4 Tips to Boost Your Auto Dealership Customer Retention

In a nutshell, the Customer Retention rate of your Auto Dealership tells you how well your company has been able to hold on to its paying customers over a certain period of time. The objective of any business is to create and keep their client base, and customer retention is all about the latter part.

Remember, the cost of retaining an existing customer is significantly lower than converting a new one.

We will give you a few effective pointers in this article, to help you increase the retention rates of your car dealership.

01. Get to the Bottom of Issues

Whenever a client reports an issue, it isn’t sufficient if your customer service department just apologizes and offers a temporary fix. In addition to solving the immediate issue, work on getting to the root cause of the problem and setting it right so that the problem doesn’t crop up again in the future.

Customers become highly sensitive to pricing when dealing with products or services that throw up issues, and they can easily jump to a rival dealer if they’re unhappy with the service provided by your car dealership.

02. Reward Customer Loyalty

Research done on client retention programs has shown that people love being preferred customers.

The biggest pitfall in preventing customer loyalty programs from succeeding is getting people to sign up in the first place. An easy way to get around this is by getting people to automatically sign up during their first visit.

03. Ensure You’re on the Right Platforms

Utilizing the channels that your customers prefer is important when it comes to running effective customer retention programs. Customers may prefer using email, social channels like Facebook and Twitter, live chats, or the phone, to connect with their dealer.

Once you figure this out, you have the best pathway to reach the maximum number of customers and prospects.

04. Believe it or not – Customer Delight is Secondary

Most auto dealerships assume that delivering customer delight by going above and beyond the call of duty is the only way to provide great customer service. However, studies have clearly shown that the ease customers feel in getting their issues resolved is much more important, which is why focusing unrelentingly on quickly fixing problems and avoiding unpleasant surprises can be much more useful for your customer retention plan.

Handing out discounts and freebies can get expensive for your auto dealership. It’s much better to create reciprocity through inexpensive means such as thoughtful gestures. Research has also shown that treating customers to pleasant surprises is more effective than customer loyalty initiatives that are planned and expected. 

For more information on Auto Dealership Customer Retention, Contact Us.