By Sean Christy, VP of Sales, AutoLeadStar

Since the beginning of our quarantine days, we’ve heard this over and over: COVID-19 accelerated dealer-tech adoption. But have we really figured this out? Has the industry mastered the next evolution of buying behaviors, socially distanced dealerships, and avid at-home consumers? I’d like to boldly say: no.

The industry was quick to implement digital retailing and add pop-up COVID-19 messages to websites, which shows resilience and fast action. But for a new normal — the overused term to describe an incredibly challenging time for us all — that’s just not enough. And while digital retailing is going to play a huge role in the automotive industry’s recovery, it’s only one piece of the technology stack that automotive will be forced to adopt in a post COVID world.

As our predictions align with the Wall Street Journal, Cars, and Apptopia, mobility will be reimagined with new emerging markets from COVID-19 (see benchmark report for more data on this here). Millennials, New Yorkers, and one-car suburban families will now be in the market for a vehicle, bringing a surge in private vehicle owners. It will be imperative that dealerships use technology-driven marketing to identify, segment, and target these buyers.

This is what we mean when we say COVID-19 accelerates dealer-tech adoption. Because yes, some of those buyers will itch for a digital retailing solution on site. First-time car buyers, like Millennials, will assume an express checkout option, even if they don’t see it through. Psychologically, this will make them feel more comfortable with your dealership. Older demographics may want to come into the dealership but will need reassurance that it is clean, sanitized, and following CDC. New Yorkers, on the other hand, may want to experience buying a car in-store. They may want to test-drive in the busy streets of Manhattan, making sure they’re comfortable with their never-imagined subway replacement. It’s in the dealer’s hands to make sure they can differentiate between these two buyer personas with two very different agendas. One-off messages and static model-specific ads just won’t cut it if your dealership wants to connect to the market.

Dealer-tech adoption is bigger than we think– it’s a restructure to the entire marketing operation. It’s not about changing lead forms or ad copy. It’s about creating an environment that allows dealerships to react to the dynamic marketplace in real-time. It’s about leveraging and streamlining data to attract new customers at just the right moment with just the right message. So, while you may want to attract the millennial that never imagined they would buy a car at this moment with a sleek one-click checkout, you’ll also need to bring in the shopper who wants to come into the dealership, granted you have the right precautions in place.

Dealers seeking to thrive in a post-COVID-19 world must be ready to scale with automated marketing solutions that help identify and segment these buyers. And as the battle for the sale moves from the showroom to digital, dealers must be ready to fight with “software” ammunition.