customer journey car purchase

• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer
• QuestionPro

• Solutions Industries Gaming Automotive Sports and events Education Government Travel & Hospitality Financial Services Healthcare Cannabis Technology Use Case NPS+ Communities Audience Contactless surveys Mobile LivePolls Member Experience GDPR Positive People Science 360 Feedback Surveys
• Resources Blog eBooks Survey Templates Case Studies Training Help center

Car Buyer Journey: Definition, Stages & Examples

Did you know that the current car buyer journey can have up to 900 interactions with the consumer on digital channels? Major changes in technology and easy access to information have transformed the way customers buy cars. 

For many years, the notion of the purchase journey was similar to a funnel with different stages. In the case of the car-buying journey, this implied the existence of a static consideration stage, where progress by stage is inevitable, where the customer has an active role that culminates in the decision for a single option that meets their needs.

In this article we will review what exactly is the car buyer journey, the three main phases that condition the development of the car buying trip, and some examples of the customer journey focused on a car purchase. 

Don’t forget to download the free template: Customer Journey Map , available toward the end of this guide!

Content Index

What is the Car Buyer Journey?

Key actions that trigger the car buyer journey, the research and consideration of alternatives, the visit to the dealership, sarah’s car buyer journey, free customer journey map template.

The Car Buyer Journey is the process a consumer goes through that involves the purchase of a car from a customer experience standpoint. 

In other words, an Automotive brand looks very closely at the customer journey to identify and analyze how the interactions with their brand in each of their touchpoints condition the experience of a consumer.  

The ultimate goal of having a car buyer journey in place is to identify what are the most important touchpoints in their journey and how they can be improved to increase sales and customer loyalty. 

Keep in mind that the CBJ should not be defined as a linear sequence of actions, but rather as a set of dynamic stages that condition the way a customer finally acquires a car and the post-sales customer experience.

3 stages that condition the Car Buyer Journey

While a Car Buyer Journey can be as diverse as the number of cars on the market, we have identified three major phases that determine the course the customer can take and directly affect their perception of the brand: Key actions that trigger the CBJ, the research and consideration of car alternatives, and the visit to the dealership.

The reasons why a customer embarks on a car-buying journey determine the length and urgency of the journey and have implications for how the customer begins their research and inquiry process.

Some main reasons or triggers for the Car Buyer Journey are:

• Lifestyle change: A new family member, moving to a new place, job promotion.
• Car service: Getting to 100,000 KM, end of warranty. 
• Car breaks for good: Their car stops working or an accident makes the consumer need to purchase a new one.
• Routine Renovation: Vehicle change every 2 or 3 years.
• Just because: No specific need, just a pure wish to acquire a new car.

Do you want a head start on building your customer journey? Here you will find a completely free template:

Customer Journey Canvas

Another thing to keep in mind is what type of customer the automotive brand is trying to sell to: an experienced or pioneer car buyer customer.

Both types of clients share the goal of finding the right car, the difference between them lies in the purchasing style:

Experienced customers: They are usually regular car buyers and/or may have a special taste for them, which makes them be at the forefront of what the market can offer them. This type of client has a clear idea of what they want. 

Because of it, they have a pre-selection of cars that fit their needs and have enough knowledge to trust themselves during the process. 

This type of client requires a limited investigation of the models of their interest, due to their previous experience with this type of purchase. 

In order for brands to reach (and retain) this type of customer, they must take engagement and customer delight actions that ensure that this type of customer will not migrate to a competing brand.

Pioneer clients: This type of client relies heavily on their research throughout the entire journey. They need help to learn and discover all the aspects contained in the purchase of a car. This is the type of customer that presents the best opportunity to be attracted to a specific brand or model.

While this type of customer may have a list of items required for their next car, they are less likely to have a specific car in mind or have previous experience with any other vehicle. While this type of customer may be a first-time or infrequent buyer, seasoned customers can become early adopters due to a change in style or stage in their life.

The ability of companies to understand the differences between both types of customers and their reasons for starting their purchase journey is the key to being able to manage the specific journey of each one.

If you are on you’re way to start building your car buyer journey, you might find it useful to review the 10 best customer journey mapping tools .

When purchasing a car, buyers begin their initial search process with a sense of optimism, as they are wrapped up in the excitement of finding the perfect car for them.

Customers start reviewing different sources to build a list of options that fit their requirements. Initially, they start looking at the cars around them, then proceed to do an internet scan and chat with their circle of friends to get their thoughts on the vehicles they are starting to consider. Some consumers even rent the car of their interest to test it before making any final decisions. 

Based on the learning acquired from these sources, the customer builds their criteria and decides whether to continue on the CBJ of that automotive brand or go back to square one and run another car research. 

Research processes are not limited to just the initial phase of the CBJ, as customers can remove or add options at any time. So it’s no surprise that customers add an option at checkout. This situation usually occurs at the dealership, when emotions are running high and you are faced with a good offer from the sales executive.

