A new automated engagement platform for car dealerships aims to “nurture” customers by giving them actionable vehicle-ownership information beyond sales and service reminders.
The goal is to foster loyalty and establish dealers as trusted long-term partners, Alex Snyder, CEO of VehicleLyfe, tells WardsAuto.
“Customers are begging for a ‘car person’ to guide them on maintenance, warranty upgrades, insurance, (whether) to lease or buy and when to trade up,” Snyder says. “VehicleLyfe fills that void.”
He calls it a personalized concierge that customers have always wanted, “built on real data and automated touchpoints that foster trust and loyalty without adding to a dealer’s workload.”
Tom Harsha, the company’s chief operating officer, describes it as using modern technology that nurtures customers along the way.
“Make it easy to understand and you can win them over,” he tells WardsAuto.
Here’s how it works:
The product taps into a store’s dealership management systems to garner detailed customer service and sales information.
After a vehicle is sold or serviced, the customer receives a quarterly digital message with a link to VehicleLyfe.
Offerings, with text and graphics, include:
- A complete service history, including dates of service, costs, services completed and ones declined.
- Access to existing extended service agreement coverages and potential renewal options.
- Tools to understand vehicle equity and understand trade-in possibilities.
- Access to full dealership inventory with loan, lease and cash payment options with all fees and taxes included.
- A proprietary Investment Peak Analysis to help customers know the optimal time to keep or trade their vehicle. That’s based on when repair and maintenance costs begin to outweigh the vehicle’s value.
“It gives customer data on what they should do next with their car,” Snyder says.
Among the first dealership operations to sign on with VehicleLyfe is Apex Automotive Group with four stores in Myrtle Beach and Anderson, SC.
Apex uses the product for its Chrysler Jeep Dodge and Ram outlet, John Vincent, the group’s director of business development, tells WardsAuto.
“It provides a customized ownership path and gentle follow-ups rather than blasts,” he says. “It’s useful information rather than emails for the sake of emails. I don’t need that.”
If VehicleLyfe moves the needle at the CJDR store, “I shouldn’t have a problem plugging it into the other stores.” (Those consist of a Volkswagen dealership and two Honda outlets.)
Snyder and Harsha say a goal of their product is to increase customer loyalty – which isn’t what it used to be.
“Last year, only 23% of dealership sales customers returned to buy another car,” says Harsha. “A decade ago, that number was consistently above 30%.”
In virtual dealership-customer conversations, VehicleLyfe uses artificial intelligence for initial responses until a customer is ready to go to the dealership or has specific questions that a human can answer better.
Despite recent stories about how A.I. sometimes provides nonsensical answers, Harsha says he’s found the company’s program works well.
“A.I. knows the customer’s car, payment, payoff and trade value,” he says. It can book appointments, usually by text. It’s a little strange sometimes to watch how good it is.”
