In 2006 when we purchased our dealership in Texas, we knew that a streamlined and transparent purchasing process would be something that would help us to be successful in the long run. We didn’t want to be one of those dealers that advertised cheap prices, only to surprise the customer with an extra $2000 of freight and setup once they made it into the finance office. We weren’t interested in cheap selling vehicles and then loading those customers up with non-cancelable F&I products. “Family Owned and Operated” has always been prominent in our advertising, and we want our customers to feel like they are part of the family.
A few years back I crossed paths with a recent hire for a new company called Rollick. As a few employees for Rollick had been instrumental in getting TrueCar up and and running, I wanted to know more. Initially I had concerns that they were going to attempt to bring the auto model to the powersports industry, advertising vehicles at close to cost, and then making all of the profits on the back side of the deal. After a few discussions and a couple of demos, my understanding of the company improved, and I liked what I saw.
Rollick’s commitment to the purchaser is that they will enjoy a seamless purchase process. Up front, no haggle pricing, timely responses from dealership personnel, and a streamlined process for picking up their new vehicle. The cost to the dealership is minimal, and Rollick provides a lot of bang for the buck. As Rollick’s footprint has expanded, so have the services that they offer. They now have a call center that engages with customers until the dealership can take over and customers can pre-qualify for financing within the Rollick portal. Some of the dealers I consult with tell me that a significant portion of their leads are now coming from Rollick.
Last September I met with the Rollick’s CEO to dig a little deeper into how the average customer interacts with a dealer on a typical industry website. Going through the process, it was very evident that the process was neither intuitive or easy. On most websites, a consumer who is interested in a particular vehicles needs to submit a lead. If he/she wants to trade in a vehicle, that’s a different page and a lot of duplicated information. Need financing? Let’s type it all in once more. The number of times that we ask a consumer to enter the same data is mind numbing. That conversation was the catalyst for Rollick to build out their next tool that would further streamline each customer’s purchase process.
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to test out the new RollickDR widget. Using some lightweight script, Rollick replaces the action buttons located next to each listing on a dealer’s websites. The options for each customer have been streamlined so that the customer is not overwhelmed with different choices, and once the customer starts the process they only need to enter their personal data one time.
The RollickDR Widget includes different tabs for all of the following actions
- Trade in – If the customer has a trade, then clicking on the trade tab just asks for the vehicle information (the customer info has already been entered on tab #1). This tab integrates with NADA, and the customer can request a current trade value.
- Financing – A customer can enter a few additional pieces of personal data on the financing tab, and the system will perform a soft-pull on the customer. Based on the customer’s personal credit profile, they can receive pre-qualification for financing with the dealer’s aggregate lending sources.
- View offers – Manufacturer programs change each month. The Rollick widget tracks these programs, and a customer can see the options that apply to the vehicle they are looking at. In addition, they can see additional promotions that they might qualify for, including Military and First-Responder programs.
- Schedule an appointment – The goal of the program is to keep moving the customer forward in the sales process. With all of their pertinent info loaded in the widget, scheduling an appointment with the dealer (either virtual or in-person) is just a click away.
- Estimate payment – Most programs allow a consumer to calculate a payment, but the Rollick widget is the only unified experience available to our industry. The system tabulates a payment based on all of the data the customer has entered, including the trade value, programs, rebates, and an estimated finance rate. It’s the most accurate estimate a customer can obtain without meeting with the dealership.
When I spoke to Rollick’s CEO, I remember him saying that personalization is about information relevant to me [the consumer]. Rollick’s new widget delivers on that and one of the smartest features is after the lead is submitted. To minimize duplication, the widget will wait a set time before generating a lead for the dealership to respond to through Rollick’s quoting system, SalesDriver. The widget will track the progress of the quote for the consumer, which includes pricing, financing, and trade information, by updating the unit’s call-to-action button to display various statuses in real-time, such as, Get a Quote, Quote Requested, and View Quote. The system will also create an account for the consumer using their email address. When a customer comes back to the website, it’s easy to repopulate the information that was previously entered into the system.
Since 2000, E-commerce has been on a steady upward trajectory. The pandemic created a sharp spike in that trend, and many of those customers may never return to the traditional method of in-person shopping. Point, click, purchase is here to stay. To remain relevant, it’s important that dealers adapt to the changing needs of today’s consumers.
#Rollick #GoRollick #RollickDR #Customers #Leads #Easy