Digital Dealer - October 2017 - 41

identification process,
regardless if the customer
has called, emailed or
visited the mobile website
in the past, gone for a test
drive or purchased from
the dealer before. This
instant identification and
enhancement with valuable information enables
the sales representative
to quickly understand the
customer's needs before
engaging with the customer and deliver a more
customized experience.
An omnichannel inbound lead identification
strategy doesn't just help
the dealer, it improves the
customer experience and
minimizes their frustration. Top dealerships are
constantly updating the
customer information within their CRM to ensure all
inbound communications
are instantly identified.
In the case of active
prospects, this information
reduces both dealer and
customer frustration as
customers don't have to
tell the same story to each
new person they speak
with-the history is already in their CRM, tied to
accurate, linked consumer
profile information e.g.,
home and email addresses, mobile and landline
phone number, etc. Since
50% of customers will
contact a dealer before
coming in and 90% of
those inbound leads buy
within one week, having
that information to draw
the customer in is essential. When you can link the
customer's identification
to your CRM - with as

little as a phone number
or email, and respond with
consistent, omnichannel
messaging, you have
more tools to provide a
seamless customer experience.
Technology alone
won't create a consistent,
compelling experience
from outbound to inbound
engagement. You'll also
need processes in place
to make the system work,
and your team needs to
be onboard. This means
automatically capturing
inbound phone number
and email information
and instantly linking it
back to your CRM. With
this fractional information
and strong third-party
consumer identity data,
you can consistently add
intelligence to a customer
profile, such as name,
mailing address, current
and previously owned
vehicles, income, wealth
score, risk proxy score,
home ownership information, and a wealth of
attributes that enables
the most relevant and
consistent omnichannel
messaging. Not only
will you develop a more
complete picture of your
customer, this information will help you with
lead verification and lead
scoring, to determine the
likelihood that a customer
will buy. It will also help
you maintain effective
and relevant dialogue
with the customer after
the purchase is made.
Ensuring your dealership
team follows up with prospective customers every

step of the way will make
your technology tools that
much more effective.

CONSIDER THESE
THREE STEPS TO
HELP SERVE INBOUND
CUSTOMERS:
1. DEVELOP A
PROCESS to continuously

update your CRM with
customer identity data,
using a persistent ID
number that keeps
disparate and often
siloed data linked
to a profile. This is
particularly important
within dealership groups
that may have separate
CRMs, but need to
maintain consistent
inbound messaging.
Consider linking
households within the
CRM, so that all inbound
activity from a single
household is captured.
For example, if one
partner does the research
and the other partner
comes in for a test drive,
the inbound omnichannel
communication remains
consistent and relevant.

2. UTILIZE THIRDPARTY IDENTITY
DATA to enhance

your profiles with rich
identity and attribute
information, linking all of
it through the persistent
ID. With just a fractional
piece of consumer
information, you can fully
identify consumers and
gain insight into their
demographics, buying
behavior and historical
data, enabling your sales
team to quickly land the
customer on the right
vehicle and improve

delivery times.
3. FREQUENTLY
UPDATE AND ENHANCE
YOUR CRM DATA to

appropriately segment
your customers. Ensure
the customers are always
in the right segment, even
as their lives change,
so your omnichannel
marketing messages are
always relevant, every
time your customers
communicate through
inbound channels.
As consumers increasingly take charge of their
auto buying needs, dealerships need to ensure a
strong omnichannel lead
identity strategy to engage
on-demand consumers'
inbound requests for
stronger personalized
interactions that ultimately
result in lifetime customers.
DAVE DAGUE, a 25-year
veteran of the Information
Services and Analytics
industry, is a cross-channel
consumer identification,
verification and marketing
solutions thought leader
to the advertising,
financial services, retail,
telecommunications and
other industries. Prior to
joining Infutor as executive
vice president of marketing,
Dave served as CMO for
Gravy Analytics, a Gannettbacked mobile, location
based behavioral insights
company. Previously, Dave
was CMO for Neustar and
CMO for TargusInfo, which
was purchased by Neustar in
2011. EMAIL: DaveDague@
infutor.com

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

OCTOBER 2017

41
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - October 2017
