Every year, digital survey reports roll in talking about the rise in smartphone usage and mobile app releases. As 2015 is here, it is time to plan sales for the New Year and amp up mobile marketing strategies. Mobile apps have now become an integral part of life simplifying and organizing daily routine.
Relevance in auto retail
Mobile apps can help auto dealers connect with customers and also simplify operations. As the world itself is mobile, the ability to target and connect is limitless, offering a plethora of possibilities for sales and marketing. Auto dealers can not only showcase products, promote offers & discounts, and initiate conversation with customers one-on-one, but also easily track sales, maintain records and more all on a single platform.
Increased customer reach
According to Nielsen’s 2014 report, over 71% of Americans use smartphones. This gives auto dealers an ocean of potential customers to reach with an app. People spend the majority of their time every day on mobile apps, which makes mobile marketing a perfectly good strategy for any industry. It is quite relevant for auto dealers to adopt mobile apps to reach customers as it helps in targeting a niche crowd who will most probably convert into customers as opposed to a general audience targeting.
How to connect with customers
The best way to target and sell is to have dealership-branded apps. Customers should be able to download and explore this app to view your product inventory, services, book appointments, buy and more. Providing tools that helps customers with their daily lives create stickiness for the app. These tools could include Cheapest Gas stations, Collision Reporting, Mileage calculation etc. With mobile technologies, dealers are able to create and send out deals & promotions instantaneously to specific customers based on their location. Thus allowing customers to receive details based on when, where and what is relevant to them.
The biggest challenge in mobile app development and deployment is maintaining the life cycle of the app when the mobile device operating systems changes from one version to another. This can be very costly when new updates have to be done on a regular basis. Pay as you go model has proven to be cost effective and efficient.
