How CX shapes workshops’ customer service and the automotive software industry
If we look at the world today — especially in the midst of the Covid pandemic — it is certain that digital transformation is faster than ever. It disrupts every area of our lives, from the way we communicate, shop, pay, do business and drive our cars; and the list goes on. Understanding that the revolution has taken place at the customer itself is the key to success for every industry and the automotive industry is no exception. In this article, we will discover how these new customer expectations shape the automotive software industry with particular attention to solutions aiming to strengthen customer relationships.
Heavy investment into automotive software
In recent years, the biggest influence on the automotive industry has been the C.A.S.E, (Connectivity, Autonomous, Sharing/Subscription, and Electrification) trends, and these areas received massive amounts of investments. Thanks to these new and complex technology demanding trends the overall automotive software market size is expected to reach ~USD 84 billion by 2030 (which is massive compared to the ~USD 34 billion market size of 2020). Two domains are expected to grow particularly: ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) and AD (Autonomous Driving) taking up 43% of the expected growth followed by infotainment, connectivity, security, and connected services with an 18% market share.
Another important driver for the expected expansion in the automotive software market is the necessity to expand these functionalities and customize the core software to a broad range of vehicles. According to McKinsey’s study, it is expected that by 2030 almost all (!) vehicle platforms will be equipped with some form of data connectivity, as well as ADAS features. Looking at this forecast we can conclude that software will become a strategic development area of the automotive industry, due to the continuous expansion of different vehicle functionalities (becoming more connected, AD and electric powertrain management).
McKinsey forecast within the automotive software development (Source: Automotive software and electronics 2030 — Mapping the sector’s future landscape)
Dealerships and workshops should establish personalized yet digitalized customer relationship
Consumers are used to a fully digital world and they expect full connectivity, even in their cars. Customer service and dialogue with brands are expected to be fast, easy, and personalized. When it comes to service, maintenance, and driving experience, the same principles apply; an overall 360-degree digital experience.
Ultimately we are talking about everyday people who are used to using services and buying goods in just a few clicks, mainly from their smartphones. The automotive industry is no exception to this trend: the sales cycle, after-sales maintenance, and overarching customer service have to become digital along with user-friendly platforms. Looking at the above-mentioned reasons fostering a solid customer relationship is paramount. The changing customer demand is well reflected in V12’s study: 54% of customers say they would buy a car from a dealer who offers the best customer experience (CX), even if they have higher prices on the market. Dealers should prepare for a new way of doing business.
According to Deloitte’s study, customer experience is important to 78% of people buying a car and they also mention that there is still “too much paperwork” or the “overall experience took too long”. The survey result also indicates that CX after the purchase is also insufficient as 48% of responders were never contacted after purchasing the vehicle by the dealer. It is a common and well-known phenomenon among dealerships that customers leave their designated workshops after some time which is a significant loss for any business. Without the appropriate customer management system workshops don’t know the why and are not able to follow up on these lost customers. So, here comes utilizing connectivity in favor of customer retention and relationship building.
Customer experience is under the spotlight
‘In our current technology-fuelled-world dealerships and workshops should connect with their customers on a more personal level with workshops rethinking their service approach from being reactive to proactive.’
Success in the Nordics with Connected Car’s system
Semler group one of the biggest and oldest importers of Denmark has recognized the rapid changes of the industry and the demand for digitalization so they invested heavily in these areas. One of their main focus was connectivity, hence Connected Cars came to life 4 years ago.
Being a Danish startup, we started scaling up in the Nordics with great success and today we are growing even further around the globe. Currently, we have 200.000 connected cars in the Nordics (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Faroe Islands, and Greenland) delivering data, error codes, and service leads in an instant. The response was so positive in the region that we had to restructure within our commercial department, establishing a Nordic team that solely focuses to strengthen the solution’s position in the region. When asked Håkan Ohlin, the general manager of the Nordics, he said:
‘ It’s a great opportunity for us to be able to be part of changing workshops’ mindset from being reactive to proactive. Our workshops’ service advisors now have the necessary real-time data about a car. Consequently, they can prepare well ahead and book customers ahead for their next service. The nordic market now is filled with end-users driving connected vehicles. At the same time, workshops want to give the best service of all time. We see a fantastic response from both end-users and workshops and from our experience, it is clear that strengthening workshops’ and customer relationships is the way forward in the automotive industry.’
Håkan Ohlin (second left) visiting our Swedish customer Bilmetro Bollnäs’s staff
Customer case from Sweden — Great product adoption
The primary user of our product is the workshop’s service advisor, the middle man between the customer and the technicians. Being in the frontline their daily tasks are multifaceted, varying from keeping in touch with the customers and technicians, booking service appointments, making sure that the right spare parts are available for technicians to sending offers, quotes, etc. Therefore their workflows are complex, demanding attention to detail and good organizational and communication skills both with the customer and the technician.
Bilmetro’s success with Connected Cars
Our customer Bilmetro is one of the larger car dealer groups in Sweden within Volkswagen Group Sweden with multiple dealerships in the central part of the country. They are using our Workshop tool for their Fleet customers with great success. Johan Harsia-Ollas is working in Bilmetro’s Borlänge dealership as a service advisor and has been one of the early adopters and ambassadors of the Connected Cars system. When we asked him about his experiences with the product he said:
‘One of the most important values for me is that the tool is easy to use and understand. We in the frontline are extremely busy and we need easy tools that can help our daily work. The fact that I can see 30 days ahead of any service due, made a huge difference both for me and the customer, that I would never be able to see in the past. I have time to book in the customer and sell more in the meantime.’
Johan introducing the Connected Cars solution (branded Fleet Connect by Volkswagen Group Sweden for the Swedish market) to his customers
When we asked about his favorite features in the Workshop tool he added:
‘The biggest thing is the service leads function. It is straight in front of me what needs to be done and in which car. Both I and the customers love the chat function too. Quoting, image, and video recording for warranty are super simple to exchange. File exchange has been a problem in the past due to the large file size. Customer management just became agile and flowing. End-users like the app also as it is not overly complicated so they have just what they need to know about their cars.’
Connected Cars Workshop tool dashboard (left screen) and chat function (right screen)
Also becoming proactive instead of reactive made a big difference in Johan’s daily work:
‘In the past, the customers only called us when the damage happened and we were not able to give them an appointment straight away as we are usually booked 2 weeks ahead. Both us and the customers appreciate this aspect about our service and we have established a far better customer experience with this, than before.’ he added.
Conclusion
With the rise of digital technology customer demands have changed radically towards brands. Customer experience is crucial in the buying processes also when it comes to buying a car. On the other hand, these changes have affected the software industry within the automotive sector. Technology should serve customers in the best possible way. Connectivity technology is a huge opportunity for workshops and dealerships to adapt to the new world and strengthen their customer relationships.
From the software developers’ perspective what is key is to keep their users in mind as their north star.
So what features characterize the customer management software in the auto industry? It must be stable, easy to use, and understand both for the car owner and service advisor to reach its goal: a good customer experience and the relationship between the customer and the workshop.
Would you like to hear more about how our solution can help your workshop?👇
Get in touch with our Director of Business Development, Martin Høgh via LinkedIn.
