Challenge
When searching for the right digital retail partner, Proctor Acura prioritized a convenient, personalized and seamless experience for customers while also achieving a user-friendly platform for their employees that could deliver real-time information. As brands like Amazon and Tesla have set the standard for shopping experiences, leaders at the dealership wanted to tailor their experience to fit customers’ growing retail expectations.ent transparency and an exceptional customer experience, Mark Miller Subaru sought a partner to provide a seamless transition between the online and in-store shopping experience and eliminate double entry for good.
Solution
In order to meet customers where they prefer in all stages of the buying process, Proctor needed a digital retailing partner that provided transparency, answers and solutions versus standardized checkpoints. This ensured that each experience was personalized to the customer while still adhering to the purchasing template to maintain continuity in the buying process.
We see customer expectations, consistency and continuity as one of the largest sustainable advantages [dealers] can control internally. The great online experience better be followed up with an in-store experience that is at least as impressive; otherwise, you will have ‘catfished’ the customer, and the lifetime value of that customer relationship just fell to $0. You need to be as technologically impressive in the showroom as you are online.
Upstart Auto Retail’s Online Retail and AI-Powered Financing solutions enabled Proctor’s customers to engage in a car-buying experience customized to their needs. At the same time, employees could desk deals without leaving the customers’ side.
The biggest reason Proctor adopted Upstart Auto Retail over other digital and in-store retailing providers was the configurability and flexibility the tool allowed to deliver a great customer experience. “We didn’t want someone who was just a lead generator and wanted as few pain points as possible,” said Benedicks.
Finally, Upstart was the biggest cultural match — “There’s a lot of sincerity in the relationship. Every digital retail tool has a relationship manager, but they’re not Upstart,” said Benedicks.
Results
2X engagement rate
By deleting the lead gate up front, Proctor has doubled its Digital Retailing engagement rate from 12-15% to over 30%.
Increased customer satisfaction
Proctor has achieved a 4.9 customer rating on Google with over 500 positive reviews, which Benedicks partly attributes to the digital retailing process powered by Upstart.
Expanding access to financing
With Upstart’s AI-Powered Financing, Proctor can leverage AI and machine learning to approve more creditworthy car buyers and increase vehicle sales.
To ensure the sales team successfully adopted Upstart Auto Retail, Benedicks explained that it was important to involve the team in the partnership from the beginning and address any concerns upfront, share the roadmap and assign the team tasks related to the implementation. “We needed to have a comprehensive strategy from leadership before we moved forward with anything,” said Benedicks.
Improved online engagement
With Upstart, Benedicks explained that making changes to the online experience, including lead gate placement and application flow, was as simple as calling their Dealer Success Manager. Proctor’s e-commerce and marketing departments work with Upstart to evaluate site changes monthly to assess necessary changes.
After deleting the lead gate upfront, Proctor more than doubled its engagement rate from 12-15% to over 30%. Additionally, the dealership is seeing higher quality leads which are more likely to complete the buying process.
Increased customer satisfaction
To date, Proctor has achieved a 4.9 customer rating on Google with over 500 positive reviews, which Benedicks attributes to the digital retailing process powered by Upstart. Additionally, by offering an improved digital experience, Proctor has seen more repeat customers and attracted new, younger customers to the dealership.
We’re seeing a lot of repeat customers, and the younger generation is more apt to use the digital solution. Also, during inventory shortages, we have not seen any decrease in Digital Retailing activity, which is huge.
We love the experience that Apple gives to people, and we did a lot of research about how we can emulate that experience for our customers,” said Kuhn. “With Upstart Auto Retail, we’ve improved the customer experience via the iPad and eliminated paperwork.
Expanding access to financing
With Upstart’s AI-Powered Financing, Proctor can leverage AI and machine learning to approve more creditworthy car buyers and increase vehicle sales. With expedited approvals and deal closing, Benedicks is optimistic that this will enable them to finance more creditworthy borrowers who could not access credit elsewhere.
Looking to the future of the automotive industry and preparing for future changes, Benedicks shared that keeping the customer experience front and center and mastering connected retailing will separate successful dealers from unsuccessful ones.
If we are going to master one trade, it better be customer experience. Connected retailing is a large part of a successful customer experience, giving us a competitive advantage.
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