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| You snooze, you lose. |
36% of dealership online enquiries remained unanswered after 24 hours.
Imagine if you ignored one in three customers that expressed an interest in buying from you until the next day? Do you seriously think they would hang around?
If automated responses are included ('Thanks for your enquiry, we promise to get back to you sometime') then the figure falls to 10%, an improvement on the 40% figure reported three years ago. But really.
In October 2010 Autotrader.com commissioned a Polk UK research piece called 'The Automotive Buying influence Study' which found that 71% of car buyers use the internet for car buying, more than twice as much as the next information source. On average a person spent 16 hours buying a car and 60% of that time was online.
In October 2010 Autotrader.com commissioned a Polk UK research piece called 'The Automotive Buying influence Study' which found that 71% of car buyers use the internet for car buying, more than twice as much as the next information source. On average a person spent 16 hours buying a car and 60% of that time was online.
In 2004 in London I ran a company called GoinGreen that sold the G-Wiz electric vehicle. Exclusively online. Our stated policy was to respond to all email enquiries within 24 hours and in practice it was to do so same day. We sold 1000 EVs in three years in London this way. We provided telephone helpline support, but if you wanted to buy, then you did so online.
We tracked this carefully. Not only did our customers like the convenience of being able to book a test drive, configure a car, place an order and make a payment online, often out of normal office hours, but they really really enjoyed avoiding the showroom sales pressure.
Electric cars are hi-tech pieces of kit. Electric car customers are sophisticated users of technology. If you are successful in business today then you already know that it's all about the story and the experience.
But then you probably aren't a car dealer.
