Consumer survey by CDK, supplier of automotive software* nearly 45 % of the Finnish respondents give a poor rating to a dealership's ability to serve customers after they have bought a car, and one reason for the low willingness to buy a new car from the same, familiar dealership may be the dealership's after-sales service practices. How do you deal with the customer after the sale?
SMS messages provide an easy and efficient way to communicate with customers and maintain customer relations even after the car has been purchased. Research shows that SMS messages reach 98 % recipients and 90 % messages are read within 3 minutes. Relevant and useful communication increases the willingness to purchase additional services and the likelihood of buying the next car from the same place. In this article, we'll show you how to strengthen customer relationships through SMS.
Focus on regularity
Car dealerships are in a competitive environment where customer experience, speed of service and personalisation are key. SMS messages can help your dealership increase sales, strengthen customer relationships and streamline services.
“Car dealers should definitely use customer data for customer relationship management and after-sales marketing. Customers want to hear from your business after the sale, as long as the content is relevant. This is an opportunity for dealerships to increase sales and customer satisfaction”, says Quriiri's Marketing Manager Tanja Lipponen.
According to CDK, car dealers should invest in regular communication. Around 86% of car buyers only hear from their dealership 1-2 times a year. However, customers would be willing to hear from their dealership more often, as long as the communication is appropriate. Car dealers should therefore plan a series of messages to communicate during the customer's visit and ensure that the dealership remains in the customer's mind after the purchase.
For example Bilar99 use Quriiri in SMS campaigns targeting Bilar's past customers. They approach customers who have bought a car a certain time after the sale with a friendly message. The text messages help Bilar99 to stay in the minds of their customers and make it easy for them to get in touch when they have a car-related question.
“It’s essential for us that our customers feel they receive personal and caring service even after making a purchase. We want to build long-term customer relationships and serve our customers as well as possible,” says Jens Hassinen, Marketing Coordinator at Bilar99..
Send your customers useful and personalised content
Rather than just telling your customers about new cars, it's worth telling them what extra services they could get for their car and how to get more out of their new vehicle.
Here are a few examples:
Ask for news: send a message and ask how satisfied the customer was with the car and if there is anything you would like to ask or wonder about.
Tips for using your car: you are an expert in your field - share this information with your customers. Tell them how they can take care of their car.
Additional service offers: tell you about the additional services your dealership offers and earn extra revenue by managing the entire customer lifecycle.
Service reminders: remind the customer of the upcoming service and provide an easy appointment link.
Reward your customers
Surprise and delight your customers with easy SMS text messaging gift codes with the help of. For example Alarm code is an electronic gift card from R-kiosk, which the recipient can redeem at R-kiosk. Another option is Elisa Book code, which gives the customer a reading experience directly on their phone. The advantage of these digital gifts is that there is no need for postage or wrapping - everything is done electronically. We offer turnkey code delivery campaigns. All you need is the phone numbers of your target group and the gift codes will be sent to them via SMS to their phone.
Conduct customer satisfaction surveys
Customer satisfaction surveys are a valuable tool for car dealerships, offering many benefits for business development and strengthening customer relationships. Key benefits include:
1. Improving the customer experience: surveys help to understand customer experiences and expectations, which enables service processes to be improved and customer satisfaction to be increased.
2. Identifying staff training needs: customer feedback can be used to identify areas of staff that need improvement, such as customer service skills or technical expertise.
3. Monitoring the quality of operations: regular surveys allow for continuous monitoring of service quality and a rapid response to potential problems.
4. Strengthening customer loyalty: when customers feel that their opinions are valued and feedback is acted upon, their loyalty to the shop increases.
5. Improving competitiveness: customer satisfaction surveys provide information on how the dealership ranks against competitors and where there is room for improvement.
6. Developing marketing strategies: knowledge of customers' needs and wants through surveys helps to target marketing more effectively.
Regular measurement of customer satisfaction should become a routine. Based on customer feedback, car dealers can make informed decisions that will help them grow their business and develop long-term customer relationships.
RCS messaging - a more modern version of SMS
The traditional SMS messages have been replaced by RCS (Rich Communication Services), which offers greater possibilities for customer communication. RCS enables richer messaging, including images, videos, buttons and chatbot integrations, making communication more interactive and effective.
Car dealers can use RCS messages for example:
- Vehicle maintenance reminders with pictures and easy scheduling options.
- In promotional campaigns, where the customer can book a test drive directly from the message.
- Customer service, where a chatbot answers common questions directly in a thread.
RCS offers a more visual customer experience than traditional SMS messaging and helps car dealerships stand out from their competitors.
Make communication effortless and interactive
You should not stop communicating with customers at the point of sale. When your dealership's communication is regular, relevant and customer-focused, you increase the likelihood of repeat purchases and long customer relationships. Text messaging services offer an effective and easy-to-use solution to this.
Quriiri's SMS service makes it easy to send group messages and queries.
The easiest way to get started is with just a few clicks:
1. Bring contact details to Quriiri
2. Write a message
3. Submit and track results
Book an appointment for a free demonstration, we would be happy to tell you more about how Quriiri works and how you could use SMS to manage your relationship with your customers.
Quriiri is one of Finland's leading service providers in the field of SMS services. Almost 300 million SMS messages are sent through our systems every year by hundreds of companies.
Quriiri offers a wide range of services for customer communication via SMS. It provides interfaces and services that can be managed through an interface.
We place particular emphasis on quality and reliability, from technical implementation to customer service. We are a fully domestic, privately owned and growing company.
