In today’s fast-paced automotive market, staying ahead of the competition requires innovative solutions that enhance efficiency and drive sales. Cox Automotive’s lead managemet system (LMS), LeadDriver, powered by Impel’s AI technology, is changing lead management for automotive dealers. This success story highlights how AI is enabling dealers to sell more cars and improve overall productivity.
Challenges Faced by Dealers
Automotive dealerships often struggle with timely responses to digital leads and maintaining consistent follow-ups. Manual processes can be inefficient, leading to dropped engagement rates, especially outside business hours and on weekends. These challenges necessitate a solution to automate and optimise lead management, ensuring no potential sale slips through the cracks.
The AI-Powered Solution
LeadDriver, integrated with AI, offers a comprehensive solution to these challenges. By automating lead responses and follow-ups, LeadDriver ensures immediate engagement with potential customers via SMS and email. This increases the likelihood of converting leads and frees up sales teams to focus on more established prospects. Additionally, the system provides detailed analytics and reporting, giving dealers valuable insights into their lead management performance.
Results
The impact of LeadDriver with AI has been significant, as demonstrated by the performance metrics of two dealerships using LeadDriver over a 60-day period from October to November 2024:
Dealer 1: With an average of 20 vehicles for sale, LeadDriver worked on 134 online leads, sending out 981 messages and saving 65 hours of manual work. The dealership achieved a 65% email open rate and engaged 48% of its online leads.
Dealer 2: Managing an average of 360 vehicles for sale, LeadDriver worked on 536 online leads, sending 3641 messages and saving 242 hours. The dealership saw a 53% email open rate and engaged 47% of their online leads.
Impressively, over 21% of Dealer 1 and Dealer 2 online engaged leads booked appointments without human intervention.
AI-Driven Lead Success Across Australia
Across all dealerships using Impel’s AI solution, the data shows that AI-driven leads outperform standard leads in several key areas. Notably, 22% of all online leads are classified as high-converting, with 70% resulting in successful sales. A high-converting online lead is one where the AI has either booked an appointment, received a call request from the customer, or acquired the customer’s phone number. These actions indicate a strong likelihood of resulting in a successful sale. AI ensures that leads are contacted within 2 minutes of inquiry, significantly enhancing engagement and conversion.
Embracing AI for Automotive Sales Success
By automating responses and follow-ups, providing comprehensive analytics, and ensuring timely engagement, AI is helping dealers sell more cars and operate more efficiently. As the automotive market continues to evolve, embracing AI-driven solutions will be crucial for dealerships aiming to stay competitive and meet the demands of modern consumers.
Learn more about LeadDriver
Download the case study here and learn more about LeadDriver, here.