It must be taken into account that even if the client does not opt ​​for one of the cars on their initial list, their consideration process does not lose its validity since it constitutes learning that the person can use in future car purchasing decisions.

If you like reading about the car buyer journey, you might find it interesting to learn about User Journey Map .

When customers feel confident and have exhausted their search options, they feel ready to take the next step and visit a dealer.

While customer research is critically important, the dealer visit remains a key part of the car-buying journey; the experience that customers have in that interaction plays a vital role in their decision.

According to a study, on average, a customer visits two dealerships. Opting to visit a specific showroom can be a key predictor that the customer has serious purchase intent. However, there are informative visits whose purpose is to provide the client with more tools to make an informed decision.

Early customers tend to avoid dealer visits due to mistrust of their knowledge and/or fear of being misled by sales executives. And while a purchase can happen spontaneously during an informational visit, customers generally tend to walk into the dealership only when they trust your judgment and consider walking away with a new car on that visit. Dealership Marketing also plays an important role to engage with more customers and increase sales. 

Once customers have the confidence to visit a dealership, their next steps become even more critical. Customers will look to dealer ratings and reviews to find information about the quality of service and staff attention. Customers want to feel comfortable about entering into a negotiation with a specific dealer, and they need to be assured that their interests will be taken care of even after the sale.

The most crucial emotion during the car-buying journey is confidence. This is the key to a negotiation concluding in an actual purchase. Customers should be assured that they are choosing the right car and that their dealer is trustworthy enough not to cause discomfort during the process and avoid any friction.

At QuestionPro we have developed a whole system designed specifically for this type of need. If you are interested in learning more about our platform to measure customer satisfaction and evaluate each touchpoint in your customer journey, we invite you to review our page to clarify all your questions.

QuestionPro AutoX

Example of a Car Buyer Journey

People dedicated to the automotive sector know that the average time from when a person starts looking for a new car to buying it is one month. In this period, a series of micro-moments occur, such as when the buyer wonders which car will be the safest. Or which one are we going to enter the whole family better? Or which one has the lowest monthly payment? 

These moments begin in most cases with an internet search and we can differentiate them using the stages of the Buyer Journey; that is, Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. 

Now, do you know exactly what happens in that month? What kind of micro-moments make a buyer decide on one car or another? Let’s look at the following example. 

  Sarah has taken three months to make the decision. During that time, she has made 900 digital interactions where she has premeditatedly searched for information about car leasing and buying one. 71% of digital interactions are with mobile devices.

Interactions range from searches, visits, videos, click on Google, on YouTube, and visits to car brands, dealerships, and car test sites.

These are the micro-moments she has lived: 

1. Which car is the best?

  Six out of ten buyers start their journey not knowing which car to buy. In this case, Sarah began her search by focusing on family and safe cars, which led her to consider a few makes and models. She also considered the option to bet on emobility and purchase an electric car, but when she researched the prices decided to remove that option from her list. 

Sarah’s internet searches: “best minivan” “best car for families with car seats and dog”

2. Is it the right one for me?

  When the buyer begins to value and weigh more practical considerations (such as the size of the trunk, the airbags, and the seats…), he begins to determine a checklist of what he must have. In Sarah’s case, we see that she has room for three strollers.

Sarah’s internet searches: “how many seats in brand B model” “compare brand B models” “Brand B pictures” 

3. Can I afford it?

  As the buyer goes through the different stages of the Buyer’s Journey, she begins to consider the price of the car. Sarah, for example, begins to explore how to pay for it, including maximum points in her budget such as less than $30,000, comparing the pros and cons of leasing vs. buying a car, and how much they will give her for her current car to lower the total price.

Sarah’s internet searches: “brand A price” “best car lease deals,” “get out of Current Brand lease early”. 

If you like reading about the car buyer journey, you might find it interesting to learn about what a car rental survey is.

4. Where should I buy it?

Although the process of buying cars has gone online, the stage where we have to visit the dealership is still vital for the buyer. In fact, the most used keyword is “car dealer near where I am”, it has increased compared to last year. But what’s even more interesting is that Sarah gets to explore in detail the availability or special offers.

Sarah’s internet searches: “car buying” “best car dealerships near ann arbor” 

5. I’m gonna get the deal

  Although many of you think that this moment is taken and happens at the dealership, Sarah has spent time looking for offers both offline and online. He has searched all leases, as well as has been informed and documented in depth. You have surely crossed or made a dynamic table to compare the prices you would pay for each make and model, comparing the purchase and leasing of the main suppliers.

Sarah’s internet search: “what’s a good lease money factor” and “what do you pay for Brand D make/model lease”

If you like reading about the car buyer journey, you might find it interesting learning about Customer Journey vs Customer Experience .

