Introduction
Some of the biggest challenges for Managers in the automotive industry are:
- How to engage customers while they wait for a sales person?
- Some customers walk in and purchase only what their intention was rather than considering other upgrades that might suit their requirements better.
Digital signage is a great solution to these issues, unless you want to hire a few more employees who’s only job would be to greet each customer and give them some attention while they are in a waiting area. Many automotive showrooms have made the leap into the digital world while some are still pondering over the costs, ROI, how, where and what’s of digital signage.
According to specialists, digital signage is a very effective way to engage customers at an auto dealership because it can communicate well visually and engage, educate and influence customers. Read ahead to find out some of the best ways to use LED signage in automotive showrooms.
1. Welcome messaging
The initial point of engagement with your target audience or customers is a welcome message that greets them and gets them on board to connect with your brand. Well-crafted digital welcome messages will play an important role in helping customers learn about your brand and guide them through their customer journey. An automotive showroom can greet every customer with a warm welcome, along with instructions on what they could do in situations where sales persons are busy and they have to wait for a few minutes for assistance. This way, customers are assured that they are not ignored and are valued by your company, hence creating a good first impression.
2. Advertising and Branding
Instead of those large vinyl and fabric lightbox displays as the traditional visuals used at automotive showrooms, seamless LED displays with a direct view are now the norm for filling in that wall space. Printed displays can portray just one visual message whereas digital displays can run life-size full-motion video clips to advertise different vehicles, the brand’s history, vehicle safety, craftsmanship, and so on, thereby reinforcing the brand in a customer’s mind. Ideally these should be placed outside the showroom and at the entrance – the first thing customers engage with as they walk in and wait for a sales person.
3. Wayfinding
Automobile dealership are often quite large and spacious – which confuses customers walking in for the first time. Wayfinding digital signage solutions can be used for directing customers towards:
- the reception area
- different types of vehicles that they may be interested in
- a waiting room until a sales staff is available
- the finance/payment department
- the restroom
- instructions to meet a particular person
There could be so many reasons why a person may need signage to navigate themselves within the showroom. Touch screens are also a good idea to get customers to engage and figure out where they should go by interacting with the digital display.
4. Customer experience feedback
Providing high standards customer experiences is very important, and receiving positive feedback is the best feeling for managers at an automobile showroom. LED displays with touch facility can be used at certain counters for customers to enter how happy they were with the service received at the showroom. With just a touch or two, the feedback is recorded – an effort that most customers won’t think twice to make. The data gathered from this feedback survey will go a long way in encouraging and motivating your employees to keep up the good work and make further improvements if needed.
5. Interactive display with features and info
Car dealerships can use interactive digital displays in the form of a product catalog where customers can browse through each vehicle and find out more features and information about vehicles that interest them. High quality displays provide stunning visual clarity and scale, which will in turn compel customers to get behind the real wheel and also influence their purchasing decisions. As a result, this display would be on par with the services provided by a sales person, and the best way to reduce perceived wait times!
6. Special offers and promotions
The flexibility of digital displays is perfect for displaying special offers and promotions at an auto dealer – which keep changing as per the seasons, and demands for certain vehicles. While customers wait, they can be kept engaged with these advertisements, which will influence their decisions and in turn make them feel ecstatic that they got a better deal than what they had in mind before coming into the showroom!
7. Service information
Basic information such as opening hours, which days of the week, month or year that the showroom will be closed, other branches that customers may choose to visit, and so on can be communicated via digital displays in an automobile showroom. Instead of a customer having to wait to be served to clarify such doubts, the display will do the job for them and as a result, they would be able to complete their work faster.
Conclusion
Have a collection of digital displays with a good variety of content placed in different areas of a dealership to see the benefits and notice how cross-selling will help drive your showroom customers into customers who will visit your dealership in the future for service and spare parts as well! Digital signage will indeed effectively educate customers, guide their purchasing decisions and provide a great overall experience!
