How Automakers are spurring customers

Most of the car sales are made at some dealerships. However, buyers usually go online first to check out the cars they are interested in to get the details and make up their mind. Auto buying services are also getting upgraded by manufacturers, providing better warranties for their vehicles. This enables customers to get all the features they need without paying extra.

These are the ways automakers are spurring on customers to buy their cars.

Social Media Channels

Everyone is directly or indirectly dealing with some form of social media channels. Facebook, Tweeter, YouTube and Instagram are the commonly used social media platforms through which famous automakers are advertising their cars. These social channels instantly record the patterns of their customers and marketers zero in on people who are interested in cars. They then target those prospects via advertisements outlining all the outstanding features of the cars. Social media platforms influence both the buying and selling processes. About 90% of buyers are convinced by what they see or read online.

Pay Per Click & Display Ads

Car buyers usually spend almost 60% of their time going through the net to check out cars and extended car warranty companies. Display ads instantly show up on pages dealing with anything about cars, especially to do with buying cars, quickly stating their car buying services. This way, automakers can get their ads noticed by people that might be interested in cars.

Similarly, if you search for car buying services on say Google, you will see ads of various websites as search results on the first page. This is how PPC ads work. Car marketers identify specific keywords on which their ads will appear.

Partnerships With Other Companies

Manufacturers are joining up with insurance companies that provide car insurance, taxi companies, rideshare companies and car wash companies. This type of partnership helps both companies as one advertises for another and vise-versa.

Capitalizing On Referral Programs

This is perhaps the most cost effective way of advertising. By getting customers to support and favor the manufacturers, a customer’s friend or family member would also be interested in the brand. And if a new customer is gained by the manufacturer through the efforts of its current customer, then the customer is rewarded with incentives to attract other customers. This way the auto manufacturers make sure they are directly or indirectly influencing customers.

Encouraging Customers To Lease Cars

Car manufacturers usually tease their prospects with the newer models and encourage them to lease the car to drive the latest models. Car leasing is comparatively a cheaper way to drive a car then buying it. A customer can have a car for four years and then the customer can return the car for a newer model with all its latest features once that lease period is over.

Manufacturers and dealers make it easier to lease their cars then for a customer to get a car loan. In this way, it’s a very attractive deal for customers to lease cars. Manufacturers and dealers that might find it hard to sell cars can make profit using this indirect technique.

Following are the 3 main ways manufacturers and their dealers encourage customers to indirectly take their cars:

Asking for a low monthly payment for the leased car

Sometimes, to lease a new car a company may ask little or no down payment. Moreover, customers don’t have to pay upfront sales tax. Usually a fixed amount of mileage is determined, so if customers exceed the mileage level, they have to pay for that, as agreed upon in an agreement. If the car is damaged, again the cost will fall on the customer. But nothing more than that and it is relatively easy for customers to calculate how much they will be actually paying. They know if they damage or over drive the car, they will have to pay for it.

Customers pay for what they use

Customers know what they are paying for. It’s the depreciation for the car they are paying monthly. They are not forever stuck with a car they don’t like. They can change the car for another car anytime they want. Of course the charges can go up or down, depending on the model they want. But the customer knows what s/he is getting. When a customer buys a car s/he is stuck with it, whether it turns out right or wrong.

No repair expenses

This depends if the car has a warranty or not. Generally, leased cars come with warranty and in case of any kind of accident or damage to the car, its warranty will deal with that expense. But perhaps the monthly cost might be more. Depending how much the manufacturer wants to advertise the vehicle or make money indirectly through giving this service. Customers still have to pay for maintenance, like they would for their own cars.

Conclusion

By making new but cheaper vehicles and selling them on easier installment through leasing, manufacturers are encouraging people to go for cars. These cheaper cars are even more efficient. And this is happening in 2020. Used cars are even easier to get on installments. Now this is the way manufacturers are spurring people to buy cars.