At QuestionPro, we know that all this information can be overwhelming, and starting to create your Customer Journey without help can be intimidating.

That is why we have created a Customer Journey Map Template that we hope can help you start sketching the stages, UX and overall satisfaction of your customers with your brand.

DOWNLOAD CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP TEMPLATE

Sarah’s Car Buyer Journey Conclusion

In the end, in the case that we have seen of Sarah, the car that she was looking for is an SUV that will fit into her search criteria, which in her words was “My most important criteria is the number of seats and the cargo space that it has so that Let’s get the whole family in with all our stuff.

While Sarah is just one person, she is one of many shoppers who are looking for answers to their questions and micro-moments. Each of its 139 Google searches and hundreds of interactions represents a series of opportunities for any customer experience professional.

As a possible starting point for your brand, we recommend that you start thinking about how you are meeting potential customers on their Buyer’s Journey.

Ask yourself if your brand is present, today, with the purchase process practically in its entirety in the online world, and if it also arrives through mobile devices. You must be where and when people are looking. Also, ask yourself if your CX plan is looking at answering the questions of people like Sarah.

LEARN ABOUT: Consumer Decision Journey

More Examples of Car Buyer Journeys

Looking for some inspiration to create your own Customer Journey? Well, look no further! We’ve got a bunch of awesome examples featuring industry-leading brands.

Take a peek and learn from their incredible initiatives that keep their customers happy and coming back for more. Get ready to rock your own Customer Journey!

Toyota is a leading company focusing on aspects such as customer experience and employee experience. Undoubtedly, there is much to learn from them.

Tesla is a company that embodies innovation in every aspect, and customer experience is undoubtedly a key focus of its strategy. This approach has yielded significant benefits, as reflected in the loyalty customers have towards the brand.

In recent years, the way we buy and sell cars has undergone a dramatic transformation, forever changing the landscape of the automotive industry. The BMW Customer Journey is a clear example of that.

We will analyze Volkswagen’s Customer Journey and explore how they delight their users by providing a dedicated experience supported by a robust strategy.

While the car buying journey has changed, customer experience professionals can still identify the behaviors and stages that turn a purchase intent into a decision. 

It must be taken into account that in this type of customer journey map there is an emotional component that should not be ignored. 

When customers’ emotions are involved in a car purchase, and also support their decision in an exhaustive investigation, it triggers a CBJ that finally leads to the resolution of their purpose.

How QuestionPro AutoX can improve the Car Buyer Journey

With QuestionPro Autox you will be able to collect all the necessary data of your car buyer journey’s key touchpoints to evaluate the strong and weak points of your business, you will also be able to visualize them in an engaging way and take action on it.

We invite you to schedule a meeting with one of our experts and start offering experiences that impact the perception of your potential clients.

MORE LIKE THIS

Top 20 Employee Engagement Software Solutions

May 3, 2024

15 Best Customer Experience Software of 2024

May 2, 2024

Journey Orchestration Platforms: Top 11 Platforms in 2024

Top 12 Employee Pulse Survey Tools Unlocking Insights in 2024

May 1, 2024

Other categories

• Academic Research
• Artificial Intelligence
• Assessments
• Brand Awareness
• Case Studies
• Communities
• Consumer Insights
• Customer effort score
• Customer Engagement
• Customer Experience
• Customer Loyalty
• Customer Research
• Customer Satisfaction
• Employee Benefits
• Employee Engagement
• Employee Retention
• Friday Five
• General Data Protection Regulation
• Insights Hub
• Life@QuestionPro
• Market Research
• Mobile diaries
• Mobile Surveys
• New Features
• Online Communities
• Question Types
• Questionnaire
• QuestionPro Products
• Release Notes
• Research Tools and Apps
• Revenue at Risk
• Survey Templates
• Training Tips
• Uncategorized
• Video Learning Series
• What’s Coming Up
• Workforce Intelligence

A Guide to the Car-Buying Customer Journey

February 8, 2024

ACV facts & figures

The car shopping journey can be exciting for buyers—but it can also be confusing. With so many options available, potential customers rely on a combination of their own research and a knowledgeable sales team. Given the long-term value of the customer relationship, the more aware dealerships are of the car-buying journey, the more they can adapt their automotive retailing strategies to accommodate buyers throughout the process. 

Although price is an important factor for buyers, a satisfying customer experience can often be the determining factor in whether they’ll make the final purchase. The best way to attract and retain customers is to continually improve the shopping experience by providing the guidance and support buyers need at every step.

Why Is the Car Shopping Journey Important?

The car-buying customer journey consists of 5 stages¹:

Consideration

As much as dealerships love raising awareness to get new customers in the door, it’s important to recognize that car buyers have a high lifetime value (LTV), sometimes called customer lifetime value (CLV). This metric examines the value of the customer relationship for as long as they do business with you, not just during a one-time purchase². This makes LTV an effective marketing strategy for dealerships.

