Increasing Auto Show Engagement And Sales With Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is attracting a lot of attention and investment across all industries. The potential of this technology is significant, with a McKinsey report predicting $215 billion in value for OEMs and $31 billion in value for marketing and sales by 2025.

Artificial intelligence comes in many forms as brands discover new ways to leverage the technology in increasing sales, boosting productivity, driving customer engagement and developing new business models.

Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence

Transportation Clouds

Ford has several AI-powered initiatives that you can look at to get inspiration for your own operations. One of the company's most recent acquisitions is Autonomic and Argo AI.

Ford intends on leveraging its innovations to create a transportation cloud. It's an open-source cloud, which opens up the door to collaboration with other platforms and major players in the market. Eventually, Ford plans on having this cloud power the autonomous driving technology in transport vehicles.

Driver-assist features are available in many car models, whether it's blind spot protection or auto-parallel parking. This technology improves the customers' experience significantly and can help them reduce the chances of getting into an accident.

The Sales and Marketing Process

AI also has a place in your sales and marketing processes. Marketing automation solutions and intelligent CRM leverage machine learning and other AI innovations to transform this part of your operation.

Most of the mundane work gets automated so your sales and marketing team can focus on the in-person experience that's absolutely critical to closing the deal with a customer.

For example, at auto shows and test drives follow-ups can be automated, and the each message is filled with content tailored for each person. The prospects get scored based on how close they are to picking out a car and finishing the sales process, with a list of the top leads going out to the sales team at local dealerships based on their personal performance.

Hands-Free Voice Control

Voice-control is a technology that has been around for a few years, but AI adds a new twist. Voice-activated assistants are a mainstream tool that's located in homes and integrated into mobile operating systems. Consumers are using voice search more often and getting information on nearby gas stations, service stations and other data hands-free.

How You Can Set Yourself Up for Future Success

You might not have the millions that the biggest players in the industry have for your AI investments, but that doesn't mean you're destined to get left behind. You have plenty of options to start small so you can set yourself up for success in the future.

For example, Book by Cadillac leverages a new business model with a luxury car subscription service. A mobile app allows users to pick between various luxury car models that they could use on a no-contract, month-to-month basis.

Cadillac started off in a single market, New York, to see whether its customers would be interested in it. Once that test market proved successful, it began expanding.

Before You Start Thinking About AI, You Need The Software Foundation

Experiential marketing software is an excellent introduction to the power of AI technology.

This solution helps you with one of the most critical steps of the car buyers' experience: when they encounter your brand in-person at your dealership or a car show. For many companies, this part of the process is where they fall short.

Here are a few ways that this type of solution improves the in-person experience:

• Connected custom applications give prospects a tech-forward welcome to your booth or showroom. You can use this app to deliver targeted marketing messages, content designed to take them to the end of the funnel and special offers.
• Automated follow-ups after test drives. Once customers finish a test drive, you can deliver an automated sequence that moves them closer to making a decision on the right car for their needs. The follow-ups can be personalized so they include information about the tested cars and other relevant data.
• Integrate data from digital kiosks with overarching experiential marketing campaigns to enhance the customer experience. Potential buyers can use a self-service approach to learn basic information about your inventory, the financing process and other content that's relevant to their needs.
• Push localized offers at the right time. If you know that prospects are close to converting, you can leverage experiential software to pick an offer that is most likely to lead them to a purchase. By analyzing the data, you can also learn which options consistently drive sales and which your audience would rather pass up.
• Streamline your lead capture process. The best auto show software integrated lead capture and qualification with the rest of your marketing systems. This means it won't take long before your sales team gets notified that they have new qualified leads waiting for them, and they don't have to waste time on leads that are unlikely to convert.

AI gives every type of automotive company a way to improve its operations and drive greater customer engagement. AI implementation comes in many forms, and you can get started today with something like experiential marketing software. Technology like this offers widespread benefits, and it won't take you long to see the impact on your bottom line.

It's time to look to the future of the automotive world. Starting with your AI adoption early on puts you in an excellent position to stay at the front of the pack as this technology matures.