Dealers that make mistakes with their customers information risk losing their business, according to new research by Marketing Delivery.

It found that 57% of UK motorists said they would be less likely to purchase a new vehicle from a dealership that made an error such as their name or details of their current vehicle.

Just 5% said that inaccurate information would make no difference to their likelihood of buying a car from the dealer.

Younger buyers are the least tolerant, with 65% of motorists under 25 years old saying they would be less likely to purchase a new vehicle from a dealer that made such a mistake.

When it comes to vehicle servicing, 59% agreed with the statement ‘I would be less likely to have my car serviced by a dealer if they got my details wrong when contacting me (e.g. my name or details of my current car)’. At a regional level, Londoners appear to be the least forgiving of inaccuracies – 69% said they would be less likely to use a dealer for servicing if the business got their details wrong.

A greater proportion of women (63%) than men (55%) would reject a dealer that uses inaccurate information following contact about vehicle servicing. The gender difference is smaller when it comes to enquiries about new car sales (58% women vs. 55% men).

Those with the overall highest expectations about data accuracy are the under-25s, with 68% saying they would be likely to shop elsewhere for service work if a dealer got their details wrong.

“Securing contact information for customers is critical, but these findings show that if sales staff subsequently make mistakes in their interactions, it can undo all of the marketing effort up to that point,” says Jeremy Evans, managing director of Marketing Delivery.

“The objective is to have customer records that are both comprehensive and completely accurate, and the rapid reporting tools we have built into our new BrainBox system can flag up potential errors before they cause a problem.

“With the GDPR enforcement date looming, dealer groups should not only ensure that contact permissions are secured appropriately, but also that the fundamental quality of their data is as high as possible,” he added.

Marketing Delivery’s new BrainBox system, which is compatible with multiple dealer database and showroom platforms, enables quick, aggregated analysis of data. It can rapidly generate reports on the quality of customer records, the status of permissions for future contact, and key metrics relating to the effectiveness of its digital campaigns – such as open rates, click-through rates, and email ‘bounce-backs’.