Automotive
CRM
The Automotive
CRM industry report begins with an overview of the automotive
industry and then breaks down into six main sections, each looking
at different e-business practices and the impact they have on
businesses along the automotive value chain, from original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) and parts suppliers to web-based content and
e-commerce companies to dealers and consumer end-users:
- IT and
e-business spending
- Online
advertising
- Consumer-oriented websites and consumer
usage preferences
- Automotive
dealers and the internet
- Selling
online to consumers
- In-vehicle
information systems
Automotive CRM
customer contact and relationships: The more automotive
manufacturers use the internet as a marketing and sales vehicle, the
more they will have to focus on online customer relationship
management (CRM). The results of the October 2002 Automotive CRM
study indicate that online management of customer contact has
improved in the past year, particularly where the responsiveness and
effectiveness of customer service representatives are concerned.
However, the
Automotive CRM study also suggests that while automotive OEMs offer
consumers feature-rich websites, including e-mail auto response to
customer queries and listings of toll-free numbers and frequently
asked questions (FAQ), they tend to be less responsive than
third-party sites.
How Automotive
CRM is affecting the industry. The 24-hour response rate of
manufacturer websites was a little more than half that of content
sites (44% versus 86%) and considerably lower than the 63% response
rate recorded for sites dedicated to online purchases of
automobiles. Not surprisingly, the websites of luxury-car
manufacturers, whose clientele is notoriously demanding, performed
better, with 80% responding within 24 hours (versus just 27% of
other manufacturers).
According to
Jupiter Research, Automotive CRM, "Inability to meet customers'
expectations will result, over the long term, in defection to sites
that are more customers friendly, while those sites losing traffic
will pay more for leads and advertising to get the consumers
back”. –
With data
aggregated from a broad range of research firms, government agencies
and industry associations, including Allied Business Intelligence,
the Center for Automotive Research, EDS, GartnerG2, Giga Information
Group, Jupiter Research, J. D. Power and Associates, KPMG, META
Group, the National Automobile Dealers Association, Nielsen Media
Research, Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance, Taylor Nelson Sofres,
Telematics Research Group and the US Census Bureau, the Automotive
Industry Online report provides automotive manufacturers, dealers
and marketers with a keen sense of how their e-business strategies
compare with those of their competitors.
