See How You Stack Up! 2024 Automotive Industry Benchmarks You Can’t Miss

As the automotive industry grows increasingly competitive, understanding customer interaction patterns has become essential for fine-tuning marketing strategies and customer service processes. This 2024 Automotive Industry Benchmark Report highlights key trends in call volume and timing, helping automotive businesses maximize peak customer engagement periods for optimized service and sales.

I. Call Volume & Timing

Analyzing call data reveals patterns that can guide staffing, marketing outreach, and business hours. Here’s a breakdown of the findings by day and time, as well as recommendations for the most impactful business adjustments:

Peak Call Days and Times

Busiest Day: Monday

• Mondays stand out as the busiest day of the week, making up 21.6% of the total weekly call volume.
• Other high-traffic days include Tuesday (17.1%) and Friday (16.6%). Conversely, weekends see significantly lower engagement, with Saturday accounting for 12.4% of calls and Sunday just 0.8%.

Key Insight: The volume patterns suggest that customers often reach out at the start of the week. Businesses may find it advantageous to allocate more staff on Mondays and potentially use this day to test promotional messaging. The low Sunday volume implies that for most dealerships, reduced or adjusted staffing could be more cost-effective.

Call Volume by Time of Day

The data reveals that specific times during the day consistently see higher call volumes:

• Morning Peak: 41.62% of calls come between 9am and 1pm, with 10am being the single busiest hour.
• Afternoon: Approximately 37.7% of calls are received between 1pm and 4pm.
• Early Morning & Evening: A smaller fraction of calls, around 7%, occur between 6am-9am, while another 13% happen between 4pm-7pm.

Key Insight: Call volume peaks significantly in the morning and early afternoon, with a drop-off toward the end of the business day. Dealerships and automotive services could benefit from extending availability later into the day rather than opening earlier, especially if customer service calls or sales follow-ups are prioritized.

II. Understanding Customer Engagement

Average Call Duration: 2 Minutes, 32 Seconds This benchmark offers insights into the typical customer conversation length, reflecting both customer inquiries and service efficiency.

Shorter call durations may suggest that customers quickly receive answers to straightforward inquiries, while longer calls could indicate detailed conversations—such as financing discussions or repair consultations. Tracking average call duration alongside customer feedback can highlight areas for further staff training or automation in response processes.

Actionable Steps for 2024

1. Optimize Monday Resources: Higher call volumes on Monday suggest a need for additional staff or targeted promotions at the start of each week.
2. Adjust Business Hours: Since most calls happen between 9am and 1pm, with a slight decrease but steady activity in the afternoon, extending hours later into the evening could capture additional customers while limiting the need for early morning staff.
3. Enhance Morning and Afternoon Availability: Focus staffing and promotional efforts during peak times, especially around 10 am, to capitalize on engagement.
4. Refine Customer Response Strategies: With call volume metrics in hand, dealerships can tailor their response times, leveraging high-traffic times to push promotions or conduct follow-ups.

Conclusion

The automotive industry is increasingly data-driven, and these insights provide a valuable look into customer behavior patterns that dealerships and automotive service providers can use to their advantage. From adjusting business hours to refining call-handling processes, these metrics can help businesses remain competitive, responsive, and attuned to customer needs. Leveraging tools like call tracking analytics can enable decision-makers to take a more strategic approach, ensuring they’re ready to meet customer demands and maximize engagement.