Customer Loyalty

I recently had the pleasure of participating in the Automotive Customer Centricity Summit 2009, hosted by Thought Leadership Summits (TLS) in Marina del Rey, California. We heard from some of the most respected thought leaders in the industry on the topic of Customer Centricity – the evolution of automotive CRM. We witnessed how Collier Automotive Group leverages technology to improve the showroom experience. And, the aftermarket showed us how collaboration and vehicle personalization can create not only profitable customer relationships, but can drive brand loyalty by appealing to an individual's need for self-expression.

Tactical efforts to improve customer experience are important. But, I feel that the fundamental challenge in the current automotive industry is its inability to consolidate customer touch points (vehicle purchase, sales satisfaction index [SSI], Captive Finance, warranty, CSI, customer pay service) into a single customer-centric view. Without this singular view, we see customers bombarded with often conflicting messages and offers from the OEM, the Dealer and the Captive Finance source, which invariably drives down credibility and damages the overall brand experience.

More importantly, this often impersonal approach to communication contributes to the defection of retail service customers into the aftermarket as the vehicle ages. As a result, dealerships are losing share of the aftermarket. According to the AAIA, in 2008, dealerships' share of the automotive aftermarket fell to below 30%, the 6th consecutive year of decline. This not only impacts short-term dealer profitability, but long-term repurchase consideration and loyalty. In today's challenging economic times, dealerships and OEMs can't afford to lose loyalty or vehicle sales. Maintaining customer relationships and customer loyalty to a brand is essential to not only prosper... but to survive.