A recent Cox Automotive report found that dealerships have lost 12% of service visits since 2018. To gain back these lost service customers, dealerships should consider all the tools at their disposal, including automation. Manual follow-ups are time-consuming, inconsistent, and often miss the window. One key opportunity lies in effective declined services follow-up automation that leverages a conversational artificial intelligence tool custom-built for the automotive industry. This article breaks down the best practices for automating workflows paired with automotive AI, and why STELLA Catalyst can help you bring back those declined services customers with the right strategy.
Why declined services follow-up matters
The Cox Automotive study highlights the value of convenient and transparent communication with customers. Customers value features like online scheduling, tracking service progress, reviewing service history, and approving estimates, with over 70% of customers reporting that these features improved their service experience. This extended to declined services, which can convert to repair orders with proper and efficient follow-up. Too often, dealers send generic messaging that is not compliant and poorly timed. What’s worse, some customers who reach out to the dealership to book appointments for declined services face long hold times or missed calls altogether.
Best practices for effective follow-up
Bring declined services customers back to your dealership rather than an independent repair shop by following these best practices for customer engagement:
Timing and frequency
Timing is key. The first touchpoint should be within hours, not days. Make sure your declined services communications take a multi-channel cadence, incorporating SMS, email, and voice.
At the same time, don’t overwhelm the customer with too many messages. According to Affinitiv, a STELLA AI integration partner, “Most dealerships can reduce their monthly texts from 10+ down to around 6 or 7 without losing touch, as long as each message earns its spot.”
Personalization and messaging
Customers want personalization. McKinsey research has found that 71 percent of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. This includes when receiving offers from their dealership. Your declined services follow-up automation should reference their specific declined service, address any potential objections like price or timing, and use a natural-sounding, conversational, and friendly tone rather than a generic or robotic automated message.
Compliance and opt-in management
Compliance is crucial when it comes to your dealership’s outbound engagement. Make sure any tool or system you use adheres to TCPA compliance, which is critical for the automotive industry. AI automation must make sure to have explicit opt-in standards in place to maintain customer trust and stay in good legal standing. Also, make sure to follow all data privacy laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Multi-channel approach
Beyond outbound messaging about declined services, it’s essential to pair the automation with inbound call handling. This is essential so that customers don’t reach out and become frustrated when they can’t easily book an appointment. Use a human-like AI tool for dealerships that can communicate with customers in their preferred channel, whether SMS or voice, so that you can provide seamless and efficient service.
The role of conversational AI
Conversational AI has emerged as a powerful solution for dealership automation and communication for many reasons. Key benefits include:
- 24/7 availability, handling calls after-hours or on holidays
- Engaging in complex conversations naturally
- Learning from customer objections
- Qualifying leads efficiently
An automotive-centric conversational AI tool like STELLA can answer customer questions, escalate to live agents when necessary, offer suggestions, and book service appointments for the correct time slots thanks to its deep understanding of opcodes.
STELLA Catalyst
So how do you implement all these best practices without building a custom solution from scratch? STELLA Catalyst’s features make it a powerful method of enticing your declined services customers back into your service drive.
- Built for the automotive industry: STELLA Catalyst is purpose-built for the automotive retail industry. This means it understands the language of automotive.
- Compliant: Customer communications and privacy are a heavily regulated space, and STELLA Catalyst keeps compliance at the forefront. It includes built-in checks to make sure every single interaction is compliant.
- Natural-sounding AI: Here’s what separates STELLA from clunky IVR systems: it doesn’t sound like a robot. The natural language understanding engine can handle multi-turn conversations that actually feel human, which means customers are more likely to engage.
- Handles the full journey: Most automation tools handle outbound or inbound. STELLA Catalyst does both, which means you’re covered whether the customer reaches out or you’re reaching out to them. On the outbound side, it manages automated follow-up sequences that feel personal and timely. On the inbound side, AI agents answer declined-service calls 24/7.
Declined services are money left on the table. Studies show that with the right follow-up strategy, you can recover 25-40% of those lost opportunities. But recovery requires speed, personalization, and compliance. STELLA Catalyst delivers all three without requiring your team to manually touch every customer.
And here’s the best part: you’re doing this without increasing your team’s workload. The automation handles the heavy lifting while your team focuses on closing conversations and building relationships. See how STELLA Catalyst automates your follow-ups while staying compliant.
