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Most consumers rely on their dealership for auto service, repair, and maintenance, but the 2023 Cox Automotive Vehicle Service Industry Study found that customer trust in dealer service departments is declining.

This free eBook highlights the reasons why competitors are gaining market share and how a focus on customer experience can help your fixed ops department win back customers for life.

Download the eBook to learn:

• Why trust is the top reason service customers return to dealerships
• How cost transparency can boost your service department’s bottom line
• The top features customers want from dealership websites and digital tools
• How to win back the trust of your fixed ops customers — and earn their business for life

Navigate and Overcome the Top 3 Data Challenges 

In the fast-evolving world of automotive retail, VinSolutions empowers you with the knowledge to tackle your biggest data obstacles. Our expertly crafted ebook reveals the top three challenges dealerships face and provides actionable solutions to turn data into a competitive advantage. 

• Stay Ahead with Real-Time Data: Discover strategies to minimize data lag, ensuring your sales team has the latest information for every customer interaction. 
• Achieve Data Consistency: Learn how to employ intelligent solutions that resolve data discrepancies, allowing your team to focus on building strong customer relationships. 
• Enhance Data Trustworthiness: Gain insights on effectively leveraging third-party data, providing your dealership with reliable information for informed decision-making. 

Don’t let data challenges hinder your success. Propel your dealership forward with expert insights. 

Maintaining seamless communication with customers is paramount in the automotive industry. Enter the game-changer: automotive sales CRM mobile texting technology. Dealerships can foster stronger connections with clients while also significantly improving the customer experience and deftly navigating major compliance risks. This VinSolutions Performance Management discussion on Texting Best Practices explains why utilizing mobile text messaging in your sales CRM strategy is a must for modern dealerships. When used correctly, text messaging enhances customer interactions, and helps your business avoid major risks ensuring compliance and success. 

Enhancements and Benefits of Mobile Texting Technology 

Preferred Communication Channel: Mobile texting technology allows your dealership to communicate with customers in real time, through a channel many prefer. When your salespeople follow up on leads, appointments, and dealership visits directly from the CRM via texting app, this communication is instant, compliant & recorded in your dealership’s CRM database.  

Access to Critical Information: Using a CRM texting app provides quick access to essential data, including inventory details, customer records, and conversation histories. Sales representatives have instant access to information that enables a more personalized, and authentic, conversation.  

Opt-In/Opt-Out Compliance: To receive texts, customers must first opt in – and customers who opt-out can no longer be contacted by text. Using a trusted and official CRM texting technology will ensure compliance by automatically managing opt-ins and opt-outs. 

Photos and Videos: Salespeople can easily send images of vehicles and features via your texting solution, enhancing customer engagement and providing a visual context.  

Text Opt-In and License Scanning: By using a CRM mobile app for texting customers and license scanning, dealerships can verify compliance while streamlining processes.  

Major Risks and Pitfalls of Unsanctioned Texting 

Legal Vulnerability: Customers who opt-in to receive texts are technically agreeing only to receive texts from a specific third party (your dealership). When employees use their personal cell phones for texting, they become the “4th party” rather than the intended third party. This puts both your automotive dealership and the employee at risk of lawsuits. Federal regulations, such as the CAN-SPAM Act tend to be strict, and privacy laws vary across states. 

CRM Effectiveness: If salespeople communicate outside your CRM, it becomes challenging to manage opportunities effectively. Your dealership’s automotive CRM is designed to track interactions and create additional sales opportunities. Without proper tracking, these opportunities may slip through the cracks.  

Unauthorized Use of Customer Data: Allowing your salespeople to conduct business via their personal phones means they carry the dealership’s book of business in their pockets. Assigning unique numbers within the system ensures better tracking and prevents unauthorized use of customer information.  

Activity Breakdown: Managers can review activity breakdown reports to ensure that salespeople are utilizing your texting technology effectively. This helps track follow-ups and maintain compliance. Moreover, these interactions can become part of your performance KPIs. 

Integrating mobile texting technology with your dealership’s CRM not only improves communications, creating a more personalized shopping experience for your customers. It has the potential to maintain compliance for your business. Watch the video with VinSolutions’ Performance Managers as they share the Texting Best Practices. 

Ready to learn more? VinSolutions CRM with automotive text messaging makes texting customers as easy as texting friends. VinSolutions Texting has full MMS messaging capabilities and a full conversation history stored in the CRM so dealers can keep track of conversations in a single view. Learn More. 

Recorded Webinar

VinSolutions CRM turns customer data into insights, and insights into sales. It’s an invaluable sales tool that your team should be using everyday—but are you always using it correctly?  

