A very swift Google search tell us that there are more than 1.5bn active iPhone users worldwide right now, and over 2.24bn iPhone units have been sold to date.
These are stats that surprise, but shouldn’t shock. Take a look around, the number of people holding an iPhone in the street, on your commute to work and at your place of work is incredible.
Technology moves and develops at a phenomenal pace and usability is critical to its success. The iPhone has been built in a way to be user-friendly with everything you need at the touch of a button, but isn’t it the case that the sheer volume of users out there mean information on how to use certain functions, apps and features is readily available everywhere we turn?
So, if more than half of the UK phone-using population has an iPhone, the likelihood is we don’t have to work too hard to find out how we get the most out of this genius piece of technology. And, by using the tech to its fullest, we get the richest experience and are likely to become hardened iPhone fans and customers for decades to come.
The same is not the case for the cars we drive. The incredible amount of investment that is ploughed into the technical features of our cars and the sophistication of said tech is increasing, but as drivers, do we truly understand it in the same way we understand the capability of our handheld devices?
How many customers must bring their car in for a service to a franchised dealer and ask for help with technology features – whether it’s related to comfort or performance? As manufacturers and retailers, if customers aren’t engaging with the features of the car and using it to its fullest, you run the risk of not building the strongest possible tie with that customer and losing them to another brand and another retailer.
With electric cars, connected cars and everything in between, this surge of tech is only becoming more exciting but at the same time more complex for those who simply ‘don’t know how’.
The moment the customer places an order and commits to the purchase they enter a waiting period of sometimes weeks, months or even a year. This is the time to share the information on technology, apps and features and this is the time to be handling customer questions.
There is, however, a crucial point in the buying journey when customers are eager to learn, understand and get excited about their new car and interestingly it’s often an over-looked section of the journey.
Order to handover
The moment the customer places an order and commits to the purchase they enter a waiting period of sometimes weeks, months or even a year. This is the time to share the information on technology, apps and features and this is the time to be handling customer questions.
Here at AutoComms we have developed technology of our own that communicates with customers during this ‘journey within a journey’, and we can sometimes get side-tracked by focusing on handover dates and additional product and services.
Yet interestingly, information on technology and apps associated with the brand are the most popular pages in the WelcomeHubs that each customer gets with AutoBuzz while the excitement builds ahead of their new car’s arrival.
Actually, as it was articulated to us not long ago from an OEM, perhaps this is the perfect time to build awareness, educate and inform because the last thing anyone wants is a car being returned in three years’ time having only delivered 50% of its potential.
The reality is that the sales team simply doesn’t have the time to reach out to all forward order customers and take them through the technological features of the car to ensure they understand it all, particularly when it’s been ten months since they last drove the car. By automating communication and tracking customer activity, retailers can rest assured that customers are able to use their new or used vehicle in the most effective way possible.
If you want to talk with us about our automated, personalised customer journeys for anyone waiting for a new or used car to arrive, get in touch we’d love to demo AutoBuzz and show you how our many retail clients are increasing customer value, CX and, in fact, awareness on the piece of metal itself.
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