The challenge

Customers expect to be able to interact with a brand when they want to, through their preferred channel. Automotive customers are no exception. The primary ways to contact a major automotive brand, however, were filling out a “contact us” form or dialing a phone number.

Dealers representing other automotive brands operated in a similar manner and so customers were often inundated with calls from competitors. The client needed an experienced partner to help it expand its sales channels in an omnichannel approach to better meet customer expectations and differentiate itself from competitors.

Our solution

TTEC worked closely with the client to provide customers with more channels and a better customer experience, utilizing our in-depth industry knowledge and digital expertise. The client had existing teams for handling inbound sales calls and responding to the contact forms, but it needed help with the expansion to additional channels.

We demonstrated to the client how with additional training, the same associates could handle a wider array of channels without adding headcount. We also reorganized the teams to have one team handle all inbound voice calls while another team handled the other channels (SMS messaging, chat, email) for greater efficiency.

In addition, the inbound voice team was primarily set up to help existing customers with technical issues and had limited training for upselling and other sales opportunities. We deployed our experienced inside sales associates to help facilitate the sales process for both existing and new customers alike.

And to differentiate the client from dealers that respond to customer inquiries solely via phone calls, we developed an omnichannel outreach plan that included SMS. By offering multiple touchpoints across various channels, customers received a consistent message without being inundated by numerous phone calls.

While the first outreach attempt was still an outbound call, the second outreach included SMS and email. Customer experience and bottom-line impacts improved as a result, and compared to other channels (email, voice, etc.), SMS had the highest engagement rate.

The results

With TTEC’s help, customers gained more ways to interact with the client, adding more convenience and flexibility to the customer experience. We expanded the initial contact form and inbound voice phone tree to include both proactive and reactive communication options including the ability to chat with a dealer over email or SMS (prior to working with TTEC, the client did not have SMS or chat sales-dedicated channels). This gave customers many different channels to utilize when browsing for a vehicle.

In addition, we helped create a more seamless journey where customers could engage via their preferred channel. For many customers, that channel was SMS. As the result of our work, customers received the right outreach at the right time, in the right way – which generated improved customer engagement and better sales performance.

Annually, a team of 20 associates now handle more than 65K customers over inbound voice and 45K customers over email and SMS. Across all interactions, associates generate about 30K dealer transfers (transferring customers with intent to purchase) annually, which has led to an incremental sales lift of $13 million.