This webinar will teach managers about the most important things they should do – and not do – to get the most from VinSolutions.  Host Joe Webb of DealerKnows Consulting will take you through the high-powered features in VinSolutions and show you how to set up your sales team for success.  

You’ll learn:  

• How to utilize custom statuses and rules to improve the customer experience and sell more cars  
• How to perform a 1-on-1 and Save-a-Deal meeting using VinSolutions reports  
• The simple elements within customer profiles that both help and harm communication with prospects 

Recorded Webinar

VinSolutions Automotive Marketing Platform lets you engage customers with personalized, relevant marketing and target the customers who are most likely to buy – before they even submit a lead.  

Learn how successful dealers use Automotive Marketing Platform to boost sales and maximize ROI in this live webinar.  

Learn How To:  

• Maximize Results: Reach your customers through text, email outbound dialing & direct mail 
• Master ROI Insights: Understand what’s working and where to invest.  

• Ensure Accountability: Guide your team to convert leads into deals  
• Strategize and Optimize: Tailor your campaigns to reach more in market shoppers 

Our expert panel includes diverse perspectives on Automotive Marketing Platform best practices and optimizations. We’ll offer two live broadcasts so you can pick the date and time that work best for you.  

Our Panelists  

Inventory is back—and so is your competition. With sales once again
returning to normal, the car buying journey is also seeing a shift as shoppers
change the way they shop, research, and purchase their next car.

With new insights from the Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study, which
surveyed nearly 3,000 respondents, we’ve gathered the top five takeaways
you need to know to make the best decisions for your business.

Download the infographic to stay on top of changing consumer buying
trends

Salespeople often change roles or rooftops. It’s simple to reassign customers in VinSolutions CRM, with just a few clicks. Watch this short video to learn how to reassign customers – and roll back these changes if the salesperson returns. You can also remove users from select or all stores in your group.

After a wild period of rapid change and shifting norms—both automotive retailers and buyers are beginning to catch their breath. 

Despite some old trends becoming new again, there are a few ways the buying journey has changed for good. As dealers have implemented new tools and technologies in recent years to make the car buying experience more convenient, consumers have taken notice and indicated that these new trends are here to stay.  

The 2023 Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study surveyed nearly 3,000 respondents who purchased or leased a vehicle in 2023. This gives dealers a glimpse into the minds of modern car buyers and details the trends for the coming years of car sales.  

The study uncovered several interesting findings for automotive retailers. To deliver exceptional experiences, attract more buyers, and stay ahead of the competition, dealers should consider the following five key insights. 

1. The Buying Journey Has Been Streamlined 

With an increase in available inventory at dealerships, it’s probably not a big surprise that consumers are spending less time on all aspects of the purchase process. According to the Study, consumers now spend nearly 7 fewer hours researching and shopping online, compared to 2022. Interestingly, they also spend nearly one less hour talking with others, almost 3 fewer hours visiting dealerships, and almost 3 fewer hours with the actual dealership seller. 

This  is true for both new and used vehicle purchases and more closely resembles the amount of time spent by consumers in 2020 and 2021. This reduced buying time can probably also be attributed to dealers refining the digital to in-store purchase process, making the car buyer journey more streamlined than ever before. 

Take Action: Don’t Lose Your Leads to the Competition 

With more inventory available, consumers who get “left on read” will get snatched up by the competition, fast.    Your sales team needs to think fast on their feet to meet the needs of today’s buyers, which means you’d better have the right tools, training and technology to keep interested buyers at their fingertips.    

Keep building on the gains and momentum you’ve already made to make the car buying journey more streamlined and efficient. No one wants to spend a lot of time in dealerships, and your online to in-store purchase process will be key in giving customers the experience they want. 

2. More People Prefer a Mix of Online and In-Person Buying 

Auto sales have changed for the better as consumers prefer to buy cars online. Dealers have adapted, and most buyers now prefer a mix of online and offline options.   

When compared with their most recent purchase, more people (71%) are planning to buy their next car through a mix of online and offline methods. That’s changed from only 45% of buyers who preferred a mix of both options for their most recent purchase. Interestingly, only 8% of consumers want to purchase their next vehicle all in-person. That’s down considerably from 50% of study respondents for their last vehicle purchase.  

Take Action: Be Proactive  

Any step your team can take to save time will seal the deal for those car buyers who are looking to simplify the process. Since today’s consumers are accustomed to online purchase options, proactive technology can give you insights into buyers who are simply browsing—and buyers who are ready to come in and sign the paperwork.  

