The online customer experience: the key to success at the heart of your digital strategy

Published in Autojournal in November 2017

The internet is now more than 17 years old. Just recently, mobile turned 10 years old. Digital is no longer new. We don't talk about digital innovation anymore, we talk about optimizing the online customer experience. Our customers know what they want long before they get to the store. No more customers walking into the dealership saying they have no idea what they need. Information is now readily available on all the platforms we use every day.

What you should already have mastered in 2017

Your website should be as, if not better, presented than the inside of your dealership. It should be fast and the mobile experience should be flawless. The information should be up-to-date and it should be easy to find what you're looking for. Your dealership and your location must be distributed with rich content on all the platforms your consumers use to get information such as directions or view photos. Your customers in the new car segment, for the most part, already have all the information they need to make a purchase. Manufacturers have already invested a lot of money in user experience, so you need to leverage your dealership and the benefits of them buying their next vehicle from you. For your pre-owned segment, the experience should be that of an e-commerce platform. Build on Amazon's online experience and try to replicate their product sheets!

Knowing that the vast majority of your customers find and choose you online, your advertising investments should reflect this change and should be closely monitored with experts in the field. Avoid generic solutions, avoid all-inclusive solutions. Logically, your business is unique, your positioning should be too. Think outside the box, stop copying your competitors, by using these means you are always in second place.

Information must be accessible now

We live in a "NOW" world. Everything is accessible now. The user experience is defined by the quality of the information they receive now. Some sales adages will never change, people buy emotionally. Yes, that's true, but the speed of access to information now frustrates customers in the comfort of their living room. This is an important change that must be mastered. Too often we talk about content strategy without knowing what to do or how to do it. At its core, your content strategy in a consumer market should start with: providing your customers with all the information they need to make their buying decision in a way that is quick and accessible to them. That's it!

What are your customers looking for: photos, videos, ratings, prices, who you are, very technical details, opening hours, photos of your business, directions, virtual tour, up-to-date used inventory, promotions, liquidations, current events, etc.

Cross-platform is also another headache for businesses but a pure pleasure for users. All this information needs to be available on all the platforms that users use to store.

Simplify your life

Everyone likes simple things, both marketers and consumers. The word marketing is slowly taking on a new meaning. We need to completely rethink the customer experience. The automotive industry is currently in a state of flux in terms of digital processes and dealerships only control 10% of the online sales experience, while the manufacturer controls about 90%. It's time to revisit that 10% and make sure you control a larger percentage.

In the used car segment, you control more of the user experience, but what do you do? A boring radio ad? A questionable and mostly unmeasurable TV ad that only makes the owner(s) of the business who sees it proud, but generates no return?

Do it differently!

In the world of web marketing, the word "disruptive" is in the spotlight. This word means doing things differently, changing the old way. Shopping for a new car in 2017, is a pure pleasure, everything is done online! Photos, options, prices, amount to pay per month, etc... Going to the dealership to buy a vehicle is often perceived as a stressful or unpleasant experience. It's simple, take the time to look at the online reviews of your respective companies (if you haven't already taken control of them) and you'll understand very quickly. Don't give the title of web marketing manager to one of your sales people, give the full mandate with a lot of latitude to a firm that has the skills and abilities in this area. You don't give the production of financial statements and the development of your tax strategy to your technical advisor. Often, marketing is taken too lightly. Now that the internet is old and the overall customer experience is the #1 priority, it is high time to give it a lot of importance.

Change, innovate and above all, take care of your customers no matter where they are and even if you don't know them yet. No industry is old enough to say we have it under control. Many companies in the retail industry have not thought this way. The automotive industry is part of the retail industry... History will be made.