Meaningful customer engagements require knowing as much as possible about them, meaning that auto dealers must collect mass quantities of information to personalize the conversations. 

However, data aggregation is often a tall hurdle to jump, as the necessary information usually sits scattered in several databases. To combat this challenge and boost customer information accuracy and visibility, all dealers should consider adopting strategies that help aggregate this information and conduct sales and marketing activity far more profitably. 

This article discusses the data aggregation concept and five reasons why it is critical for customer acquisition. 

What is Data Aggregation? 

Data aggregation for auto dealers often means compiling, organizing, and processing customer information after gathering it from various sources. Much of this data is customer demographics and purchase and service history, including but not limited to the following: 

• Age 
• Profession 
• Income 
• Marital status 
• Number of children 
• Geographic location 
• Current vehicle information 
• Number of service visits 

After collecting and organizing this data in a single, easy-to-view location, dealers can leverage the information to tailor communications to each prospect, providing more powerful customer engagement.
 

Five Benefits of Data Aggregation 

1. Improved Service Lane Efficiency 

Data aggregation can also be valuable for parts inventory and supply chain purposes. 

To ensure that dealerships supply service lanes with the proper resources to satisfy current and expected future demand, dealers can monitor stock levels via aggregated service data. Dealers can implement technologies predicting future service needs that automatically suggest which parts require reordering. 

2. Maximized Productivity 

Merging data can improve operations, increase redundancy and flexibility, improve availability, and promote the better use of resources. 

Dealerships can accomplish more with less by optimizing vital infrastructure, which raises productivity and, as a result, enhances customer satisfaction. 

3. Customer Satisfaction Tracking 

Service lane and vehicle sales invoices stored in the dealer’s management systems allow dealers to extract existing and former customer data. After they clean and verify that data, dealers can send satisfaction surveys to the applicable customer list. 

Using data categorization, dealers can then divide completed surveys into groups based on the respondent’s status, which can include but is not limited to: 

• New car buyer 
• Used car buyer 
• Repair customer 
• Regular maintenance customer (such as oil changes and tire rotations) 

Next, the dealership can track performance and set KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for each department by using the findings to adopt a reasonable customer satisfaction metric. 

4. Effective Predictive Marketing 

Dealers can use predictive marketing to decide which customers to approach, when to approach them, and what marketing message to send. 

For example, dealers can use service lane records and vehicle data to determine which customers need service or a safety inspection. Staying proactive by providing attentive service and valuable reminders can boost customer retention. 

5. Revenue Loss Prevention 

The auto industry is highly operational. Due to the high fixed costs and working capital used, even a slight change in sales and fixed-op appointments can significantly impact profitability. 

Dealers can use consolidated data to find potential causes and departments contributing to the revenue bleed, allowing them to modify and correct potential problems and minimize future risks. 

Aggregating and Analyzing Data Requires the Right Technology 

Data is everywhere in today’s fast-paced digital world, and it grows, expands, and congests with each new input and output. And while information is a valuable commodity for any dealership, its value diminishes when unorganized and difficult to analyze. 

As such, dealers must invest in the best data-driven technologies that aggregate and simplify this information, allowing them to draw actionable insights from data that highlight significant consumer trends and make more effective business decisions. 

Contact us today and discover how Affinitiv’s DealerLens can help you improve your data aggregation process, capture the actionable insights that lead to better decisions, and drive more revenue.