Be ready to talk without wasting their time.  With features such as Automated Offers from Automated Marketing Platform, dealers can proactively send an offer to a shopper based on their online shopping activity.   

3. Consumers Are Keeping Their Cars Longer 

An overwhelming majority (91%) of consumers plan to keep their cars as their primary source of transportation for the next five-plus years.    

Your customers will still need to hear from you to keep them coming in for service opportunities. This motivation to keep cars as a primary means of transportation also gives you the perfect opportunity to keep building relationships with your customers until they’re ready to buy.  

Take Action: Use Intelligent Marketing to Personalize Servicer Campaigns   

Use an intelligent marketing tool to target vehicle owners to encourage them to come in for service. You can also deliver personalized messages and offers and convert service customers into new car buying leads. This will keep your customers engaged with personalized, helpful content, reminders, and offers that will help you stay top of mind when your customers are ready to service their existing vehicle or purchase a new one.  

4. More Cars, More Competition    

Inventory is back. While that’s good for the overall buying experience, it also means that consumers can pick and choose from a larger selection of vehicles and a wider range of dealerships. In other words, more competition for you.  

As buyers search for the best deal, more are considering both used and new options (78%) and  purchasing and leasing (31%).  

Take Action: Work Smarter, Not Harder with Automotive Intelligence and a Robust CRM 

Stay Competitive with technology that gives you all the insight, tools and data needed to run your dealership more efficiently &and effectively. VinSolutions CRM and Automotive Intelligence enables dealers to accelerate the path to purchase by leveraging Cox Automotive data insights to meet customers where they’re at in their car-buying journey.  

5. Online Is the New In-Person Communication  

Shoppers are more comfortable submitting leads online. In fact, as much as 60% of shoppers submitted a lead online before ever visiting a dealership in-person. Among these, 9% submitted a basic lead and 51% submitted an enhanced lead, meaning they also included trade, credit, financing or payment information.   

Interestingly, this increased comfort level with communicating with dealerships online directly correlates with overall customer satisfaction. As much as 77% of those who submitted an enhanced lead online reported satisfaction with the dealership experience, compared with 65% of those who submitted a basic lead. And, 48% of those who submitted an enhanced lead online reported their experience was better than their last purchase, compared with just 27% who submitted a basic online lead.  

Take Action: Provide Assistance 24/7 with Virtual Assistance 

No matter where your leads come from or how much information they give, deliver the same personalized experience you’d give customers at your dealership. With a growing number of leads submitted after hours, many businesses utilize advanced digital communication offerings to bridge the gap. With VinSolutions Virtual Assistancet Vinessa, you can engage with interested buyers after hours, schedule appointments and answer questions without making people wait until you’re back on the clock. 

The car buying journey has changed in several significant ways, and in other ways it’s returning to the old normal. No matter the state of the industry, understanding today’s consumers is key to targeting the right buyers, staying competitive, and delivering the next-level experiences they expect.  

To learn how you can make every contact an opportunity, get started with a personalized VinSolutions CRM demo today. Get Started

The automotive industry has a data problem. Often, sales and service professionals have their work cut out for them untangling a web of customer lists, user info, and disconnected systems that limit their ability to make hardly any sense of your marketing efforts.  

Campaigns then become a “spray and pray” type effort where you’re sending anyone who’ll listen (or open an email) your best offer, regardless of what stage of the buying funnel they’re in. No shame; we’ve all been there. 

When you’re able to utilize the right data and glean insights at-a-glance, your sales and service staff are better able to overcome some of the most common challenges in retail automotive. When the team at Tynan’s Auto Group partnered with VinSolutions CRM and began using Automotive Marketing Platform to clean up their database, the results were measurable. And impressive.  

Accurate Data Leads to Pin-point Messaging 

When the Sales Manager and Internet Sales Director, KateLynn Bregar, partnered with VinSolutions CRM, she wasn’t new to the role. With over nine years of experience in retail automotive marketing, she knew just how important it was to overcome the deliverability challenges the auto group was facing.  

By working with her Marketing Account Manager at VinSolutions, Jamie Panton, they used Automotive Marketing Platform to narrow and target their audience.  They were able to resolve challenges with their database and marketing tactics that had negatively impacted their ability to email customers. The new, cleaner database helped the auto group develop campaigns that resonated with their local community in a way they had never been able to before. 

Conclusion 

Smart data is just the beginning. With VinSolutions CRM and AMP, the team at Tynan’s Auto Group was able to cut through the noise and address their community with smart messaging that returned real results.

Learn how Tynan’s Auto Group utilized VinSolutions CRM and VinSolutions Automotive Marketing Platform to get the data and insights that made a difference.