Are you being ghosted by your segment two customers?

How do you know that someone’s broken up with you if they don’t even tell you? We carried out some research on 2482 retail car owners during 2021. Well, what else were we going to do? It was lockdown and you can only have so many Majestic deliveries before people start to talk.

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What absolutely astonished us, and the client with whom we shared the research, was this:

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78% of customers said that the franchised dealer is only interested in them when the car is new.

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68% of them said that they did not feel comfortable bringing an older car to a main dealer.

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That’s an insane gulf between perception and reality. So how the heck did that happen? Why, when our customers are loyal to us and of most potential value to our business, do they think we don’t want them?

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More questioning revealed that a great deal of the misconception was based not on perceived cost, but in the type of communications that are seen at each part of the lifecycle. Many thought that, following the glossy offerings from sales, they were made to feel like second class citizens as their vehicle became older. Even more thought that discounting was offered not as a “thank you”, but because dealerships think that they are less well off. At a time when so many have reduced their mileages and therefore postponed replacing their vehicle, that really can’t happen.

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How about thanking the customer for being loyal? Rewarding them for staying with you. If nothing else it’s considerably less expensive than creating new ones. Plus, with the upcoming changes in our industry, we need to keep as many customers as loyal as possible for as long as possible.?

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By all means, ask us how! We’ve got a great range of innovative but practical solutions to keep your customers happy for longer.