The key to building insight about automotive customers and prospects lies in bringing together everything you know about them. This can reveal the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ but what if you were able to add the ‘why’ factor?
To achieve this you must also include attitudes and aspirations that drive their purchase decisions.
Consider the scenario where information acquired through tracking response and behaviour is matched to the researched view of attitudes and aspirations to create profiles. The outcome can then be used to create communication strategies to ensure no opportunity is lost and the customer or prospect is always directed towards the best next action, driving relevant, targeted communications.
A good example of this occurred when consulting for an automotive manufacturer. A list of potential customers for a new mid-range car was tested and ostensibly, the profiles absolutely matched the positioning of the model to be sold. However, research revealed their preference for a pre-owned luxury car with personalised plates to disguise the age of the car, as they could not afford their ideal car new. So a new mid-range car proposition would have been totally irrelevant and failed.
Such insight can also be used to determine how best to move customer relationships forward or flag danger signs. Does recent action (or inaction) indicate possible churn? Has an enquiry been exceptionally different to all those before? Are they approaching a milestone in their relationship with the company?
Similarly with prospects – insight can help in directing their passage through the ‘prospect funnel’ and reduce the number that are normally haemorrhaged on the way through.
