In another installment of the AutoMotionTV Mobile Marketing series with Mike Maher, IT Manager and Business Development Director for Weber Chevrolet, Mike gives his thoughts on the current place of mobile and mobile marketing within dealerships, including some tips about what has personally worked for Weber Chevrolet. He shares insider advice about mobile sites, mobile devices and apps, and specifically Weber Chevrolet’s Dealer App.
Ben Anderson: Welcome back to another installment of the AutoMotionTV Mobile Marketing Series. I’m pleased to be joined by Mike Maher, IT Manager, Business Development Director, for Weber Chevrolet. Mike thanks for your time this afternoon.
Mike Maher: Thank you.
Ben Anderson: Mike, give us a broad overview of mobile marketing within the dealership realm. What trends are you observing?
Mike Maher: Well, we’ve noticed it for some time now. It seems like it’s starting to come on a little bit stronger. We have noticed that the customer is getting more mobile. We’re seeing a lot more mobile devices on our emails. We’re seeing a lot more hits on our website through mobile devices.
Ben Anderson: Specifically can you share any metrics that you are seeing, as far as in reporting and stuff in regards to mobile traffic?
Mike Maher: Yes, we have definitely seen an increase there. Our website normally had around, in the area of two to three hundred mobile visitors per month. Recently it’s jumped up to the eight hundred numbers, and it seems to be bouncing around between seven and nine hundred every month. And it is definitely growing every month.
Ben Anderson: Interesting. When should a dealer consider a mobile marketing strategy; now in the future? What’s your thoughts on it?
Mike Maher: Oh I think there’s no time like the present. Trying to catch up has always been hard to do. Right now is a good time to get into it, and get started, learn what to do. You’re going to make some mistakes, but you’re going to learn by them, and you’re going to be better off by doing it now.
Ben Anderson: What strategies has Weber Chevrolet specifically used to help capture and convert mobile visitors?
Mike Maher: Well, we have our mobile website. We have our app that we market very heavily. We also use a lot of mobile advertising. We send coupons over mobile devices, service specials. We send out coupons to new car buyers. We use it for everything we can come up with. I mean if there’s something we haven’t tried, then I’m not sure what it is. We’re always looking for something else.
Ben Anderson: Mike let’s talk about promotion. What methods are you using to promote your mobile website, your mobile app?
Mike Maher: Well, every email template that goes out of here we have our mobile app on it. We do everything we can to let the customer know that our site is mobile friendly. We promote our app; not only that way, but we promote it on videos, on all print advertising. Even on our repair orders that leave, we have a little blurb about being able to connect with us through your mobile device.
Ben Anderson: Let’s talk a little bit about mobile and internal operations. Are you using anything like iPads, or iPhones or Android based devices for internal operations?
Mike Maher: We’re not at this time. We are looking at the iPad. We feel there’s some value there. We think that it will be very good for our sales people to be able to get into our CRM from the lot outside the building, but right now there are some Java issues on the iPad. There are some other ones I understand that are out there that will work, but at this time we’re still looking at the iPad and I think going forward that’s going to be a part of our normal business here with this mobile device.
Ben Anderson: Mike, any other promotion strategies that you would like to talk about; some unique things that you’re either trying or that you’ve found some success with?
Mike Maher: Well, every computer in our dealership runs a screen saver and on this screen saver, what it does is, it is fed by a central computer, and we sell the customer on our history. We sell the customer on our service, on the time and length of our employees here. We also mention about our mobile savings club. This is where we push coupons out to them through the mobile devices every month. New car customers also get coupons to help get them in the buying process. We have also went and initiated printing QR codes on all of our brochures in house. So when a customer leaves with that brochure he at that point has the ability, if he has a QR reader, to take that picture and download our app and go mobile, very easily.
Ben Anderson: Very interesting. Last question Mike. Kind of as a summation, how is Weber Chevrolet helping to capture and convert mobile users and help them interact better in a mobile basis with the dealership?
Mike Maher: Well again we have it on every device in the house showing that we are very mobile friendly. Our website is mobile friendly. In our service waiting room we have two televisions on the wall, one is just normal broadcasting, the other one is a continuous replay of automobile videos, new and used cars. Also we’re asking for email addresses. We mentioned our, again mobile savings club, where we push these coupons out to them, and the response from this has been pretty remarkable.
Ben Anderson: My guest has been Mike Maher, Weber Chevrolet. Mike again, thanks for your time.
Mike Maher: Well thank you.
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