Industries everywhere are reinventing their processes and means of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) through the integration of the latest and best in technology. The automotive industry is no exception and has been seeing some brilliant results via implementation of AI-powered chatbots and various other OTT applications to enhance their CRM services.
More than 90% of consumers have reported a preference for automated messaging assistance to solve common queries. Millenials, especially who could currently be considered the primary target market in terms of spending power, are particularly inclined to conducting ample research online prior to purchase. In lieu of their remarkably busy on-the-go lifestyle this segment has found chatbots an effective, swift option.
The latest in Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has enabled chatbots to truly revolutionize sales and customer service for the automotive industry. Before diving into how chatbots can help let’s quickly consider what they actually are.
How Do We Define a Chatbot?
In the simplest of terms possible a chatbot is an AI-enhanced conversational tool that can interact with consumers effectively and promptly. 1.4 billion people are inclined to use chatbots in order to swiftly resolve issues and FAQs. This has driven close to 60% of businesses to incorporate an intelligent chatbot onto their website home page.
How Do AI-Powered Chatbots Benefit the Automotive Industry?
1. Drive Consumer Interaction
Intelligent chatbots can play a significant role in getting potential customers to engage with them even more than otherwise. By providing information at every stage of their research journey chatbots can do more than just answer questions. They can also schedule appointments and quote necessary estimates. Chatbots also prompt reminders and make the process of booking a vehicle so much easier, creating a seamless experience.
2. Enable Cost-Effective Operations
With chatbots used for sales, marketing and customer support activities, auto dealers can harness automation for a significant decrease in operational costs. On-time service appointments and maintenance scheduling can also be facilitated by a chatbot thereby reducing costs.
3. Faster Responses & Resolutions
Everyone is so much busier today demanding solutions even quicker. With a smart chatbot, customers can arrive at a solution much faster as opposed to getting onto a call with an executive with a lot of wait time and delays. When your website offers a chatbot, customers can avail round-the-clock services that are instant and available at the touch of a button from the convenience of their own homes.
4. Simpler Conversions
Most often car dealerships tend to overcrowd their digital spaces with an overload of information that can be difficult for consumers to fully digest. With a chatbot, information specifically pertaining the consumer’s queries can be made available in a sequential and segmented manner that follows them through their purchase journey. This method allows dealers to target a larger audience while still ensuring the feeling of individual personalized service.
5. Easier Service Requests
With a chatbot it becomes much simpler for a customer to set up a request for servicing. The chatbot can understand the customer’s intention, acquire the relevant information and set up the service request automatically. With an automated element scheduling servicing requests, it also becomes easier for executives to plan and prepare for the scheduled service request.
6. Convenient Internal Support
Any data storehouse has to be updated and maintained on a frequent basis. Be it automobile data, inventory or customer directories they must all be cleaned and reviewed periodically to ensure that your chatbots are working from an updated source of information. Chatbots have also become a source of updated, accurate data with regards to assisting employees in making the necessary information immediately available to customers.
7. Voice Assistance
Some chatbots come with built-in voice support features. So the consumer can use a more conversational tone for clarifications instead of manually typing in a question. This adds a more human touch to the whole experience.
8. Alert Staff Executives
AI-driven chatbots are equipped to automatically alert sales reps when a customer completes an online form or application. The bot sends a message and sets up a date and time to speak with a sales rep. This serves to eliminate any delays to the consumer.
9. Test Drives
When your staff are in charge of closing sales, pitching deals and scheduling test drives it can all become quite overwhelming resulting in errors. These errors in appointment scheduling can be avoided with a chatbot since it discerns who can take which car out for a test drive at an available time slot. It does all this automatically with zero margin for error and no manual intervention.
10. Garnering Leads
Leads can be generated all the more easily when an intelligent chatbot is involved. For instance it can convert your Facebook page into a space where leads can be acquired using the messenger application as a chatbot, identifying customers via their profiles.
11. Post-Purchase Services
The aim of a dealership is not only to find and make sales, but also to generate long-term relationships with consumers and maintain them over time. Post purchase services are a great way to retain customers. Chatbots can be a great helping hand for dealerships since customers who schedule servicing appointments also demand estimated costs and delivery times. This information can be incredibly useful to the customer. Despite how simple this step may seem it can go a long way in creating lasting relationships.
12. Round-the-Clock Messaging
Customers are extremely demanding in an ever evolving digital and economic landscape. This fact in the realm of the automotive industry translates to having services around the clock to resolve queries and schedule appointments. A chatbot is your dealership’s best possible bet when it comes to delivering exceptional customer services 24×7 all year round.
If you’re interested in enhancing your customer service and conversions with AI-powered technology, SalesCatcher would be glad to help. We help firms adapt the latest disruptive, digital innovations putting them at the forefront of their industry. Cater to consumers and achieve greater agility with SalesCatcher’s Intelligent Offering (iO). Our AI orchestration platform – iOFlow, working in tandem with our intelligent RPA tool – iOBot can create a highly customized experience for each of your consumers. If you’d like to find out more our team of experts is at your service.
