What to Know About Conversational Assistants In the Automotive Retail Business
When conversational AI assistants are introduced into the automotive industry, the opportunity for the dealers from a revenue and customer satisfaction perspective is exponential. Harnessing this power that offers a significant boost in sales and customer retention is the main reason dealers leverage conversational AI and AI assistants.
Customers today expect instant gratification, especially when purchasing a car. As customers start their vehicle buying journey online, they crave immediacy and have become fast adopters of the “click and get the response” mentality.
These conversations take place in various channels like email and text. Proper technology enables dealerships to reach out to the right customer, at the right time, with the right answers. By being persistent, customer communication is the focal point of the vehicle purchasing process. Being available when a lead comes in is vital, yet customer support and sales still lag behind.
Dealerships struggle to retain competent sales reps to efficiently provide customers with high-quality responses. Scaling conversations is one of the pain points that conversational assistants can help overcome. Customer-centric communication is the foundation of a long-term relationship for a dealership. Conversational assistants provide the effective outreach and engagement that dealerships need, and this powerful solution for two-way communication has tremendous benefits for both parties.
The longer you wait to respond after a lead comes in, the less likely it is that the lead will convert. Moreover, maintaining exceptional CSI is highly dependent on the initial outreach and engagement that the dealer has with the lead. In most cases, there is a tradeoff between speed and the quality of the answers that a sales representative faces. But why should you have to choose one over another?
Dealerships should be acting fast to engage with leads in a timely manner. Responses answering customers’ questions should be sent within five minutes. The hours of operation are limited, constant messaging coverage isn’t feasible, and there are only so many employees available to respond to leads. SpinCar’s Sales AI to provide 24/7 high-quality service can change this entire experience.
Customers Demand Constant Accessibility & Don’t Like to Wait
At SpinCar, our goal is to help dealership sales reps with simple tedious tasks that Sales AI is particularly well suited for. The idea is to both supplement and enhance dealership team efforts. When it comes to responding to leads as quickly and efficiently as possible, there’s no denying the effectiveness of intelligent virtual agents. Having a virtual agent means keeping the dealership “open” day/night and on weekends – whenever a customer needs it. Conversational assistants help you manage conversations, schedule appointments, and nurture leads alongside the team during working hours and while the dealership is closed.
Shoppers are looking for quick and accurate answers. Instead of forcing them to wait until a sales representative becomes available, virtual agents can deliver a superior experience and provide the information the customer is looking for. With the right configuration, Sales AI can collect the information and redirect the question to the correct sales representative. Once the sales representative becomes available, they can easily jump in and take over the conversation if needed.
Conversational Interface – Much Easier for Customers
For automotive dealerships, scheduling test drives and appointments in a conversational manner is the best way to move leads through the funnel. Sales AI analyzes whatever the customer says and uses natural language processing to decide how to move the conversation forward. At SpinCar, we use proprietary technology to understand what the customer is saying, then ask questions to extract the necessary information needed to drive the conversation to the goal – an appointment, a test drive, lead information collection, etc. Simultaneously, SpinCar’s Sales AI updates the dealership’s CRM to let the team monitor and act on leads when needed.
