Login
In today’s world, the digital age is thriving, which means that automotive software is developing at a rapid speed, by the day. Not only that, but traders within the automotive industry are doing everything they can to come back from what has undoubtedly been one of the hardest 16 months of their lives. In a bid for survival following the global pandemic, traders have been forced to adapt their marketing technique to suit the virtual buyer, fighting to keep up with competition and to ensure they stay afloat during such a difficult time. It goes without saying that now, more than ever, it is essential for automotive businesses to keep up to date with the latest software to ensure they stay one step ahead of their competitors.
From automotive software, tools, and apps, these are all multi-faceted digital assets that do a lot of the hard work online for your business. Using the right ones to suit your business can prove priceless, helping to boost sales while ensuring the customer’s online experience is as seamless as possible. The right software can assist with both front and back-office tasks, not only saving you time but improving the efficiency of your system and ironing out internal processes.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM), otherwise known as sales force automation (SFA) is a vital piece of software that all automotive businesses should use if they’re looking to succeed and grow. A CRM manages customer data, allowing businesses to analyze the interaction between themselves and their customers. A CRM provides a 360-degree view of a customer, by recording a customer’s personal contact information, alongside information on their buying pattern and communications preferences. This means that over time, quality CRM systems help businesses build customer relationships, hopefully leading to an increase in future sales, while improving customer service and increasing profitability.
Here are our top CRM software providers:
Salesforce
With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Salesforce is one of the world’s leading CRM systems. But despite it being an old-timer, it certainly knows how to keep up with the fast-moving developments of the automotive industry. Salesforce, a cloud-based software, is the go-to CRM system if you’re looking to grow your business – and fast.
Salesforce prides itself on reimagining the relationship between the consumer and the automotive business, helping traders to adapt to suit modern-day buyers. It pledges to support automotive businesses in delivering personalized engagement to their customers while driving sales and creating stronger relationships with stakeholders.
Built with both consumers and staff in mind, the Salesforce Customer 360 also supports collaborative working across the business by empowering employees from all teams to seamlessly input and retrieve data from the system. Ideal for larger businesses, Customer 360 gives everyone within your company the ability to access data quickly, which leads to a more efficient customer experience, even when the pressure is on to sell.
DealerSocket
A lead CRM product in the automotive industry, DealerSocket promises to sell more cars and drive profitability thanks to having one of the most powerful sets of features on the market.
DealerSocket provides a platform for a dealership’s entire customer database, while seamlessly integrating sales and marketing all in one place. DealerSocket prides itself on helping automotive businesses to manage a faster, more effective sales process, with streamlined workflows and robust call management and lead management systems. It offers an undeniable solution to improving and building customer relationships, by supporting effective engagement with clients, across departments, using any device.
Whether they are a single-point store or a dealership group, DealerSocket can be adapted to meet the needs of each business.
VinSolutions
Like others in this category, VinSolutions integrates dealership tools and sales processes to deliver a single view of a customer. However, a real highlight of their Connect CRM package is the inclusion of a ‘Partner in Performance’, an allocated advisor helping traders to maximize their CRM software thanks to regular appointments.
VinSolutions also offers flexibility and customization, making it easy for multiple staff members to use across your team, without breaking any potential sales leads. And thanks to their Call Tracking software, information on which staff member made contact with clients is recorded, providing peace of mind for both you and the customer.
VinSolutions allows staff to connect with customers anytime, anywhere, thanks to their mobile app, Connect Mobile. Alongside this, VinSolutions offers a whole range of other tools and features that are compatible with their Connect CRM packages, helping businesses tackle their marketing strategy through one channel.
ELead
ELead exists to nurture customer relationships, resulting in more leads and a higher number of loyal shoppers. Built to benefit both customers and the dealership alike, ELead pledges to speed up the buying process, ultimately leading to happy and retained clients.
Passionate about build relationships with customers, ELead prides itself in allowing for a tailor-made follow-up process, customized to suit each buyer’s needs. They don’t believe in ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to a CRM system and work hard to create a bespoke solution for each dealership, to suit both their needs and challenges and ultimately maximizing results.
As with others in this category, ELead integrates current systems, to seamlessly speed up sales deals. It helps track every call while linking information back to each customer.
Furthermore, ELead encourages efficiency from team members too, thanks to up-to-date reporting and built-in benchmarks to help track team performance.