The average customer is estimated to own 6 vehicles throughout their lifetime³, so a savvy dealer will want to capture as many of those purchases as possible. The key to creating this type of loyalty is a positive customer experience at every stage of the buying process.  

Research shows that people spend a lot of time buying a vehicle and are getting frustrated by it. Shoppers are spending over 14 hours shopping, with nearly 80% of survey respondents visiting third-party sites during their research stage. Dealer websites account for 59% of this research, demonstrating their importance to would-be buyers. This statistic should motivate automotive marketers and dealerships to pay attention to the early research and consideration stages⁴, especially as younger, more tech-savvy customers enter the market . 

What should get dealers’ attention for customers in the loyalty stage? The fact that a significant number of buyers are open to a fully online shopping experience, bypassing physical dealerships in favor of a more streamlined experience⁴. This reinforces the importance of maintaining customer relationships after their initial purchase—the journey doesn’t end once they drive off the lot.

How Dealers Can Help Customers at Each Stage of the Buying Journey

The awareness stage of the car shopping journey is when a customer initially discovers your brand¹. At this point, they have decided they are in the market for a new vehicle. They may have seen a television advertisement, heard a commercial on the radio, or been served social media content , pointing them to your inventory.

Although a sale is rarely guaranteed during the awareness phase, dealers who engage customers through strategic marketing and advertising can find themselves several steps ahead of their competitors in any given market. 

Car buyers hoping to secure the best deal on a new or used vehicle will undoubtedly perform online research to determine the exact type of make, model, and features right for them. Automotive marketers who help facilitate this process with strong digital merchandising can reap the benefits.

By clearly marketing inventory that is available now or will be available soon, buyers have access to the latest information available to help facilitate their decision-making. From videos showcasing features to well-crafted vehicle detail pages (VDPs) , the more informative content dealerships can provide, the more confident buyers will be in their car shopping journey. 

Moving into the consideration phase indicates a higher likelihood of making a purchase, both what the customer wants to buy and where¹. This is where great customer service truly makes a difference and can put you on the path to loyalty.

Dealerships can improve their customer service by ensuring buyers feel welcome during all interactions, from building a detailed, easily navigable website with a contact form to creating a welcoming in-person shopping experience. Investing in sales training is a surefire way to create a more knowledgeable and engaged team. Manufacturer training provides teams with knowledge about vehicle specifications and ownership, while internal training encourages employees to learn from one another. External training lets employees hear from outside specialists and experts, giving them a fresh perspective on customer experiences and sales goals.

In a competitive sales environment, knowledgeable employees and a comprehensive website can be the difference between a seamless customer service experience and a frustrating one.  

By this stage of the car shopping journey, customers have narrowed their search to a few specific models and found the dealerships that have it in stock. The customer’s previous online interactions with your dealership can help them determine whether they want to visit. This is when they’ll schedule test drives and commit to a purchase—and it’s the stage when having a welcoming, knowledgeable sales team pays off.

Dealerships can improve their chances of landing the sale through digital retargeting efforts, like personal emails asking whether customers have any questions about the vehicles they saw. This helps maintain brand awareness and paves the way for a continued relationship. 

Once a customer has made a purchase, it is important to stay in touch. Not only can buyers become valuable repeat customers, but they can also offer referrals through word-of-mouth. Car buyers often display loyalty toward dealerships that go above and beyond to make their experience convenient and personal¹.

Communicating with customers after a sale should be a two-way street. Don’t just solicit reviews or survey responses. Follow up with a thank-you note and respond to their online reviews. Keep their needs and goals in mind, and reach out if a new addition to your inventory seems relevant. Send reminders of promotions and service due dates to encourage repeat visits. And sometimes, the simplest touches are the most thoughtful, like greeting card lists for birthdays and holidays. 

Great Customer Relationships Start With Great Inventory

Get your dealership ready for buyers with help from ACV Auctions. We source vehicles from across the country and create comprehensive market reports that give you the details you need before bidding. Join today to browse our listings and choose your newest acquisitions.

• Gotter, A. (8 March 2021). Automotive Customer Engagement & the Journey to Car Purchase. LeadsBridge. Retrieved on January 12, 2024, from https://leadsbridge.com/blog/automotive-customer-engagement/
• White Paper: The Importance of Lifetime Value in Driving Dealership Revenues . Fullpath. Retrieved on January 12, 2024, from https://www.fullpath.com/blog/ltv-for-driving-dealership-revenues/
• Ortiz, P. (12 January 2023). How Many Cars Does the Average American Own (2023 Update) . HouseGrail. Retrieved on January 12, 2024, from https://housegrail.com/how-many-cars-does-the-average-american-own/
• Cox Automotive’s Car Buyer Journey Study Shows Growing Frustration with Car Buying Process . Cox Auto, Inc. Retrieved on January 12, 2024, from https://www.coxautoinc.com/news/2022-car-buyer-journey-study/

Share This Article

More articles, what skills are needed to be an automotive title clerk, dot hours of service (hos) rules: a guide for truck drivers, usdot numbers: what carriers need to know.

