What do most successful businesses have in common? Whether it is Apple, Amazon, Zappos or Disney, they all excel at being consumer-facing. Can we as dealers learn from this example? Absolutely! And learning more about how our shoppers are thinking and what they’re looking for will help us to be more consumer-facing with our marketing efforts.
We decided one of the best ways to learn the secrets inside of our modern-day shoppers’ minds was to conduct a user experience study using our in-house studio to film the results. Each consumer was asked a series of questions which we recorded, and we also tasked them with buying or leasing a car online while we recorded that experience. What we learned was both revealing and surprising.
There is a sharp contrast between folks under the age of 30 and those older when we look at how they consume media. “Cord Cutters” is the best way to describe your younger shoppers as most do not watch network TV, nor do they have cable or satellite. Meanwhile, older consumers are also transitioning in that same direction, though more slowly.
Where are modern shoppers consuming video? YouTube dominates the list, with Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu following. We can advertise simply on YouTube, but what about the other primary platforms? Most are not available or within a typical dealership’s advertising budget, but there are new solutions such as OTT (over the top) where video is delivered via an Internet connection rather than cable/satellite. If every dealer in your market is advertising on network TV, and few of your shoppers are there, would it make sense to test something like OTT or focus more on YouTube?
When modern shoppers were asked where they consume music, we were surprised to see how many young folks listen to music with YouTube. While radio still has a place with many shoppers, it is most often secondary to Spotify, iTunes, and more.
Ask yourself this – when you receive an inbound call on your cell phone, when do you choose to answer it (if at all)? We asked our consumers that same question and they shared they better recognize the caller if they are going to pick up. Take a quick look at the task list of any dealership’s CRM, and you will see that 90% of the tasks are phone calls. And 90% of the phone calls made go straight to voicemail. Are you starting to understand why these tasks are not very productive?
So, how do your modern shoppers want to be communicated with? They want to text. Most dealers still insist on outbound phone calls. Are we being consumer-facing when we choose to communicate opposite to what consumers desire? Could we possibly consider that the BDC model needs to be drastically updated to focus on text rather than outbound calls?
Digital retailing is a hot and controversial topic in automotive today. Do consumers want it? Our study shows YES, they want to complete some or most of the process online in order to save time at the dealership later. However, do they want to buy 100% online? Overwhelmingly the answer was NO; they still want to physically test drive these vehicles. This is great news as our future still holds an incredibly important role for the physical dealership with online digital retailing.
What about F&I? In today’s market of compressing margins, F&I is the last stronghold of profitability for most dealers. Dealers are threatened by digital retailing as they feel they won’t have the ability to sell
their menu of F&I products to shoppers who bypass this step online as they fail to understand the products being offered.
Good news! Very few of our shoppers indicated that buying F&I products online was a priority. They still want to visit the dealership to take delivery of the car, allowing dealers the opportunity to give a full F&I menu presentation and maximize their profitability.
Our modern-day shopper’s behavior is changing rapidly and using yesterday’s marketing tactics will not work nearly as well. If you take the time to get inside of the modern-day consumer’s head, you will learn that we must become more consumer-facing to win their business. Are you up for that challenge? If you’re ready to explore what your consumers are really looking for, join Kevin Frye at Digital Dealer 27 (Aug. 19-21, 2019 in Las Vegas) for his session, “Can You Handle the Truth?”
During this session, Kevin will share the results of a revealing study conducted by Jeff Wyler Automotive Family where they asked consumers what they thought about digital retailing, where they are consuming media, how they prefer to communicate, and much more. You will then explore how to apply this insight to your marketing and see actual examples of how Jeff Wyler Automotive Family is using advanced marketing tactics to best target their shoppers with a consumer-facing experience.
