Digital Disruption Raising Expectations of the Automotive Industry
The automotive industry is undergoing an era of digital disruption. With a modern, tech-savvy target audience, creating a high-energy, interactive and visual experience is no longer optional for automotive dealership showrooms – it's a necessity. Static signs and posters simply do not captivate an audience anymore. Digital signage is engaging and interactive with the ability to be updated anytime, anywhere.
Digital disruption enables companies to provide a new level of customer experience. According to a Harris Interactive study conducted on behalf of Verint Systems, 88 percent of customers prefer doing business with a company that offers a quality customer experience over a company that has the latest and most innovative products. With the ability to create a WOW factor in the showroom, digital signage enhances the automotive industries' customer experience, leading to stronger engagement, increased loyalty and improved conversion rates.
The potential for digital technology to enhance the customer experience within the automotive industry is limitless. The list below covers only a handful of the many opportunities available:
Beacon Technology According to research by Marin Software, "Consumers increasingly use smartphones at dealerships to research and validate brand choices pre purchase, driving a surge in mobile auto app usage in 2015." Beacon technology allows businesses to tap into this vital marketing opportunity by communicating with customers on the one device everyone keeps close – their mobile phone. Messages can be pushed to a customer's mobile phone when in a predetermined proximity of a beacon. Using a customer data base, dealerships can send messages to customers and potential customers when in proximity to particular models.
At TechnoVedi Inc. we are deploying beacons & beacon based solutions for various industries, including automotive industry.
Digital Screens Digital screens can be strategically placed throughout waiting rooms and showrooms. Keeping customers entertained in the waiting room with digital displays helps reduce perceived wait time while also creating a defensive marketing strategy for dealers by providing a dealership specific channel. Video walls can be designed in different formats, allowing for large screens or custom designs and content, to have maximum impact, and deliver an in-store experience beyond the customers' expectations. With the ability for screens to function independently and display different content or combining numerous screens to display one large vibrant video, marketing teams are provided with endless opportunities.
Interactive Screens Many of today's customers are "digital natives" – those who have grown up with touch-friendly devices – and assume everything can be swiped, pinched and zoomed. Accenture's Auto Digital report (2015) indicated that more than half of the respondents would be interested in an interactive touch display that provides information on the available models during a visit to a showroom, proving that today's customers value the efficiency and speed of using self-service tools to find answers. Not only could an interactive screen provide extra details about a car, a dealership could also take it that step further and enhance the customer experience with an Interactive Car Configurator. Success Story: Case of Audi's Virtual Showroom in London German Automaker Audi disrupted the Automobile Showroom Experience by Creating a Virtual Reality Showroom in London. Using the HTC Vive virtual reality headset to showcase a high-end experience, Customers will use iPads to select any make or model and then customize every element of the car from exterior paint to wheels to engine type to interior seats. Then they go to a 16-by-16-foot area and put on an HTC (HTC) Vive headset and Bang & Olufsen headphones, and their customized vehicle appears in virtual reality. The customer can move around the exterior of the vehicle, open the trunk and doors, check out the headlights and tail lights, look underneath the hood, and even get inside the vehicle and sit in the driver’s seat!
Conclusion
Digital disruption is the key to succeeding in the automotive industry. As Accenture's report says, "Dealers who are innovative, aggressive in pursuing digital strategies that engage the connected customer, and proficient in communicating the right message through the appropriate digital channels at the right time, will become automotive disrupters that can sustain growth in the global automotive market into the future."
Original Article: Digital Signage Today, Author: Tegan Worrall