Sign up for our newsletter

Stay updated on our company and product updates, industry news, and more.

Product updates.

Apr 19, 2024

Introducing Premium Packages: Elevating Your Valuation Process

Feb 20, 2024

ACV Product Power Up - Taking Your ACV Experience to the Next Level

Feb 12, 2024

Streamline Your Buying Experience with My ACV

Aug 30, 2023

ACV Prioritizes User Experience and Customer Communication Enhancements, Adding Chat to Its Robust Options

Jun 8, 2023

ACV’s 2023 Analyst Day Showcases Latest Data & Technology Innovations

Mar 31, 2023

ACV Reaches Milestone Of Over Three Million Vehicle Inspections and Two Million Vehicles Sold, Extending Its Data Moat and Marketplace Share Gains

Emplifi is there to help you take on any marketing, commerce, or care challenge with confidence.

For Social Marketing Leaders

• Emplifi Social
• Content velocity and visibility
• Influencer marketing optimization
• Brand reputation management
• Customer intelligence
• Competitive benchmarking

For Commerce Leaders

• Shoppable UGC
• Ratings and reviews syndication
• One-to-one livestream video
• One-to-many livestream shopping
• Dark store optimization

For Customer Care Leaders

• Digital customer self-service
• Case management efficiency
• Crisis management
• Voice of Customer collection
• Advanced CX analytics

Emplifi gives you everything a modern enterprise needs to close the CX gap.

Social Marketing Cloud

• Content Hub
• Unified Analytics
• Influencers

Social Commerce Cloud

• Ratings & Reviews
• Live Advisor
• Live Stream

Service Cloud

• Email Virtual Assistant (EVA)
• Service Analytics

Emplifi is helping global brands and agencies transform marketing, commerce, and care experiences, and achieve business results.

Delta Air Lines

$2 million+ saved in support and operations costs

Hardee's

8M+ impressions and 8,000 new followers with just one Tweet, thanks to social listening and spike alerts

100% increase in the amount of customer reviews collected

Your resource center for everything social marketing, commerce, and customer care

Emplifi Webinars

Get the latest insights on social media marketing, social commerce, live commerce, and CX, straight from the experts.

Emplifi Blog

Get up to speed on the latest trends, tips, and best practices to power your CX strategy.

Community Corner

A space for our community to get the latest insights — directly from experts in the Emplifi community.

Emplifi provides brands with insights needed to empathize with customers and amplify the right experiences.

Get started

Media & Press

Privacy and legal

Trust Center

16 must-know stats and quotes on the car buying customer journey

The car buying customer journey is long and winding, with many speed bumps and sharp turns you have to navigate before you finally put pen to paper on the car of your dreams.

Buying a car is a significant investment – one of the biggest you can make. Not just in terms of money, but also in terms of time and effort it takes to whittle down your list down to one.

With so many options at car shoppers’ fingertips, Customer Experience (CX) professionals face increased pressure to design positive, informative and memorable experiences that drive in-market shoppers to the dealership and turn customers and loyal brand advocates.

So, what is the key to designing these experiences? A lot of it comes down to knowing your customers, inside and out, wherever they are in the customer journey. Not only that, but understanding their needs, their expectations, their preferences, and especially their perceptions of your CX as they travel along their journey.

Let’s look at 16 key car buying customer journey statistics and quotes every Automotive CX professional can use to drive their CX strategies.

More and more of the car buying customer journey is spent online

95% of vehicle buyers use digital as a source of information . This includes general searches, but especially online video.(1)

"Through online video, they’re now able to experience parts of the shopping journey that previously could only be done on the lot , including vehicle walkarounds, product demonstrations, and video test drives."(2)

Car buyers (both new and used) spend 61% of their time online when shopping/buying a vehicle.(3)

Only one in three car buyers know the exact vehicle they want to buy when they start the shopping process.(3)

Thanks to continuous advancements in technology, car shoppers nowadays can access nearly any type of information they need, wherever they are in the customer journey. It’s a luxury that car shoppers nowadays have, and naturally, one they are leveraging heavily throughout the customer journey.

Online sources of information especially come in handy at the research stages of the customer journey, not only to identify vehicles that meet the list of criteria you have in mind, but also to narrow your list down until you are ready to step into the dealership.

Think With Google did an interesting examination of one car shopper who leveraged online sources throughout the research stages of the car buying customer journey, which resulted in over 900 digital interactions .

