Car Buyer Frustrations and Technology Solutions
3 Automobile Buyer Anxieties and the Technology That Alleviates Them
Few things in life, in the eyes of the consumer, are more stressful, more of a headache, and more time and money-consuming than the process of buying a new or used car. Take a quick look at the customer reviews for any local auto dealer to get an idea of how frustrating it can be. Even from customers who have actually bought a car and left bad reviews, you’ll almost always find a lot of them online.
So what is it about the car-buying process that makes buyers question their sanity?
Is there anything that can be done to improve the customer-friendliness of the procedure?
Check out our list of the top 3 car buyer annoyances and the technology that addresses them if you’re ready to enhance the purchasing experience at your auto dealership. Putting these suggestions into practice will increase your client satisfaction and revenue.
Frustration #1: The process of purchasing an automobile takes FOREVER.
The last time my wife and I bought a car, we spent six hours at the showroom. Although 6 hours might seem a little out of the ordinary to you, the exact opposite is true. The absurd thing is that we visited the showroom knowing exactly the car we intended to buy, yet it still took half a day!
According to the 2019 HIS Automotive Buyer Influence Study, more than 55% of buyers of new cars and 57% of buyers of used cars are dissatisfied with how long it takes to buy a car. Just to be clear, more than half of those who buy cars are dissatisfied with the length of time it takes to complete the transaction. That is amazing.
A remedy for the time issue
Consider adding some advanced digital retailing capabilities to your website if you want to shorten the time car shoppers spend at the lot browsing for a vehicle.
Customers will have the majority of the information they require before visiting your dealership if they can quickly browse your website and view each vehicle type, model, and color, as well as the mileage information, accident history, and retail price.
Customer satisfaction will increase as a result of adding all of these digital retailing capabilities to your website because they will save them time.
Frustration #2 Price negotiations are frustrating because they feel like pulling teeth.
Price haggling may cause car purchasers the most annoyance, next to the length of time it takes to acquire a car.
When a consumer decides to buy a car, they typically have to meet with several personnel at the dealership, deal with employee misunderstandings, and figure out how to buy the automobile for a price that works for them.
The actual negotiation process can take several hours or even days. The majority of customers don’t want to make that much of an effort just to buy a car. They’ll cross the street to your rival if they think they can’t acquire the car they desire for a fair price.
An answer to the price-negotiation conundrum
You need to be more strategic about how you list vehicles on your website if you don’t want buyers to visit the dealership to test drive one and talk about price only to find they can’t afford the asking price.
The negotiation of prices is a crucial part of the car-buying process, so why not employ technology to enable consumers to do so from the comfort of their homes rather than requiring them to visit the dealership?
Including a chat and video function in each vehicle listing on your website is one of the finest methods to make price negotiations easier for both you and your consumers. Customers will be able to watch footage of the cars they’re interested in without test-driving them all, thanks to the implementation of this technology. By including the chat feature, a customer will be able to communicate directly with a sales representative from the website, improving convenience and comfort.
Frustration #3: It’s uncomfortable talking to a salesperson.
Undoubtedly, one of the most prevalent sources of annoyance for automobile buyers is interacting with a salesperson. Even though there are some people who genuinely enjoy shopping at an auto dealership, they are by no means the majority.
According to the 2021 Beepi Consumer Automotive Index, which was based on an online Harris Poll study, 61 percent of American auto buyers believe that salespeople try to take advantage of them when they are buying a car. Another finding of the survey indicated that over 52% of automobile buyers experience extreme unease and anxiety when visiting auto showrooms. The majority of respondents to the study who were asked about buying a vehicle also stated that, given the choice, they would prefer to do it at home.
It’s bad enough that a customer must spend the majority of the day touring a vehicle dealership, haggling over the price, and completing paperwork, but the worst part is that they must do it with one, two, or even three strangers by their side at all times.
What can be done, then, to lessen the discomfort and anxiety associated with spending the day at the dealership with a few sales representatives?
If only there were a different approach to gaining a customer’s confidence and trust before they even entered your dealership.
Warning: There is a solution!
The Sales Rep Situation’s Resolution
Here’s how you can use SimpSocial to allay a customer’s fear of going to a dealership and meeting with several sales representatives:
A potential buyer of a car visits your website, looks at a few cars, and then contacts you to express interest in a specific vehicle by filling out a standard contact form on the listing page for that vehicle.
Shortly after, the same consumer gets an email or text message with a link to a personalized SimpSocial. Once there, the customer can view pictures and videos of the car he initially expressed interest in, as well as engage in live chat communication with a sales representative.
SimpSocial enables a sales representative to completely customize the car-buying experience while the customer sits in the comfort of his or her own home. This eliminates the need for the customer to spend hours walking through endless rows of vehicles at the dealership and dealing with the constant awkwardness of meeting with multiple sales representatives.
The representative may easily change the website in real-time to offer photographs, videos, and other facts about comparable automobiles if the consumer requests additional information about a different brand or model of car. If the consumer is reading the page on a mobile device, they can also call the salesperson immediately from the page.
The salesperson can set up a time for the customer to test drive the vehicle and complete the paperwork once the customer has decided on a certain model. The procedure is streamlined and shorter, and the customer is happy as a result.
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