Every year the automotive industry takes significant steps. More and more cars are becoming electric, autonomous, and even interconnected with each other.
Purchasing a car is becoming easier, too. The orientation towards the purchase of a car usually starts online and, on many websites, a potential customer simply puts together a car via an online car configurator. A fascinating online experience where everything can be found in one spot.
But how is that experience in the car dealership? Many car dealers face the challenge of giving customers a ‘wow’ factor when they visit showrooms. The car dealership is not just a point of sale anymore, but rather the place where you make a personal connection between brand and customer.
In this article I will give you fresh insights into the role of the car showroom in which information, inspiration and activation are integrated in a complete experience surrounding brand and product.
The various types of visitors
As car dealer you get various types of visitors in your car showroom. Of course, every visitor has different needs. In order to properly estimate what type of customer comes into your showroom, it is always good to define the different visitors. Their visits are naturally the highlights of your day, but let us have a look at how we can make this visit the most impressive moment of your visitor’s day. They will talk about this for years to come.
We can define the following visitors:
- The walk-in
- The “I know what I want” customer
- The occasion customer
- The service customer
The walk-in chooses a beautiful Saturday afternoon to visit various car dealers. A definitive choice of car is not in his head. The walk-in is looking for inspiration and the right feeling with a brand and model.
The ‘I know what I want’ customer has done a lot of online research. He has compiled his dream car online with the online car configurator. The IKWIW buyer makes an appointment and enters the car showroom the next day. This customer is already convinced of the brand but can still be influenced in the final choice of the car. This offers opportunities for upselling, which I will discuss further below.
The occasion customer can also be divided into these three groups. Many of these customers have already done their research and come for a specific model. Others walk in, sure that they want a car, but don’t know which one yet. I like to call the last group the wanderers. They stray to the occasion cars, as it were.
The service customer has made an appointment for a repair, a check or calamity. The service customer is already convinced of your brand, because he has already bought a car at your car dealership. But we can also further influence the service customer to maintain dealer preference.
Therefore, it is important to offer each type of customer the right experience, to ensure that everyone walks their own route through your showroom. Let me take you into a showroom that is equipped with technology and gives an extra experience to all parts of your showroom:
- A warm welcome
- The brand lounge
- Interactive Car Studio
- The service bar
- Reveal room
- A sensation for the occasions
- Wait-alleviation for customers who are in the showroom a bit longer
1. Warm welcome
Upon entering, every type of driver should be immersed in your brand immediately. The first pit stop is the reception desk. By adding a digital signage display to the reception desk, you have the opportunity to show a warm and personal welcome. It may be a place where people dwell a little shorter, but you can only make that first impression once. Add a personal message and your customer is guaranteed to have a WOW moment.