The purchase horizon is getting shorter

Research from multiple sources shows that the purchase cycle for car shoppers takes a bit less than three months to complete:

Over two-thirds of US customers now spend less than three months and ten total hours to research their vehicle purchase.(4)

The purchase cycle for Canadian car shoppers is about 62 days , of which 17 of those are spent researching, 35 days of thinking, and ten days of buying.(5)

Car shoppers spend about 108 days in-market before they make a purchase.(3)

"This reduction in time researching vehicles only serves to highlight the importance of getting the digital experience right , helping to ensure the right content and shopping tools are available, and providing the customer with the right insights to move down the virtual funnel."(6)

With car shoppers now having easier access to the information they need than ever before, you can naturally expect they would need less time before putting pen to paper.

As pointed out in the quote from Dinsdale and Berdichevskiy above, this quick purchase cycle only increases the need for CX professionals to design experiences that help their brands stay top of mind for car shoppers. This means staying on top of what car shoppers need and expect at each step of the customer journey, and identifying opportunities where brands can elevate the experience to either drive people to the dealership, or reassure shoppers that they choose their brand.

Car shoppers’ expectations are getting harder to meet

55% of Automotive OEM websites met US consumer expectations in 2018.(4)

53% of Automotive dealer websites met US consumer expectations in 2018.(4)

61% of buyers rated their most recent purchasing/leasing experience as being either the same or worse than their previous experience.(7)

It’s hard to deny that we, as consumers, are spoiled. Technology has made us want access to anything, anytime we want. With Gartner reporting that 81% of marketers expect to be competing based on CX in the coming years, many companies are happy to oblige.

This leaves brands with little room for error when it comes to the CX they deliver throughout the car buying customer journey. Unfortunately, it appears brands are currently coming up short in providing experiences that meet these ever-growing expectations, both online and at the dealership. This signals a disconnect that CX professionals have to address.

They need measures to identify the friction points in the CX that are causing these unmet expectations. Plus, they must have the processes in place to alert the right people at the right time so they can fix these issues as quickly as possible.

The experience at the dealership is becoming more critical

Car shoppers are visiting an average of 2.3 dealerships before making a purchase , down from 2.7 in 2017.(7)

79% of consumers in Canada rate CX as being either somewhat or very important in their decision of where to buy a vehicle.(8)

54% of consumers would buy from a dealership that offers their preferred experience, even if it didn’t have the lowest price.(9)

“ Consumers want to complete parts of the car buying process online prior to visiting the dealership and engage with digital technology while at the dealership so they’re not sitting idle for hours waiting for the paperwork to be finalized.”(10)

54% of Gen Y/Z car shoppers in Canada find it useful to gather information using their mobile device at the dealership – vs. 25% of Pre/Boomers.(8)

Car shoppers are spending more of their customer journey on digital channels. Research also shows that they would complete even more of the customer journey online if they could. With car shoppers making fewer visits to the dealership, it highlights the importance of dealerships making every experience informative, memorable, and convenient for car shoppers.

In other words, to make every dealership visit count.

Are you listening across the entire car buying customer journey?

The Automotive customer journey is packed with experiences that can mean the difference between winning and losing a customer.

From the time a car shopper starts their research, to when they step into a dealership, all the way to when they bring their car in for servicing. Every interaction between a car buyer and a brand provides an opportunity for CX professionals to design experiences that will leave other brands and dealerships in the dust.

Leveraging a Voice of Customer solution to collect customer feedback across the entire customer journey allows CX professionals to keep a finger on the pulse of car shoppers. Their needs, their expectations, their preferences, their perceptions – having these insights for each stage of the customer journey can be extremely valuable to inform your customer experience management strategies.

At Emplifi, we work with leading auto brands improve the end-to-end customer experience. Set up a time to review your current initiatives and learn how Emplifi's unified CX platform can help you deliver the experiences car shoppers desire today.

Google/comScore “Automotive shopper study” , as reported in Think With Google: “The auto dealer’s guide to moving metal in a digital world”

Think With Google : The auto dealer’s guide to moving metal in a digital world

Cox Automotive : Car Buyer Journey Study 2018

Deloitte , as reported in the Wall Street Journal: “Shift Auto CX Into High Gear”

Google , as reported by Strathcom Media

Andrew Dinsdale and Andrey Berdichevskiy (Deloitte ) : “The Future Is Now: Transforming the Automotive Customer Experience”

Cox Automotive : 2019 Car Buyer Journey Study

Deloitte : 2018 Global Automotive Consumer Study – Canada

Autotrader : Car Buyer of the Future Study

Cox Automotive : Top Insights Shaping the Automotive Industry

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on iperceptions.com and astutesolutions.com. Any statistics or statements included in this article were current at the time of original publication.

