The Essential Role of AI After-Hours Answering Services in Automotive Dealerships

Exceptional customer service is the key to building lasting relationships and driving sales, especially in the automotive industry, where competition against independent repair shops is fierce. But what happens when a potential or current customer calls after your dealership closes? Missed calls mean lost opportunities. Providing support outside of regular business hours is a common dealership challenge, but there is a solution: Using AI after-hours answering services. These solutions ensure your customers can always access assistance, regardless of the time or day.

What is an AI after-hours answering service?

An artificial intelligence-powered after-hours answering service acts as a virtual receptionist, handling calls and inquiries when your dealership is closed (in addition to when it’s open). Traditional answering services and business development centers rely on human operators, but AI-powered services offer advanced capabilities. These services use sophisticated conversational AI technology to answer calls, route them appropriately, and provide information or schedule appointments.

AI-driven solutions offer a significant advantage over human-provided services with faster response times, consistent service quality, and the ability to simultaneously handle a high volume of calls. If using STELLA Automotive AI, dealerships know their customer calls are being answered on the first ring, helping them avoid the one-in-three missed calls often experienced by other dealers. 

Why after-hours support is crucial for automotive dealerships

After-hour answering is essential for automotive dealerships for a plethora of reasons, including:

Customer expectations

Today's consumers expect businesses to be available 24/7/365. They want quick answers and immediate assistance, regardless of the time. Unanswered calls can lead to frustration and lost business. According to Zendesk statistics, 52 percent of customers will switch to a competitor if they have a single negative impression. Making their experience calling your dealership as seamless as possible can help avoid driving them away. 

Missed opportunities

Every unanswered call is a potential customer loss. After-hours inquiries often represent high-intent customers actively seeking information or assistance. Failing to connect with these customers can significantly impact your bottom line. 

Competitive advantage

Offering after-hours support can be a key differentiator. Forrester's research found that customers are 2.4 times more likely to stay loyal to businesses when those companies solve their problems quickly. This is certainly true of dealerships that provide quick customer support. By providing round-the-clock availability, you demonstrate a commitment to customer service that sets you apart from competitors.

Benefits of using STELLA Automotive AI as an after-hours answering service

With so many answering service options on the market, it can be difficult to assess which solution is right for your dealership. Consider these factors that make STELLA AI a better option for automotive retail:

• Availability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year: Stella ensures your dealership is always accessible to customers, providing uninterrupted support and maximizing lead capture.

• Efficiency: STELLA’s AI technology handles inquiries quickly and accurately. For example, customers can book dealership appointments in an average of 1.5 minutes. If they need to cancel an appointment, it can be done in less than 30 seconds. STELLA also answers on the first ring, reducing wait times for the customer, and STELLA knows when to escalate a call to a human. This efficiency is key given that 72% of customers say they want immediate service, per a Zendesk report from 2023.

• Automotive-specific knowledge: Trained in automotive terminology, STELLA understands customer inquiries related to specific makes, models, and services, offering relevant and helpful information. STELLA understands more than 270 opcodes, allowing it to accurately and effectively take the correct action when a customer makes a request. STELLA also has access to dealership data, so it knows when a customer is calling about a repair or recall and can accurately handle the call. 

• Seamless integration: STELLA integrates seamlessly with your existing dealership systems, ensuring smooth data flow and real-time updates. Partnerships with CDP, DMS, CRM platforms, and service schedulers allow STELLA to seamlessly adapt to dealership needs. STELLA partners include Xtime, CDK Global, myKaarma, and Reynolds & Reynolds. 

• Configurability: STELLA offers the most configurable solutions on the market, and working with industry experts and companies over the years has allowed STELLA to enhance its offerings as needs evolve. 

• Secure platform: Unlike other AI tools for dealerships, STELLA has a secure technology and uses proprietary voice technology.

• Ease of escalation and adaptability: STELLA can do an interplay of voice, webchat, and SMS, and can understand when a call needs to be escalated to a team member or when to switch among features.

• Whisper technology: When transferring a call to dealership staff, STELLA provides caller details so that the person can effectively handle the call, reducing frustration by avoiding having the caller repeat themselves to the human agent. This aligns with 2023 Zendesk data that found that 70 percent of customers expect anyone they interact with at a business to have the full context. 

Enhancing customer experience with around-the-clock support

Beyond the customer demand for support at all hours of the day, dealerships should consider the additional benefits of having customer support available at all times, including:

• Personalized interactions: Using AI to personalize interactions based on customer history and preferences creates a more engaging and tailored experience. A Wakefield Research survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers in 2022 found that 84% of consumers say personalization influences their purchases.

• Quick resolution of inquiries: AI solutions for dealerships efficiently resolve common customer questions, schedule appointments, and provide information, ensuring a positive customer experience. MIT Technology Review reported that “80 percent of executives have reported demonstrable improvements in customer satisfaction, delivery of service, and overall contact center performance as a result of implementing conversational AI.” 

• Building trust and loyalty: Consistent and reliable after-hours support builds trust and fosters customer loyalty, leading to long-term relationships. STELLA is helping dealerships improve their satisfaction and offers them an incentive to stay loyal to their business. 

Cost-effectiveness of an answering solution

The cost of staffing a Business Development Center for comprehensive after-hours support can significantly impact a dealership's bottom line. STELLA AI offers a compelling and cost-effective alternative to traditional staffing models, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to enhance efficiency, elevate customer satisfaction, and drive revenue growth. By deploying STELLA's AI-powered messaging channels, dealerships can reduce customer interaction costs by up to 60%. This translates into a substantial return on investment (ROI) through reduced BDC costs, increased appointment volume and service bay utilization, and optimized BDC agent performance. 

STELLA AI empowers dealerships to provide seamless and efficient customer service while simultaneously optimizing operational costs and maximizing revenue opportunities. By embracing this innovative AI-driven solution, dealerships can gain a competitive edge.

Implementing STELLA is simple and straightforward. Contact us for a personalized demo.

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