Consumers Are Buying Differently – Learn How to Sell Differently, Too

It’s widely understood that consumers are shopping differently than they were 10 years ago, but the reality is that they’re shopping differently than they were even a few years ago. The market is evolving more rapidly than ever, and dealers are faced with the challenge of navigating these changes and learning how to adapt – or risk getting left behind the competition.

Living in the age of information means that the modern shopper is hyper-aware of their choices when it comes to making a purchase. In turn, this means that consumer preferences have evolved into expectations. Buyers have the luxury of being “picky” about what they’re looking for in products and services as well as the customer service experience, because they know there’s a wealth of competition.

Basically, if you’re not meeting the expectations of your buyers, they won’t hesitate to turn to your competitors. The new generation of buyers won’t wait for you to catch up – you need to evolve your selling strategies today in order to ensure sales tomorrow.

Buyers today prioritize convenience, personalization, and seamless digital processes from start to finish. Why are consumers so invested in a digital path to purchase? Because big brands like Amazon, Wal-Mart and eBay have been delivering streamlined digital journeys for years, and the influence of these mega brands has set a new standard of expectations for smaller stores. While you can’t – and probably don’t want to – offer the same big box experience as the mega brands, you just need to offer a digital experience that’s similar to what they’ve come to expect from the e-commerce giants.

Ready to keep your competitive edge sharpened? Let’s explore four crucial selling strategies and why they’re so important

Selling Strategy #1: Deliver an In-Store Experience Online

Half of internet users say that they base their opinion on a business based on their website (Forbes). This means you can’t rely on your brick-and-mortar store to do the “talking” for your business. More than 80% of consumers are researching online before they ever step foot into your store (Invoca).

Your potential buyers’ first impression of your business is your website; not your store, not your customer sales experience, not even word of mouth beats the presence of your website.

Buyers today expect aesthetic design, online inventory with high-res product photos, user friendly e-commerce solutions, and mobile website optimization. In other words, they want as much of an in-store experience as possible – online. They want to be able to inspect the inventory, ask questions, easily find information, and make finance decisions before they make the trip to your dealership.

So how do you deliver on these expectations? Here are the best places to start:

• Responsive web design: Choose a powerful website platform that will deliver a visually stunning experience across laptop, mobile and tablet devices. Since design is one of the most important features customers are looking for, it needs to be prioritized accordingly. Impress your potential buyers with a website that presents your brand in a modern light.
• Virtual tours & showrooms: Consumers like to get a feel for a brand before they visit the store. Give your customers an immersive look at your dealership right from your website with video tours, video demos and full-spin images of your inventory.
• eCommerce: Complete your path to offering an in-store experience to your online customers by utilizing an eCommerce solution that will cement your digital competitiveness. This goes hand in hand with having up to date and comprehensive online inventory listings, and immersive VDP showcasing high-quality images and product specifications
• Buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS): BOPIS gives your customers the convenience of placing orders online and picking them up at your physical location. Some consumers use BOPIS to avoid shipping charges, and some just want to save time by shopping online and picking up a product soon after purchase. Whatever the reason, BOPIS has become one of the most important aspects of the retail shopping experience for modern consumers.
• Payment calculations: One of the most frustrating experiences as a consumer is discovering that the price listed on a website doesn’t match the price at the store. You can remove these unpleasant surprises by providing an interactive finance tool on your website. By giving consumers the freedom to shop for units based on their budget, you’re also ensuring that by the time they reach the buying stage, they’re qualified and ready to make that purchase.

Selling Strategy #2: Create a Personalized Experience

Eighty-six percent of consumers say personalization plays a role in their purchasing decisions (Porch Group Media). However, many brands are not meeting the consumer desire to be individualized. This is largely due to smaller businesses lacking the expertise and resources to adopt the same practices that big e-commerce brands offer.

Your dealership needs to invest in customer engagement tools that allow you to collect data about their customers and personalize their interactions accordingly. Here are three key areas where you can personalize each consumer’s experience:

• Advertising: Think about how often you’re met with random, unrelated advertisements. Are you ever convinced to make a purchase? Nobody wants to be shown ads that don’t relate to their interests, and businesses don’t want to waste ad spend on consumers who won’t buy. Instead, create ad campaigns that target shoppers based on their interests and behaviors to demonstrate that you understand their needs, and to foster their excitement.
• Remarketing: Most website visitors don’t make a purchase at their first visit, which is why remarketing is so important. Follow up with website visitors directly by sending them personalized emails based on their website actions. Examples of personalized email remarketing include sending a list of previously viewed units or timely service reminders at regular intervals.
• Dynamic texting: Offering a dynamic texting service significantly enhances the online shopping experience by providing immediate, personalized support, so shoppers can receive instant answers to their queries, leading to a smoother and more satisfying purchasing process.
• Website personalization software: Tailor the website experience to individual shoppers based on their browsing history, search queries and other behavioral data so that each website visitor is shown relevant inventory and offers.

Selling Strategy #3: Reach the New Generation of Buyers

Even if we hadn’t been thrust into a digital-first landscape by the pandemic, we would have reached it soon enough. The consumer demographic is changing rapidly, as millennials become the primary buying group and Gen Z ages into the market. Millennials currently make up 30% of the online shopping demographic, and that number will only increase over time (Oberlo). The younger generations have grown up in a digital world, and they’re accustomed to communicating and buying online as well as offline.

Roughly half of adults who use social media engage with brand platforms (Digital 2023: Global Overview Report). The visual and personal nature of social media allows consumers to dive deeply into their interests and find brands that speak to them on a personal level. The younger generations, who have always used social media to connect and be part of a group, are drawn to brands who reflect their values and are well-versed in modern culture.

This means that dealers need to be active on social media or risk losing out on valuable opportunities to build their brand and create more pathways for revenue.

Here are some best practices for optimizing your social media presence:

• Set clear goals: Know how your social media efforts are paying off by setting clear metrics such as increasing brand awareness, improving customer satisfaction or generating more sales leads.
• Choose platforms based on your target audience: Instagram and TikTok are popular among younger audiences, while Facebook and LinkedIn are better suited for reaching an older demographic.
• Engage with your audience: Actively engage with your followers by responding to comments and messages promptly, sharing user-generated content and asking for feedback and reviews.
• Advertise on social media: Meet your customers where they are. Half of social media users will buy something after seeing an ad for it (Survey Monkey).

Selling Strategy #4: Streamline Your Online & Offline Processes

This all may seem like a huge undertaking to implement. But it is possible to harmonize your digital and in-store strategies if you set aside outdated practices in favor of aligning your marketing strategies with your business needs.

Instead of trying to juggle your online and offline customers as two separate groups, consider how you can blend these journeys together to reach shoppers at any point of their buying journey.

• CRM software: Track customer preferences and behaviors so you can offer targeted promotions and recommendations that are more likely to resonate with individual shoppers. By the time a consumer visits your dealership, you have a comprehensive record of their journey and can guide them directly to the final steps of the buying process.
• Consistent branding: No matter where consumers are shopping – online or offline – they should always have the same high-quality experience. By maintaining a consistent brand presence, you can build a better marketing strategy and earn a reputation for good customer service.
• Integrated marketing: Part of maintaining a consistent brand presence means keeping a handle on all the channels consumers use to learn about you. Integrated marketing is the practice of viewing all your channels as a single strategy to guide shoppers through the path to purchase.

The reality is that more and more dealers are adapting to this new online culture, and no matter what unique selling point you may have in your industry, you will lose customers to more modern dealers if you don’t evolve with your customers.

Using the selling strategies and tools above, you’ll meet the growing needs of your customers and remain a competitive player in the market.