Why increasing customer engagement will be crucial for car dealers’ success in 2022

“The customer is always right” – a phrase that is used often to ensure that the required standards of customer service are met. Staff doing anything and everything to result in every customer leaving with a smile on their face and a willingness to return.

A key factor of customer satisfaction is making sure that the customer is engaged. Customer engagement is defined by Cari Murray from international sales consultancy firm, Outreach as “the ongoing cultivation of a relationship between the company and consumer that goes far beyond the transaction. It’s an intentional, consistent approach by a company that provides value at every customer interaction, thus increasing loyalty”.

It goes without saying that customer engagement is vital for car dealerships. For the best possible experience when buying a car, the customer must feel engaged by friendly and helpful people in the showroom. Furthermore, in the modern era, customers also require digital engagement away from the showroom when they are in the market for a car. Social media, if used wisely, is a great way to engage with potential customers online and can lead to those who you’ve engaged with online coming down to the showroom and purchasing from you.

Below are a few things that can happen when you effectively engage with customers and how they can benefit a car dealership:

Clarity

Nothing will put a customer off doing business with you more than feeling like you are not being clear with them. If they feel there is an element of dishonesty or that they are not being given all the information required, they will rapidly lose interest. Therefore, making a conscious effort to engage with customers will ensure there is clear communication between customers and employees. Effective communication is important to make sure there is total clarity for the customer so they can fully understand what they are getting for their money.

 

Building relationships

If you are clear with customers and they trust you, then you can start to build a relationship with them. Engaging with customers allows you to build rapport with a customer which is very valuable when it comes to turning interactions into sales. The term “people buy from people”, is often used among salespeople because the likelihood of a customer making a purchase will increase significantly if the salesperson they are interacting with has put in the time and effort to build a relationship with them and make them feel engaged.

 

Keep them away from competitors

If you effectively engage with a customer, they will enjoy interacting with you. So when they are in the market, naturally, they will look to you for a new car. This builds customer loyalty which is important to the success of any business. However, it can be difficult to establish for a car dealership. Buying a car is a high value purchase so, according to a pioneering 1963 study into consumer behaviour by Engel, Kollat and Blackwell, customers will invest a lot of time into researching their options and putting a lot of thought into what they want from a car they are going to buy. Whereas, if they were buying a pint of milk, the research and consideration would be much less! Naturally, customers will be looking at various models and dealerships when they are deciding which car to buy. If you are able to engage with them effectively when they have a look around the showroom, chances are they will return to pick up a set of keys, instead of buying from the dealership down the road.

 

Referrals

Despite all the modern technology and innovative digital marketing techniques at our disposal these days, one advertising method has stood the test of time and is still one of the most powerful; word of mouth. If customers are engaged when they visit your dealership, chances are, they are going to tell their friends, family and colleagues about their experience and how great the staff were! Then, when someone hears about the experience, they tell someone the experience a friend of theirs had, which then becomes a friend of a friend and so on. This increases the network of people receiving a positive review of your dealership, all because one customer was engaged! Furthermore, in the digital age, word of mouth advertising has made its way online via social media, so one customer sharing a positive experience of your dealership has the potential to go viral. Just bear in mind that the same can happen with a negative experience so make sure that customer service is impeccable.

 

Customer engagement is essential for maximising sales. Studies show that 61% of people will not make a purchase if they are provided with poor customer service. With the amount of time and thought a customer puts into high value purchases like a car, making sure customer service is up to standard becomes an even bigger factor in whether the customer will make a purchase from your dealership.

The QR Code Event is the ideal way for car dealers to increase customer engagement because it takes it to the next level. From the unique mailers that are sent out to the reveal of the offer by scanning the QR code in the showroom, The QR Code Event is a fantastic way to provide heightened customer engagement through every stage of the process. It is a proven money-spinner with a key factor in its success being that customers are engaged by the interactive process and the intrigue of what offer lies behind the QR code.

 

The QR Code Event increases dealership footfall and with 70% of appointments resulting in a sale, it has proven successful in generating revenue and profit for car dealerships. And with its brand-new event management system for 2022, it’s only going to get even better!

 

If you are looking to run a sales event and would like any further information, please visit The QR Code Event page or contact us to arrange a quick Zoom call.