Two weeks ago, I headed to Orlando to attend Digital Dealer 24: a three-day conference focused on helping those in the auto industry take full advantage of the ever-evolving digital environment. I attended this event to help improve our working relationships with our clients in the auto industry. Since the conference, I’ve had some time to reflect on everything I learned and boiled it down to a few key takeaways:
1. Mobile is more important than ever.
Did you know that 60% of all web traffic is now mobile, yet the average bounce rate is 70%? The average person’s attention span is about 8 seconds. That means if your site isn’t fast and efficient enough, you’re going to lose to your competitors every time. The faster you can get a customer to where they want to go, the less likely they are to leave your site.
2. Data is everything.
If you aren’t constantly analyzing your customer data—whether that’s using Google Analytics or your dealership’s CRM—and optimizing your campaigns based on that data, you’re practically shooting yourself in the foot. Simply serving the right ads in the right place at the right time to the right people can have a huge, positive impact on your overall campaign’s success.
3. If you aren’t customer centric, you aren’t positioning yourself for future growth.
With all of the options available to customers, it’s more important than ever to make your customers’ needs and wants a top priority. Finding a balance between the ultimate convenience (a tailored digital experience) and the ultimate personalization of a genuine human experience is what will keep your customers coming back for more in a world full of options.
4. Highly engaged people providing great service make people want to come back again and again.
This point was presented by one of the key note speakers—a Disney Institute representative. When analyzing why their guests come back to Disney, they found it was because of the interactions their guests had with the cast members at the park. They, in turn, found that their employees did such good work because loved where they worked and believed in their leaders, and those leaders said it was all about engaging and communicating with their teams. So a great customer experience all starts with how your team and its leadership members work together day to day.
5. Success is a matter of mindset, not size.
Blockbuster thought Netflix would be a flop, but look at where those two companies are today. Rather than having a “fixed mindset” where you focus on sticking to best practices, author Lior Arussy—one of the keynote speakers at the conference—emphasized the importance of working with a “flexible mindset.” This means appreciating the hard work that has gotten you to this point, but always asking yourself what the next step is to make that process or advertisement better.
6. Give so much value to people that it no longer makes sense.
If you’re incredibly easy to do business with and do awesome work, there is no reason your customers won’t want to come back to you. Don’t ask yourself, “how do I become successful?” Instead, ask yourself, “how do I become valuable?”
While this conference was tailored to auto dealers, it’s not a far leap to say these tips can be applied across the board for almost any industry. Do good work and deliver it to the right people. Measure the results and keep looking for the next step to elevate you above the competition.
--Susan