It is 2018. Consumers today expect timely, relevant and ultimately personalized experiences. In fact, 70% of consumers feel that a more seamless buying process would motivate them to visit dealerships more often, according to EY.
How to leading OEMs deliver use personalization at experiential activations to connect with their target audience, learn more about their prospects and improve brand perception? And how can automakers deploy advanced technology to scale the results even further?
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Personalization goes a long way towards cutting through the noise of generic marketing messages that car buyers encounter every day. Whether it’s the first interaction or the last one before they make a purchase, the personalized experience accelerates how consumers move through the sales funnel.
The trouble that many automotive brands run into is that they focus their personalization efforts primarily on digital channels. While car buyers do spend more than 11 hours researching potential automotive purchases online, brands may not have the opportunity for a first touchpoint until they walk through the door.
The personalization needs to happen at the in-person experience, rather than digital channels alone. When a prospective buyer comes to your booth at an auto show, you can talk to the person about the products and services that are relevant to their interests. You can skip over all the models that they wouldn’t want to hear about. Instead, you maximize your time with the attendee and collect more information for the follow-up following the event.
During test drives at the dealership, personalization equips your sales team with the talking points they need to move the buyer closer to their purchase decision. The salesperson can highlight the features that are most important to the consumer, as well as guiding them to the vehicles that best meet their needs.
Ultimately, with the right data, you can personalize the journey before, during and after a live experience.
Personalized Services And Experiences Are The New Norms In Today’s Market
Personalized services and experiences are the new norms in today’s market. Approximately 77 percent of consumers pay close attention to personalization, and they recommend these brands more often, spend more and stay loyal.
Scalable personalization through marketing automation platforms makes it possible for dealers to improve their marketing ROI 2x over those who do not leverage this technology. You don’t have to stay hands-on with lead nurturing, follow-ups and other time-consuming tasks. Instead, you get to focus on the parts of the campaign that need your dedicated attention.
Progressive profiling, for instance, uses personalization to learn more about a consumer. They only get asked questions that relate to their previous answers. You wouldn’t suddenly start asking them about a sports car when they have been discussing minivans with your dealership already. Due to this personalization, your engagement on test drives can go up 3x to 5x10.
Experiential personalization forms a powerful part of your marketing strategy. Many car buyers turn to the live experience to complete their research and the sales process. You can turn a previously frustrating experience into one that they’re happy to take part in.
Auto brands may have success in personalizing on a one-to-one basis or in limited groups, but that approach doesn’t scale well. When you want to put together an automotive marketing process that functions in a live environment and helps your company grow, use these examples for inspiration.
Case Study #1: Toyota x Essence
Toyota is one of the top automotive spenders in experiential marketing, so it’s no surprise that they’re always looking for new ways to push the envelope. They teamed up with Essence Magazine to create a live event campaign called #SensoryWonderland.
One reason that it stands out is because of its theme: Afrofuturism. Essence magazine primarily serves the African-American community, and this theme offered Toyota an excellent way to reach this audience while positioning the Toyota brand as one on the cutting edge of future automotive technology.
Case Study #2: Acura Mood Roads
Acura is another automotive brand looking to tie emotional data to their live experience as a way of scaling personalization. The Acura Mood Roads campaign, which took place at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017, used a 90-second experience that leveraged the brain waves of each attendee for data about their emotional, physical and cognitive states.
Accomplishing this required a special motion simulator capable of measuring 24 types of biometric information. Acura used 30 sensors to collect all of the data for the personalization process. While this is a virtual reality experience, the design of the Mood Roads simulator does not require attendees to put on goggles. The only thing they had to put on was a headband containing brainwave sensors.
