Increase car sales with a mobile app

853 21-10-23 Read Time: 7 min

The automotive industry is highly competitive, so it is important to use the maximum number of tools available to attract customers. While virtually every car dealership today has a website, not all companies in this niche have considered a mobile application. And in vain, because the application is an excellent way to promote goods and services, implement loyalty programs and communicate with customers. All of these benefits work directly or indirectly toward a single goal – increasing sales. How a mobile application helps to sell more cars – we will tell you in our article.

Why a Car Dealer Needs a Mobile App

Support customer feedback. A branded mobile application helps you to stay in touch with your audience, to remind them of your company unobtrusively in their smartphones, to offer something interesting – in other words, not only to attract their attention, but also to keep it. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a real customer or just an interested potential customer – supporting feedback from all categories of CA is useful and extremely important for business.

Improvement of sales tools. To sell a car, it is necessary to provide the customer with comfortable technical possibilities to search, select, compare models, conditions, prices, features, related services. This complex chain of actions can be easily and qualitatively realized in a mobile application with a wide functionality and convenient interface.

Marketing, advertising, loyalty programs. The application is used as a tool to promote car business in two formats:

• Retain existing customers with profitable, personalized offers (promotions, assortment renewal, delivery of new models, launch of services, etc.);
• Reach new audiences (contextual and targeted advertising, social media promotion, ASO application optimization, etc.)

Quality customer service. Most of the processes in the application are automated, but if a problem requires the professional involvement of a specialist, the user contacts the chat or contact form in the application and receives an immediate response. And there’s no need to search for a link to the company’s website or phone number – just click on a familiar icon on your smartphone and send a message. The customer feels protected and confident, not left alone with their questions.

Statistics and Analysis. Products, prices, customers, orders, visitors – all these and many other parameters are summarized in statistical reports to analyze demand, sales, audience interests, profit, etc. Analytical data allows you to adjust the sales funnel, improve the promotion plan, and work on your marketing strategy.

Optimization of work processes. The mobile application has a functional administration panel that greatly simplifies the work of employees. Processing applications, editing the product catalog, updating prices and features – all these tasks are solved faster and easier than with manual methods, the risk of errors is reduced, the workload of employees is lowered, and the quality of car dealership management is improved.

Positive Image and Competitive Advantage. A company that invests resources in creating a quality mobile application deserves the trust of its audience. The presence of an application distinguishes a car dealership from its competitors and is perceived as caring about the customer. Installing an application on a smartphone increases the chances that a person will return for goods and services, become a regular customer and recommend the dealership to their friends.

Mobile app features to help you grow your auto business

Assortment and Prices

• Catalog. Qualitatively structured catalog divided into categories with the possibility of filtering by various parameters.
• Search. You can find the model you are looking for using keywords in the search form.
• Gallery. Each product is accompanied by a gallery of high quality photos, videos, 3D reviews.
• Product description. On the product page, there is a text block and tabular characteristics.
• Comparison and favorites. Cars you are interested in can be added to favorites or compared with other models.
• Availability and prices. The user can see how much the car costs in the specified configuration, whether it is in stock or delivered to order.

Turnover

In the mobile application it is possible to realize full functionality for placing orders for purchase of cars, additional goods, services:

• Request to buy a car;
• Online application for credit or leasing;
• Application to trade in a used car for a new one;
• Integration with payment services for advance payments;
• Test drive request;
• Car reservation;
• Insurance application;
• Ordering maintenance services;
• Purchasing spare parts and other related products;
• Request for manager consultation.

Calculators

Car configurator. The user independently “assembles” the desired car by specifying, step by step, the model, series, equipment, trim, specifications, color, interior, options and other parameters.

Service calculator. In the application you can implement calculators of loan and leasing payments, trade-in purchase price, prices for rent, insurance, service.

Loyalty Program

The mobile application is perfect for implementing various loyalty programs with user alerts via instant push messages:

• Accumulation of rewards for purchases;
• Accumulation of points in the personal account of the customer;
• Create personalized offers;
• Launching seasonal and holiday promotions;
• Discounts for regular customers;
• special prices for certain groups of goods.

User Account

When you register in the application, a personal account with sections is created:

• Personal to payment user data;
• Purchase and browsing history;
• List of products added to favorites and for comparison;
• open chats with managers;
• Help section;
• profile settings.

More Information

• The Information section includes
• Presentation of the company’s services and benefits;
• FAQ – answers to frequently asked questions;
• Interactive map of dealerships;
• Reviews section about the dealership.

Management functionality

The mobile application administrator uses a separate interface that provides a wide range of data management options:

• Access to the customer base (full name, contact information, history of requests, views, purchases);
• Set up loyalty program parameters;
• Set up push notifications;
• Catalog editing;
• Maintain up-to-date prices, availability, features;
• Updating content – texts, tables, photos, videos;
• Access to incoming requests.

Synchronize mobile application with website and back-end software

If a dealership has its own CRM system, website, or accounting program, they can be synchronized with the mobile app. API-integrated platforms share a common database, exchange information, and process commands in sync. Synchronization can be full or partial on an item-by-item basis. Some examples of what can be synchronized:

• Simultaneous updating of product assortment in the application and on the website;
• Synchronous editing of prices in the application and in the accounting program;
• Centralized processing of requests and inquiries from the website and the application;
• Common customer base in the CRM system and the application.

How to increase car sales with a mobile app – a step-by-step plan

So the benefits of a mobile application for a car dealership are obvious. But how to implement the project so that it brings real benefits and helps to increase sales? Of course, the strategy for developing and launching an application is individual, but there is a general algorithm that is universal for all companies:

1. Contact experienced developers and order a convenient, functional, high-quality application with a modern interface and stylish design.
2. Launch the application and promote it using various methods – from offline distribution among dealership visitors to the latest Internet marketing technologies.
3. Ensure synchronization of the application with CRM and website (if any) so that all platforms work as a single organism.
4. Maintain the technical condition of the application, keep the catalog of goods and services up to date, pay attention to the quality of processing requests received through the application.
5. Monitor user feedback, fix bugs, and release regular updates to meet the needs of the audience.
6. Improve, scale, and enhance the mobile application so that it provides maximum benefit to customers and more value to the company.

If you are looking for a reliable partner to help you along the way, contact KitApp. We have extensive experience in mobile development and interesting cases of creating applications for car business, we will be glad to work on the development of your project.