By : Emplifi - Leading customer engagement platform

ARTICLE PUBLISHED : JULY 11, 2019

Just some of our recent awards

Emplifi CX Cloud

Customer Stories

Industry Benchmarks

Emplifi CX Index

Documentation

Key Terms Glossary

Emplifi Learning

Empathy, amplified.™

Website privacy policy

Product privacy policy

Terms of use

Report a violation

Whistleblowing

Modern slavery statement

© 2020-2024 Emplifi Inc. All rights reserved. Emplifi™ and Empathy, amplified.™ are trademarks of Emplifi Inc. All product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Marketing To The Evolving Car Buying Customer Journey: A Comprehensive Guide

What's the first action you take when you don't have enough information on a topic? If you said "Google it", you're not alone. 

Today's car buying customer journey takes the same ride. 

And it's not just the customer. Emerging technologies build a fair playing ground for your competitors, too.

So, what can you do differently to hit a goal, aka, get a car buyer to purchase from you? 

You accompany them on their buyer journey.

Understanding the car buying customer journey

Before you chart out any strategies for marketing through the car buyer journey, let's understand the concept better.

A car buyer's journey illustrates their path to purchasing a car. It shows how they carefully plan, research, discover and evaluate multiple options to arrive at a decision.

Technology is a powerful influencer of the customer journey.  

Previously, a potential customer viewed a car ad in the newspaper (or magazines) or watched it on television. Then, they visited the dealership to learn everything about that particular car. As you will see, the brand only played a role in the awareness phase. The dealer handled the car buyer's journey between consideration and purchase. 

Today, the story's very different. 

59% of buyers research their preferred cars online for several months before entering a dealership. 

In 2022, they spent nearly 15 hours researching and purchasing vehicles (marking an 18% increase from 2021). Nearly 60% of potential buyers under 45 prefer to purchase their vehicle online. 

Their purchase journey moves through online ads, marketplaces, review websites and most notably, social media. For 21% of car customers , social media directly informed their purchase.

Car shoppers collect detailed information from these sources, compare multiple options and then make a decision. For you, being visible online and nurturing buyers towards their car purchase by building trust is essential. 

Take  Hyundai's example . Before 2017, the brand primarily relied on dealerships to do most of the heavy lifting. However, as the customer journey evolved, Hyundai revamped its marketing strategy to meet customers at each stage of the purchase journey. Eventually, it adapted to an agency model. 

In this model, carmakers take full ownership of the information, pricing and contracting responsibilities in the online environment. The agent (previously an individual dealer) interacts with interested car shoppers and existing customers to conduct test drives, process the sale, deliver the vehicle and handle servicing schedules in the physical environment. 

Hyundai focused on solving customer needs across their journey rather than concentrating on separate channels or legacy KPIs. 

What are the phases of the car buying customer journey?

Traditionally, the car buyer journey had three phases. But it serves car businesses well when they also focus on the post-purchase experience.

We’ll be diving into four phases:

• Awareness:  The car buyer determines the 'need' to purchase a car.
• Consideration:  They construct the problem, considering multiple car options and brands.  
• Decision:  The car buyer evaluates these options and decides on the best solution (car) to solve their problem.  
• Post-purchase:  They finish onboarding the solution (contracting, financing and delivery) and continue evaluating the solution (via servicing, offers, discounts, events and referrals).

Why must you be thoughtful about the car buying customer journey? 

This is why you must use the customer journey as a starting point for your marketing strategies:

• To create  meaningful touch points  across the car buyer journey, from search to post-purchase. 
• To  meet car buyers where they're present –like social media and website search–and increase brand or product visibility at critical moments. 
• To  avoid over-reliance  on one channel, for instance, your car dealerships. 
• To develop and  optimise omnichannel , integrated marketing strategies. 
• To match the car buyers' search intent on each channel with  valuable and relevant content , maximising ROI. 
• To segment your audience and  nurture each group  with relevant resources using a tailored approach.
• To understand customer behaviour across the journey and  continually improve  marketing, sales and customer service.  
• To  identify moments of truth  (make-or-break moments) that heavily influence car buyer journeys. 
• To find out at which touch points customer expectations aren't met and  identify sources of friction . 
• To remove unnecessary touch points and  reduce time spent  during the journey for faster sales.
• To  optimise local marketing  and sales strategies. 

Now that we've better understood the concept of the car buying journey, let's look at how you can build marketing strategies for each stage.

Stage 1 of the car buying process: Awareness

Car buyers take their first step in searching for  the  car. And it all starts with figuring out the answer to a simple question – 

Which car should I buy?

At this point, car shoppers want to find the vehicle that fits best with their needs. It's not about the models or brands just yet.

Here are some buyer actions to watch out for and how you can mould your strategy:

1. Need identification 

This is where the buyer identifies their needs or reasons behind purchasing a car.

As a marketer, you can start by identifying this 'cause' or 'trigger' for their needs. You can choose the proper channels to meet them if you understand their reasons. Plus, you create content on highly relevant topics for your audience.

