In the Automotive industry, the after sales automotive marketing is an important area of focus for marketers. Today, we have a great tool to help us: Personalized video. What is it? Why is it so effective? That’s what we’ll talk about in this post.
Automotive is an important, branched, and strategic sector, which is now experiencing a very delicate and critical phase due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy.
The crisis, and the need to recover as soon as possible, is an important focus area. The scenario is complex and interesting.
The automotive sector is in turmoil and it’s one that has been undergoing an epochal change for several years now. This revolution is part of a general paradigm shift, the one brought about by Digital Transformation.
In this post, we summarized the main vectors of change that digital has activated in the automotive industry. In another post, we focused on the pre-sales side. This is a long and delicate process that involves an average of 20 touchpoints (mostly digital) and is one that brands are learning to manage.
Now, however, we want to move to the opposite side of the car buying process, which is actually complementary (and we’ll see why): after sales automotive marketing.
It is precisely in the after sales phase that the most important margins can be found (and this is not so obvious or well-known).
In this post, we’ll look at the reasons for this importance, and then we’ll focus on a concrete and advanced tool that offers formidable results in terms of fluidity and effectiveness of communication, customer satisfaction, and loyalty: Personalized videos.
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Why is the after sales automotive marketing so important?
We’ll answer that question right now, and we’ll do so with some very telling data.
First of all, already today, profit margins of 20% are generated in the after sales phases of buying a car; we are talking about a much higher percentage than that of the sales phases (source: e-Mobil). In addition, a customer spends an average of 15 hours buying a car. They also spend 50 hours invested in all service and after sales processes (source: Cox Automotive).
It’s no surprise, then, that the real competition in the Automotive industry is shifting more and more to customer service and post sales.
This is true for brands as well as for dealers and resellers. And it’s clear from the data (source: V12 data):
- 54% of customers say they are ready to buy a car from a dealership that offers them the best experience and after-sales service, even if it doesn’t have the lowest prices.
- It’s estimated that car sales could increase by 25% if the retail experience improved by becoming simpler, smarter, and more personalized.
The same trend emerges from another survey, this time conducted by McKinsey. The survey found that, when it comes to buying a new car, the consumer’s experience of the brand’s service is fundamental (source). That’s why the pre-sales process is complementary to the after sales process: It’s all about the Customer Experience.
A bad experience, therefore, is one of the main causes that lead the driver to change brands.
All of this is reflected in data by Capgemini (source), which looks at both the dealer and the brand. Here they are:
- Only 10% of customers who are dissatisfied with their dealer experience will return for their next purchase.
- In contrast, 87% of “highly satisfied” customers will buy cars from the same brand; 85% will buy them at the same dealership.
So, the importance of after sales can be summed up in one word: Loyalty.
In this regard, it’s always important to remember a well-known fact, which emerged from an analysis by Bain & Company (source). For a company in any sector, winning a new customer costs 6 to 7 times more than retaining one through a satisfactory Customer Experience.
In concrete terms, what does a satisfactory Customer Experience translate into today?
After sales and digital communication processes are increasingly tailored. That’s what we’ll focus on in the continuation of this post.
After sales is increasingly digital and “tailor-made”
Again, let’s start with one data point.
According to estimates, in 2025, millennials–buyers born from 1981 to 1996 –will make up about 45% of car buyers (source: McKinsey). This group of consumers is accustomed to dealing with companies like Amazon (to give the best known example) who deploy all the best digital strategies and who focus heavily on the Customer Experience.
How does this translate for the Automotive industry? In the after sales phases, younger people expect a digital relationship with brands, one that is both fluid and multichannel. They expect a simple, effective, and one-to-one dialog.
Think of everything from customer service to financial services.
Here, we often encounter slow, cumbersome processes, appointments made over the phone, wasted time, and expenses that may seem nebulous, unclear, or unjustified.
Today, all of this is no longer “forgiven” by the customer. An after salesservice that is not in step with the times soon turns into a loss of loyalty and reputation.
So what is the best way to make the relationship between customer and brand (or retailer) more fluid, efficient, and fruitful? Personalization.
Personalization is one of the oldest and most effective strategies in commerce, and it’s taking on new life thanks to the multiple technologies made available by Digital Transformation.
Digital technologies are based on a fundamental aspect: The collection and interpretation of data. More and more precise data allows brands to learn about the characteristics and behaviors of their target audience. Right down to the individual person.
Specialized companies such as Doxee deal precisely with the personalization and digitalization of Customer Relationship Management.
What’s the goal? To transform aspects of the after sales process into a close, continuous, and discreet dialog between brand and customer, with the end result of improving loyalty.
Of course, it’s not a simple and immediate path, especially for a mammoth industry like automotive, which has complex and typically slower dynamics. But this is where it has to go. And it is above all a question of finding the right tools and the most effective means. In the digital world, there is no more suitable medium for this purpose than video.
…and video is the king of digital
We’re not saying that video is the most effective tool in the digital world. The data says so. Consider these points, for example:
- Today, about 82% of all internet traffic is generated by video. In 2017, that percentage was 72.3% (source: Cisco Annual Internet Report).
- More than 1 billion hours of video are viewed every day on YouTube alone…a staggering number (source: YouTube).
- About 100 million hours of video are watched every day on Facebook, a number that is steadily increasing (source: 99firms).
- On Instagram, posts containing videos have a 38% higher average engagement than those containing images (source: Mention.com).
Let’s move on to the crucial attention front, the one that is most crucial to the brand-customer relationship:
- 55% of people pay more attention the moment they watch video than any other type of content (source: Omnikick).
- When viewing a video, the average user retains 95% of the message it contains; if we are talking about text, this percentage drops to 10% (source: Insivia).
Of course, brands have long understood the power of video, and they are increasingly leveraging it in their after sales automotive marketing and customer care strategies; specifically:
- 81% of businesses today use video as a marketing tool. That’s an increase of 63% over last year (source: Hubspot).
- Including a video in a landing page can increase conversion rates by up to 80% (source: Unbounce)
- 87% of marketers use video in their strategies (source: Wyzowl).
- 88% of marketers say they are satisfied with the ROI generated by their video marketing campaigns (source: Wyzowl).
We could go on and on. But let’s close with one last statistic, which we feel is really significant when we think about about the after sales automotive marketing phase: According to 97% of marketers, video is critical to getting customers to have a better understanding of products and services (source: Hubspot).
The ultimate boost?
We’ve already anticipated it: Combine the effectiveness of video with the surgical precision of personalization. And that’s what we focus on in the concluding section.
The turning point of personalized videos
Personalized videos are videos built according to the characteristics of the person they are aimed at. But that’s not all: They adapt to the user, even in real time, and are interactive.
It’s easy to see, then, how valuable this type of tool can be when the goal is to establish a fluid dialog with your customers, to take advantage of all the post-sales opportunities and to drive engagement, retention, and loyalty.
That’s exactly what Doxee Pvideo® solutions make possible. Doxee Pvideo® personalized videos can be inserted at many points in the post-sales process.
Think, for example, of communications to relay messages about ordinary and extraordinary car maintenance. Using videos that are optimized in omnichannel mode makes everything simpler, more intuitive, and transparent. Misunderstandings (and we all know how fundamental this is) and delays are avoided. It makes us feel “close” to the business. And you can open up opportunities for upselling and cross-selling, which are fundamental.
And here’s where the circle closes: From the most advanced technology we return to individuals, to the single driver. Because individuals are the most precious asset for the companies of the future.
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