Lead Generation
Investing in lead generation software has become more essential for traders within the automotive industry. In essence, lead generation is the process of attracting and converting strangers and potential customers into someone who is actually interested in your automotive products and services. Old-fashioned lead generation involved cold calling and sending out multiple copies of the same blanket email but in today’s world, where competition for business is heating up, you have to do better than that. Now it’s all about discovering the best lead generation marketing tools to suit your automotive business. If you do this, your business will thrive, engaging with your target audience and leading to a drive-in sales and return on investment.
Here are our top lead generation specialists:
SnapCell
At SnapCell, we pride ourselves on being able to provide traders with one of the best engagement apps in automotive software, so it’s no surprise that we shamelessly and proudly place ourselves top of this category.
As a lead generation platform, SnapCell enables traders to have the ultimate automotive sales tool kit at the palm of their hand, thanks to their handy smartphone app.
The latest of its features to join the SnapCell family is SnapCell Live, an exciting tool that allows dealers to hold two-way video chats with current and potential customers. Ideal for your sales team, the service department, BDC Agents, and business managers, this revolutionary software helps build trust with customers without actually ever meeting them.
The SnapCell easy-to-use video tool really does offer the ultimate digital retail experience by enables your sales team to record and send high-quality 360 vehicle walkarounds at just the touch of the button.
SnapCell integrates seamlessly with all industry-leading CRMs and DMS platforms, while its intuitive reporting interface makes identifying your KPIs both quick and easy.
Automate
Automate is a self-learning chatbot created especially for car dealers and automotive brands. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to interact with visitors to your website and respond quickly to inquiries, just like a staff member would. It allows 24/7 sales assistance, which means your business will never miss a lead.
The chatbot can guide customers through their car buying journey, complete with product recommendations and model comparison. Automate works alongside other features on your website to schedule test drives and service appointments within minutes.
It frees up staff time and can iron out the customer experience while providing personalized and professional support for users.
Website Providers and Apps
A strong, user-friendly website is a vital sales tool for any automotive business. Your website is your virtual shop window and the way your shoppers experience your online platform could be the difference between you securing a sale or not. It’s worth investing in support from a team of specialists who understand the demands and challenges of the automotive industry. There are website providers ready to build and, in most cases, license a digital space that is specific to your dealership.
Here are our top car dealer app and web providers:
DealerOn
Proud of its ‘chameleon’ approach, DealerOn strives in creating websites that work effectively and efficiently across any device, of any size.
Boasting over 4,000 automotive clients across the USA and Canada, DealerOn is an award-wining website platform. Pioneered for the automotive industry, they focus on converting website visits to leads and sales, with all of their online platforms built with speed in mind, which only enhances the customer journey.
They perform consistently well and have some of the best-rated VDP software for car dealers.
DealerFire by DealerSocket
Infused with the power of DealerSocket’s CRM system, DealerFire continues to grow as an industry-leading website and digital marketing company. Their new Engine6 website platform helps traders deliver a seamless car-shopping experience, across all devices.
DealerFire promotes itself as being the fastest website in the industry, with Engine6 providing dealers with more control over their virtual showroom than any other platform. Their user-friendly system enables businesses to be in control of their digital presence while allowing the customer to have a customized online shopping experience. With personalization and geo-fencing, DealerFire promises to further than experience by targeting the right shoppers with the right message. Their focus on the smaller details promises to drive more traffic, leading to more sales.
Dealer Inspire
For those wanting to make a big first impression, Dealer Inspire is your go-to web provider. The designers at Dealer Inspire use years of industry experience to create clean, modern interfaces that drive shoppers to take action. Their team doesn’t just focus on the here and now, in fact, they promise an ongoing partnership, which aims to future-proof your business. They do this by continually testing your website to ensure it can develop and grow alongside your organization.
As former dealers, Dealer Inspire sets out to build a platform that empowers traders and their staff to be in control. Their websites are easy to update, customizable, and can be built upon, no coding required.
At the core of what they do, Dealer Inspire creates websites seamlessly integrated with their chat and digital retailing solutions to drive shopping engagement across every single page.
We’ve collated some of the best car dealer software across the industry to provide you with an overview of potential tools and services available to you. It’s a challenging time for any industry, and automotive is no exception. It’s crucial for automotive traders to meet the demands of the digital age, as well as the virtual shopper. Now is the time for automotive businesses to work with the industry’s leading specialists who have the experience and knowledge of the digital world to help secure success.
Learn more about how SnapCell can increase car sales, footfall, CSI scores, and ultimately, dealership revenue. Arrange a free demon of our impressive, simple, and reliable video sales tool by contacting a member of the SnapCell team today.
