How the journey of buying a car has changed
There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to purchasing a car. But with advances in technology, this challenge is looking like an opportunity for both customers and businesses going forward. Customers have more resources available to them than ever to discover their next car, and businesses can leverage data and modern tools to curate personalized experiences for customers proactively.
How can these shifts help inform your business strategy going forward?
1. The new customer journey is hyper-personalized, omnichannel, and fun
Just as customers have access to more sophisticated resources online, your business also has more data readily available than ever to deliver hyper-personalized experiences. Consider this: 92% of customers now research online before buying a car, and 64% even said they would purchase without test-driving if they could access content like a 360-degree test drive video. With advanced technology, you can now offer your customers the option of visualizing and experiencing their new car as a part of their life – all before leaving their home.
Image Source: Analysis Workspace Overview | Adobe Analytics
As experts in leveraging data to create personalized experiences, we can help you achieve this with the Adobe Experience Cloud. A robust analytics platform makes it easy to synthesize vast amounts of data across multiple channels to form comprehensive views of your customers. With that data, we can help you take those insights to the next level by optimizing and personalizing experiences to individuals and customer segments. This means you can infer from a customer’s driving habits, demographics, and preferences to present the best models and packages to them.
2. Customers are discovering and experiencing more, and searching less
Traditionally, customers started their journey by browsing online catalogs or even visiting nearby dealerships to browse available models. Today, they can begin by asking, “What features do I need?” and having options readily personalized to those needs. The time your customers need to spend going through the funnel has been drastically reduced. And this is where your business can shine.
We can help you leverage Adobe’s experience management tools to deliver personalized content at scale. The cloud-based technology streamlines your team’s collaboration, while AI can help automate asset management, eliminating the manual work of cropping, tagging, and editing. Instead of spending hours editing content piece by piece, delight your customers with content customized to their tastes and needs in real-time.
3. Dealerships are becoming experience hubs
The importance of dealerships is not disappearing; it’s changing. Tobias Himstedt, Account Director, offers a compelling point: “As buying or leasing a car is more of an emotional than rational process, it is and will be still important to see, feel, touch, and drive a car to confirm a choice that might have been taken online already.” In other words, dealerships still play a critical role in the overall purchasing decision and we must think about how they can complement the overall customer journey.
With technology that lets customers envision their dream set of features and finishes, dealerships are no longer just physical sales points. Face-to-face interaction with your customers will be less centered around showing available models or closing deals but around delivering a memorable experience as part of their journey.
Thinking outside the box of traditional dealership service opens up a whole new avenue of possibilities. Dealerships can become experience hubs, empowered by end-to-end technology that helps them go above and beyond in understanding and providing for their customers. Take this AR experience combining Adobe Aero and cloud technology as an example, allowing you to explore car features such as wheels, headlights, engine and more; the possibilities are endless.
https://netcentric.wistia.com/medias/4rui98qgne
Video Source: Create an AR-powered interactive product experience with Adobe Aero
Is your business ready to become a part of the new customer journey? With our deep expertise in designing solutions with Adobe Experience Cloud and experience working hand-in-hand with the world’s largest automotive brands, you’ll be in the driving seat.