COVID-19: Best Practices for Dealers

There is no doubt that COVID-19 is impacting retail operations around the world, automotive dealers included. As the specific definition of essential services and employees changes on a state-by-state and sometimes day-by-day basis, one thing remains certain. Change isn’t just coming. It’s here. Your ability to adapt and respond with both insight and agility has never been more critical.

Through our work with dealer organizations across the country, Shift Digital is gathering unique insight on changing consumer behaviors and needs, and helping dealers develop smart, effective and proactive digital strategies for meeting them. We’re committed to sharing our insight with our dealer base, and to helping you succeed in this challenging environment. As we continue to learn more, we’ll update this list of best practices with additional recommendations, so be sure to back soon.

Update your online presence with COVID-19 content.

Priority one is updating online content to reflect changes in your business and/or operations. This might include new hours for various departments, new processes, new sanitization procedures, and anything else your dealership is doing to ensure that your customers’ safety and service needs are met.

All relevant information should be prominently displayed and easy to find at a glance—whether that’s through focused landing pages, navigation links, new banners and callouts, or other featured alert messages.

All COVID-19 content should comply with the directives provided by your OEM. Some brands have strict requirements and detailed processes in place, while others are providing a more general message or set of guidelines. In either case, it’s important that each dealership be aligned with their parent brand, and that they also communicate more specifically about what is being done at their location. Present a united front, showing that both dealers and OEMs are taking this seriously, and that all parties are ready, willing, and able to continue serving customers in the best way possible.

Look for new opportunities to connect with customers and create engagement around COVID-19 initiatives. Highlight mobility and what you are doing to bring a safe and exceptional shopping experience to your customers, both on and offline. Consider new incentives/offers to promote online shopping, or connect with targeted audiences such as first responders, healthcare, or service workers.

Shift Digital can perform a comprehensive audit of your dealer website and other online properties, working directly with your OEM and internal teams to create a custom COVID-19 Digital Audit Checklist. With all action items defined, our team of experts can then help implement the necessary content and creative, developing web banners, pop-ups, landing pages, and anything else your site needs to effectively communicate the new messaging.

Place additional focus on service, parts, and fixed ops.

While showrooms and in-person sales functions are required to shut down in many states, parts and service departments are considered essential and are therefore able to continue operations. Make sure your customers are aware, and that they can easily find information and tools that support these services. Consider making service offerings more digitally prominent with additional content, and focus on providing a smooth customer experience through easy-to-use scheduling, chat, and other remote support tools.

 In addition to helping you implement service- and parts-focused marketing content, your team of Shift consultants can help assess and refine the customer experience for online appointment scheduling and other fixed ops functions.  

Adjust your SEM and digital advertising strategy.

Cutting your SEM or digital ad spend may look like a quick and easy way to reduce cost as vehicle sales slow. But cut it entirely, without a bigger strategy in mind, and you may be missing out some of the most significant remaining revenue opportunities.

Instead of reacting out of panic and putting a stop to all digital ad spend, consider a more strategic approach. Reduced spend may in fact be a good idea, but should not be implemented across the board without a little more insight. Consider shifting your spend and messaging to support service and parts, online shopping, and other convenience/safety programs like vehicle drop off. Focus your ad dollars on the best areas for opportunity, and on the initiatives that will help generate income despite COVID-19 restrictions.

Now may also be the time to consider expanding upon your tried and true advertising channels. Google ads are effective, but they can also be expensive. With recent data showing an uptick in social media usage (likely due to more people working less or working from home), dealers have an opportunity to shift spend to more cost-effective and easy-to-manage social advertising channels. Paid social content and banner ads can be used to support COVID-19 initiatives as well as general branding and awareness by putting your dealer brand in front of targeted users on the platforms they use most.

Shift’s consultants can help you strategically adjust your SEM and digital ad strategy, educating your team on the most efficient and effective use of budget, and ensuring each dollar is working towards your best interest.

Enhance and refine the digital retail experience. 

Digital retailing isn’t new, but many dealers have yet to capitalize on its full potential. In the past, customers have often used dealer websites as a preliminary research tool, with the intent of visiting a showroom to test-drive and potentially purchase a similar vehicle. With automotive sales operations closed, digital retailing is taking precedence as a means of giving shoppers a true car-buying experience without physically entering the showroom. 

Make sure your digital retail tools are updated with accurate pricing, current inventory and offers, as well as a fully enabled purchase and delivery process. Train your staff on how to manage digital retailing and effectively manage the leads it generates. Put procedures in place to facilitate virtual test drives, as well as safe and easy vehicle delivery. Then make the most of your enhanced digital retailing efforts by adjusting your ad strategy and spend to promote online shopping as a viable alternative to the showroom sale.

Shift can help define and implement the processes you need to deeply engage your customers in the sales process from the comfort of their homes. We help facilitate those processes through comprehensive and validated web technology and advanced support communications, including chat, phone, email, etc. We ensure your sales representatives employ best practices for lead follow up, increasing alignment with OEM regulations, and helping you grow your online sales. 

Plan for the future. 

COVID-19 is driving sweeping changes to the retail industry, and is likely to have a lasting impact on the way business is done. There will come a point when restrictions are lifted and showrooms are reopened, but that doesn’t mean we can or should go right back to business as usual. Leverage the improvements you’ve made to your digital retailing experience to continue offering a viable and optimal online shopping experience to your customers. Put a plan in place for re-opening and be ready to hit the ground running.

Those that do will not just get back to normal more quickly. They’ll get ahead.

For more information on how your dealership can effectively manage COVID-19, and for support implementing your own customized plan, contact your dedicated Shift Digital representative.