Balanced between borderline spam and radio silence is the ideal mixture of customer follow-up—and these follow-up communications can go a long way in fueling your dealership’s customer retention rates. From sales and service appointments to trade-in requests and website visits, each of these customer interactions offer a customer follow-up opportunity that can strengthen customer relationships and your brand reputation.

If your store doesn’t have a customer retention strategy in place, here are a few of the interactions you can focus your follow-up efforts on to help decrease churn and drive customer retention. Plus, explore some tips and tricks to help automate and accelerate your customer follow-up processes.

Key Customer Follow-Up Strategies That Drive Retention

When Should You Follow Up with Customers?

Your store likely has some of these follow-up communications in action, but you may discover a few more chances to eliminate churn:

• Welcome Series

Immediately after purchase, welcome them to the dealership family and express your gratitude for their trust. Offer a short survey a week or two after purchase to gather feedback on their experience. Three to four weeks after purchase, send a personalized video message from the salesperson thanking them again and highlighting features they may have missed.

• Service Reminders

When you send service reminders, offer convenient online appointment booking options and remind them of potential service discounts. Send a personalized reminder 24 hours before service confirming their appointment, and be sure to follow up after their service for feedback and offer a discount on their next service.

• Birthday/Anniversary Greetings

Strengthen customer relationships by sending a personalized email or social media message on their birthday or car purchase anniversary. Offer a special discount or free service as a thank you for being a loyal customer, and highlight relevant new models or services that might interest them based on their purchase history.

• Targeted Offers and Promotions

Make your efforts more effective by sending targeted email or SMS offers based on their browsing history or purchase preferences. Offer exclusive discounts on parts, accessories, or services they might need. Or, spotlight trade-in incentives or financing options for upgrading to a newer model.

Fine-Tuning Your Customer Follow-Up Strategies

Personalization Is Key

If you think we spend a lot of time on personalization, it’s because it’s a game-changer in the automotive business. By segmenting your customers and leveraging their purchase history, service records, and website interactions, you can better personalize and pinpoint your customer follow-up. Your website traffic in particular offers a great opportunity for targeted ads that help guide customers to completion. Then, you can keep the customer lifecycle going by scheduling touchpoints throughout the ownership journey, such as service reminders, maintenance tips, and personalized offers.

Take an Omnichannel Approach

Diversify your customer communication channels by using a mix of email, SMS messaging, phone calls, and social media to reach customers where they are most receptive. Don’t just send one-way messages, though—make it interactive by encouraging customer feedback through surveys, polls, and social media engagement.

Leverage Data-Driven Insights

After putting your customer retention strategies to work, find out which efforts are most effective by tracking your data. Monitor internet leads, click-through rates, and other engagement metrics to see what resonates with your audience. Experiment with different headlines, offers, and communication channels to optimize your follow-up strategy. Collect feedback on what customers like and dislike about your follow-up efforts, and adjust accordingly.

Ramp Up Your Dealership’s Customer Retention Rate

Gain more from each customer interaction with the right tools. Put our solutions to work for your store, whether you need automated service appointment reminders, tailored social media ads, or customized call campaigns. Discover our entire technology suite online, then contact us for a live demo.