NAVIGATE SOLUTIONS
INCREASING RETAIL MOTOR PERFORMANCE
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Identifying opportunities in the current Online Car Sales Market in Ireland?
The pandemic has changed consumer purchasing behaviour dramatically and has accelerated the preference to online purchasing including in the car market. This will not recede when the pandemic is over. So what are the opportunities for online car sales?
Navigate Solutions Ireland undertook a Irish national online mystery shop covering 11 brands and 279 dealerships which account for 53% of the total industry new car registrations. This comprehensive study was implemented to assess the opportunities for dealers to capture business online.
The 2nd purpose of the exercise was to identify key techniques and processes which dealers should adopt in order to maximise their online engagement with prospective customers.
Finally, we outline how we can support performance improvements.
The Survey.
An email and/or Live chat enquiry was sent to 279 dealers and the responses were tracked.
The mystery shop tracked performance in the following areas:
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Did the dealer respond to the enquiry?
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Speed of response.
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Quality of response.
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Follow up to the original response.
All results are anonymised in this report. Individual dealers and brands can review their results by contacting Navigate Solutions Ireland at info@navigatesolutions.ie
What was the response rate?
The average response rate by brand (irrespective of the quality of the reply) was 64.2% with a span across the brands from 42% to 83%. This indicates that there is an opportunity for dealers to differentiate themselves by being more diligent about responding to all enquiries leading to more business even in a period of reduced sales.
How Fast?
The average response time across the brands was 3.2 hours*, with times ranging from 1.6 to 5.9 hours across the marques. Whilst there is some debate around an acceptable response time, we believe dealers should aim to reduce their initial time to respond within an hour to ensure engagement with the customer. Again this is a great opportunity for dealers to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
* Within business hours from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
How good was the initial response?
We were looking for 6 attributes in each response; an answer to the query, an attempt to ‘qualify’ the customer to identify their buying requirements, provide product information, advice on finance options, reasons to buy from the business to provide differentiation from competitors and did they follow-up within 48 hours. This is the biggest opportunity for digital savvy, customer centric dealers to engage with potential customers as on average only one of the objectives above were met.
Did the dealer follow-up with the customer?
Having gone to the effort to engage with the customer, less than 1 in 5 dealers followed-up within 48 hours. We identified an opportunity for dealers to take advantage of their initial reply and keep the conversation going with the customer by trying to re-engage with them within 48 hours of the initial response.
Why not use personalised video?
A personalised ‘walk-around’ video of the car the customer enquired about is a great way to personalise the enquiry response and also demonstrates confidence in the product being offered. This is especially important when the customer cannot come to the showroom. With only 2% of all dealers offering a video response, this is another opportunity to provide clear differentiation to the competition.
Moving to the ‘Winners’.
The results of the online mystery shop clearly demonstrate that there is ample scope for dealers to strengthen their response to enquiries by doing so within the ‘Golden Hour’. They can also enhance the quality of their initial reply along by offering to provide personalised videos. Even with the current market challenges in car sales, there many more opportunities to capture more business online.
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OPTIONS
Navigate Solutions Ireland can support you to realise the sales opportunities identified in the Mystery Shop with an Online Sales Coaching Programme that addresses the following topics.
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Establish minimum online communication standards in terms of response rates, speed of response and quality of reply.
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Identify practical best practice techniques to differentiate your business and take the customer out of the market promptly. This includes a review of competitor activity.
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Focus on how to adapt the sales process to meet the changing demands of the online customer (incorporating digital technology within the existing sales process).
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Importance of proactively creating sales leads rather than waiting for sales enquiries.
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The importance of delivering an outstanding customer experience to maximise customer retention.
For a free consultation to discuss your results in more detail and/or the programme above, please contact us.