New Auto Industry Study: 28% of Consumers Who Call a Dealership Will Purchase a Vehicle
January 23 2019 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Marchex Institute Data: Auto dealers that
optimize calls are poised to gain revenue and customers
Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX), a leading provider of call
analytics that drive, measure, and convert callers into customers,
today released a new report analyzing how call-handling impacts
purchasing decisions at car dealerships. After analyzing more than
300,000 inbound phone calls to dealers through Marchex’s speech
analytics software, research found that agents that answer inbound
sales calls have a significant influence on how likely a caller is
to book an appointment or come to a dealership.
Findings include:
- At least 28 percent of auto buyers
who make a call will purchase a vehicle. Phone calls remain an
important touch point in the path to purchase for consumers.
Dealers need to prioritize inbound calls as a valuable part of the
customer journey.
- Nearly six out of every 10 inbound
calls (57%) to the sales department specifically, have intent to
purchase. Dealers who understand the importance of inbound
phone calls and how to optimize them are closing more deals.
- Sales calls convert to a purchase an
average of four times the rate of email. Buyers still value
human interaction in the path to purchase. While many consumers who
call an auto dealership have already conducted online research, and
moved beyond email communication, car shoppers who pick up the
phone to call have a higher intent to purchase.
- There is a strong correlation
between high-performing salespeople and customers who make
appointments. Salespeople who manage inbound calls have a
direct, statistically meaningful, impact on how likely a caller is
to come to a dealership and make a purchase. In fact, top
performing salespeople are 12 percent more likely to set an
appointment over the phone, compared to the lowest performing
agents.
“With mobile adoption, consumers can research online and
click-to-call car dealers in real-time, showing a high intent to
purchase. It’s clear that phone calls not only matter to
businesses, but are a viable revenue source for brands - especially
within the auto industry,” said Matt Muilenburg, head of automotive
at Marchex. “To make the most of these inbound leads, for both
sales and service, dealerships need to be able to identify callers
with intent to purchase and ensure employees know how to manage
those calls.”
According to Dealer.com, phone calls are on the rise to auto
dealerships, but many are still not able to close the loop to
convert those callers into customers. As the leading provider of
call intelligence to auto OEMs, Marchex solutions enable some of
the largest brands in the automotive industry to have visibility
into call trends, call handling challenges, and to identify caller
intent and maximize the potential of inbound phone calls.
In fact, dealers and OEMs have run mystery shopping initiatives
for decades to try and measure the success of agent performance.
However, by applying AI-based algorithms, mystery shopping has
evolved into real-time measurement of actual sales conversations.
Unlike traditional mystery shopping that measures just the
dealership, automated measurement allows businesses to also measure
the intent of the shopper.
For this study, the Marchex Institute utilized Marchex’s speech
analytics to analyze more than 307,000 calls to over 650
dealerships across the U.S. in 2018. Results from the study
illustrate the importance of phone calls in the customer path to
purchase and how service agents play a critical role in helping
increase sales and revenue via proper management of inbound calls.
Visit the Marchex blog or view the complete report to learn
more.
About Marchex
Marchex is a leading provider of call analytics that drive,
measure, and convert callers into customers. The company
understands that the best customers are those who call a company –
they convert faster, buy more, and churn
less. Marchex provides solutions that help companies
drive more calls, understand what happens on those calls, and
convert more of those callers into customers. Marchex’s actionable
intelligence strengthens the connection between companies and their
customers, bridging the physical and digital world, to help brands
maximize their marketing investments and operating efficiencies to
acquire the best customers.
Please visit the Marchex blog or @marchex on Twitter
(Twitter.com/Marchex) to learn more.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005111/en/
Investor Relations:Trevor Caldwell,
206-331-3600ir@marchex.comorMedia Inquiries:Chelsea Looney,
206-331-3644clooney@marchex.com
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