing the customer.
Mother Bear’s Motors
This dealership uses a chat service that is 100 percent reliant on human chat specialists.
With human operators, customers are greeted with personalized and warm welcomes! Unfortunately, human specialists cannot respond to every chat at once, and response times are often slower than the AI’s speedy responses. People also make mistakes, and if someone’s having a bad day, their efficiency may take a hit.
The need to research answers and type everything out can slow the specialist down, causing delays in conversation. These delays give the customer an opportunity to abandon the chat and look elsewhere.
Baby Bear’s Motors
This dealership uses a hybrid chat service, employing both AI and human chat specialists to assist customers.
The hybrid model gives you the efficiency of the AI responses and the personal touch that comes from talking to a human specialist. Introductions and basic inquiries are easily handled by AI (i.e. providing your hours of operation and booking service appointments) and the more complicated conversations are handed off to human specialists. While AI ensures rapid responses, humans can jump in and provide the personal interaction and emotional connection that customers are often looking for.
The connection between AI and the human chat specialists is seamless and undetectable from the customer’s side— when an inquiry goes beyond the capabilities of the AI, it immediately connects to a chat specialist behind the scenes. Better yet, the AI continues to help the chat specialist by collecting lead information during the conversation and assisting with vehicle recommendations.
Balancing AI and Chat Specialists: Not Too Little, Not Too Much
With Papa Bear’s Motors using too much AI and Mama Bear’s Motors using too little, the winner is clearly Baby Bear’s Motors, which uses the perfect balance of AI and human interaction.
If your dealership uses too little AI, you’re going to see slower response times and a higher chance of human error, but if you use too much AI, customers are left with a robotic experience that lacks any kind of personal touch. The solution? Embracing AI for what it is; a tool that can’t replace your people, but a tool that will maximize your people’s efficiency.
By integrating AI into everyday operations with the perfect balance between robotic efficiency and the personal touch of human chat specialists, dealerships can make the car-buying journey smoother and ultimately more enjoyable for customers.