In addition to traditional challenges, the auto industry is experiencing many new issues with which to deal, from charges of sharing customer data to uncertainty and new tariffs in the EV space. Marketers across the industry are challenged to meet current consumer demands while anticipating how those demands might shift in the coming months and years.
Keeping a close watch on markets and regulations is essential when building growth strategies, but maintaining an ongoing conversation with and a close understanding of consumers will help you identify what consumers are thinking and feeling about your products, and what they hope for in the future. Following are five strategies that work for our clients as they build their action plans.
1. Understand your current path to purchase.
Knowing the way your customers research and shop for cars, and the triggers that move them to purchase will help you make the right choices about how and when to interact with them. Auto dealers that recognize how moments-that-matter have evolved and the importance of embracing the digital shift can create new opportunities to engage with customers on their terms to develop a more persuasive sales cycle.
2. Explore new ways to build brand affinity with customers.
Brand loyalty is still relatively strong in the sector, but the changing auto market is compelling many to think differently about their options. Consumers are faced with tough questions about which model, and which fuel type to select. Maintaining a close watch on what your customers are thinking will help you develop sales strategies to appeal to key decision-making criteria in a market with different options.
3. Develop an agile EV strategy.
Industry leaders globally and locally need to increase their collaboration to develop feasible solutions to the infrastructure that will support EV success. Industry players will also need to identify consumer knowledge gaps and develop new and novel ways to engage with customers to ease them into decisions about purchasing EVs.
4. Protect your customers’ privacy.
Brands must demonstrate and further develop policies and communications on how they are using their customers’ data. Key to this is understanding how consumers feel about data collection, and their specific attitudes about how data inputs are used. Do consumers perceive that the industry is using data to create safer, more efficient products and services? Or are perceptions that data is simply collected to sell for profit? Develop a clear data privacy program that meets customer sentiment.
5. Stay close to customers.
Ultimately, consumers will dictate what they want from the industry. Brands that develop strategies based on consumer input (and sincerely listen to what consumers are saying) will create the best opportunities for meeting future demands successfully. A blend of qualitative and quantitative approaches can help brand teams maintain a pulse on what’s trending, and inform the way decisions are being made now to ensure a growth trajectory for the future. The four examples in this ebook demonstrate how.
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