One of the biggest obstacles to delivering effective digital service offer campaigns is lack of properly stored data, argued Green, who maintains motoring.co.uk now has a database in excess of 750,000 motorists.

He said: “A compelling email strategy targeting the right motorists at the right time, with the right content, organically breeds retention and loyalty.”

Software systems

Dealers can choose from a host of software systems to deliver an untold number of solutions. 

One of the most popular is the electronic vehicle health check (EVHC). Identifying and recording both required and future work, it is an essential piece of equipment and customers generally appreciate a relevant and timely reminder about due work. 

Franchised dealers lose a great deal of deferred work due to ineffective follow-up procedures, according to Castrol which offers its own system.

Caffyns Land Rover in Lewes installed Castrol’s EVHC system in 2011 in response to difficulties with aftersales customer retention. 

Aftersales manager Richard Aisbitt said: “Using EVHC effectively has meant that the workshop has increased its labour capacity and staff are now far more successful at bringing customers back to have deferred work carried out.”

Social Media

Ridgeway Group communications manager Philip Deacon oversees 18
divisional Twitter accounts with more than 20,000 followers and believes maintaining a balance is essential. 

He aims to achieve 20% entertainment, information and conversation, but the majority – 40% – should be interaction. 

His ‘dos and don’ts’ include no spam or hashtags; relevant and timely information; be human and have a sense of humour; and respond promptly to positive and negative posts.

While social media will not retain customers on its own, Deacon believes it forms part of an overall communication offensive which will encourage people to remain loyal.

The real key is capturing and analysing data and identifying influential groups andindividuals and addressing any specific postings.

Customer Reviews and User-Generated Content (UGC)

Customer reviews or UGC has exploded on to the new car-buying scene and  has filtered on to car dealers’ websites.

Carbuyingadvisor.co.uk hopes to become the automotive retail equivalent of TripAdvisor’s hotel, restaurant and resort review website and allows dealers to pro-actively utilise their testimonials to create Google-indexed content that highlights and promotes the dealership.

Neil Smith, business development manager at independent used car dealer Imperial Car Supermarkets, said: “We see genuine customer reviews as vitally important for customer retention particularly for businesses such as ours which is purely retail as we don’t have the facility to re-engage with customers when it’s time for a service.

“Positive reviews enhance our reputation and we have the chance to respond to any negative feedback.”

People

Finally, and most importantly, a business can have all the customer retention tools at its fingertips, but if the staff who are using them are not properly trained or are demoralised and unmotivated, customers are unlikely to return.

HR manager for Lifestyle Europe, which operates 10 dealerships in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, Helen Farrow said: “You can have all the right processes in place but if you have failed to recruit the right person, they will not have the desired effect.”

Conclusion

In conclusion, then, it’s quite simple: the Holy Grail of customer retention is a mix of a multi-faceted, multi-layered approach delivered by an appreciated, well trained and well rewarded workforce. 

Achieve all of this every minute of every day and dealers could well be on to something. But then again, we consumers can be difficult to please. 

After all, we’re only human.