Online sales inquiries increase 59%; car buying experience
puts prospective customers in the driver's seat
ARMONK, N.Y. and LONDON, Jan. 14,
2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM [NYSE: IBM] and Audi UK, one of the
world's leading premium automotive manufacturers, collaborated to
redesign Audi's website to deliver a far more engaging digital
customer experience. During the course of 2020, Audi has seen a 59%
increase in UK online sales inquiries despite an almost 30%
industry decline in new UK car sales during the pandemic.
With 90% of its car purchases starting online, Audi UK turned to
IBM iX, the business design arm of IBM Global Business Services, to
help it reimagine its customers' digital journey from initial
inquiry to ownership. COVID-19 has made "contact-less" online
experience paramount as car dealerships had to close or limit
in-person operations.
Audi UK's digital transformation unified its mobile and desktop
shopping experiences, enabled by a cloud platform and supported by
the latest marketing insights data from Adobe Analytics and agile
software development practices.
Audi UK tailors the customers' online experience to their prime
motivations for car-buying – be it price, driving experience,
technology or safety. Visitors are now asked fewer questions, can
reach relevant information more quickly and are offered more
contact options to take their inquiry further than they could
before. Audi UK broke its own online sales inquiries record
three times in June 2020 alone.
Antony Roberts, Head of Digital
at Audi UK, says: "In a matter of 12 months, our leads have grown
exponentially and our sales conversions have improved. We have gone
from being poor in terms of the data analytics to being incredibly
rich. Through our collaboration with IBM, Audi UK now has the most
effective cloud-based online platform across the entire VW Group,
building a smarter experience for customers interacting with our
brand."
Like most organizations, Audi's IT architecture was built over
many years and had become challenging to maintain. Applying the
agile, user-focused IBM Garage Methodology, the Audi and IBM iX
team co-created a strategic roadmap for their digital
transformation, resulting in new customer-centric tools designed to
enhance the user experience. IBM implemented Adobe Experience
Manager along with Adobe Analytics to facilitate faster content-led
experiences on their website that helped enable Audi to make
business and customer-experience decisions based on data rather
than assumptions, with a full view into how consumers interact with
the new site:
- IBM built the Audi analytics platform using Adobe Analytics
which has helped provide actionable marketing insights, and
pinpoints site performance improvement opportunities, resulting in
Audi reducing customer submission errors by 90%.
- Audi content editors are now able to complete everyday changes
themselves, freeing developers to focus on more complex tasks. Audi
has created libraries of reusable components that has reduced
initial setup time of new features from weeks to minutes.
- Adopting more agile practices, developers are now able to
deliver functionality up to 75% faster than before; new solutions
built this year include a test-drive booking application, a vehicle
maintenance scheduler and a part-exchange calculator.
Debbie Vavangas, IBM Global Garage lead, IBM iX, said: "Audi has
prided itself on its commitment to apply smart design across its
business. With the COVID-19 pandemic up-ending the way consumers
make large purchases, there was a critical need to apply its design
principles to its customers' digital experiences. By embracing
cloud technologies and data analytics, Audi UK helped accelerate
its digital transformation with an online platform that delivers a
smarter, more engaging experience that puts customers in the
driver's seat."
Notes to editors
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) announces,
in its UK January 2021 report, a 29%
fall in new car registrations in 2020:
https://www.smmt.co.uk/2021/01/uk-automotive-looks-to-green-recovery-strategy-after-29-4-fall-in-new-car-registrations-in-2020/
The 59% increase quoted above represents the growth in fully
qualified sales inquiries generated on www.audi.co.uk during
2020 over the previous year, which were passed to Audi sales or its
business partners.
About Audi UK
Headquartered in Milton Keynes, England, Audi UK, a premium
automotive manufacturer, operates 115 Audi Centres in the UK.
Founded in 1885, Audi currently serves approximately 2 million
customers and employs more than 90,000 people globally.
Approximately 175,000 customers and 10,000 employees are based in
the UK. Audi UK operates under parent company Volkswagen Group.
About IBM
For further information about IBM iX
services visit: https://www.ibm.com/services/ibmix/
For further information about the IBM Garage visit:
https://www.ibm.com/garage
Media Contacts
Marisa
Conway
IBM External Relations
conwaym@us.ibm.com
John Galvez
IBM UK External Relations
john.galvez@uk.ibm.com
Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yot3NNcNQkg
Photo -
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1420270/IBM_Audi_UK_website.jpg
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/95470/ibm_logo.jpg