Here are some buyer needs to pay attention to:

• Old car:  The buyer's old car periodically breaks down or doesn't work anymore.
• Family:  The buyer faces changes in the family. For instance, they have a new kid on the way, or they could have older parents who need help to commute. 
• Lifestyle:  The buyer's lifestyle demands a new car. They may want to fulfil a passion or hobby (such as off-roading), extra driving comfort, take road trips with loved ones or keep a status symbol (such as portraying a luxurious image in real estate to get clients).
• Commercial use:  The buyer could need the car for a new business or venture. 
• Job change:  They could be changing jobs and must commute to the workplace. 
• Location:  The buyer could be moving to a new city or town which needs a different car. For example, they may be moving to a colder region which needs vehicles built for that weather. 
• Freedom:  The buyer may want to stop relying on public transport and enjoy the freedom to go anywhere, anytime.
• Values:  The buyer wants to consciously move from ICE to EV based on climate change, economic, rising fuel costs or safety concerns.

2. Scouring recommendations 

The buyer will scour the web for expert recommendations on review websites. Through these recommendations, car buyers find out:

• What cars fit their needs
• Which car dealerships are the best for purchasing a specific vehicle in the local region
• What budget ceiling to set

Source: Electrifying.com, Facebook

Match their actions by co-creating content with experts or leading reviewers. This way, car buyers will see your models or brand more, increasing visibility. 

Honda is a prime example. Recently, the brand launched its much-anticipated SUV car, Honda Elevate, in India. Instead of advertising with extensive YouTube videos, television spots and sponsorship of huge events, Honda did something different. 

Before the car arrived at dealerships, it organised a special trial run for multiple car experts and reviewers (including legacy publications and young reviewers). Each of them had the opportunity to drive the car for hours on end and share honest feedback. 

Reviewers published extensive YouTube videos, social media posts, stories, short video snippets, blogs and  press articles . Through it all, Honda acquired attention and buyer trust for their product. 

3. Browsing social media 

After browsing recommendations, the buyer checks out posts from the brands they shortlisted for the latest updates.

During this search phase, they view multiple videos on YouTube (it's the  second-most visited search engine ). These videos include brand videos, product launches, reviews and customer testimonials. They also look at Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, among other platforms, to support their decision-making process. 

Source: Jaguar UK, YouTube

Since the buyer visits multiple social media platforms and digital channels, it's vital to start personalising their journey right from the beginning.

Use extensive ad inventories to retarget customers who've viewed your content once. You can also attach these retargeting ads to native lead gen forms. As interested car buyers fill in their details, you take them to the next stage—consideration. 

Stage 2 of the car buying process: Consideration 

At this phase, the buyer starts narrowing down their options to answer questions like:

• Which car model or brand is the best for me?
• What is my budget?

They conduct in-depth research, looking at specific cars, dealerships, budgets and brand reputation. This is the time for you to respond to their queries and turn any objections to trust in your brand and product.

1. Visits to the brand website

The first few websites customers visit are the brand, OEM and dealership websites. They check the pricing and features for their shortlisted vehicles on these websites.

During this buyer action, you need to optimise your website (including optimisation for mobile) and make it easy to navigate. Alongside, build original SEO-led content, use keywords strategically and build backlinks to these content pieces.

You should aim to provide guidance and expertise to your audience, particularly for technical terms. To do so, keep your content concise and avoid information overload.

You may receive leads via your website lead generation forms. Seamlessly connect them from online to offline. The dealership team could take the discussion forward by arranging a consultation or trial run. 

Source: BMW, UK

Take BMW's example. The brand built a seamless buying experience from the first to the last touch point. It created a user-friendly website with options to  configure the model per the buyer's needs , schedule a test drive at an offline dealership and finalise the purchase. 

2. Viewing specific reviews

Next, car shoppers check expert and user reviews for specific models they shortlisted. Generally, the review websites are popular and trustworthy, like The Car Expert, carwow and Electrifying.com. 

They may also check Google Reviews for their selected dealerships. Reviews about dealerships are typically to understand the purchase and post-purchase experience. This is also where a  Google My Business  profile helps.

Source: Google

If you're a carmaker or OEM, encourage dealers to set up their Google My Business profiles. They should ideally optimise these profiles by linking their respective websites, adding high-quality images, business hours, contact details and precise locations. 

3. Following social media and emails 

Now that buyers have their eye on specific cars, they may follow the social media accounts of their shortlisted options (cars and dealerships). They may also subscribe to marketing emails and newsletters for each brand, car or dealership.

At this stage, the buyer is looking to build a relationship. Don't let it go!

Strengthen the bond by posting about exciting offers, specific features of the car that appeal to the buyer and available financing options. 

Source: Mitsubishi

Continue retargeting ads for car shoppers interested in your models, brand or dealership. Attach lead generation forms to your posts so that they can schedule an appointment or trial run directly at the dealership.

To ensure seamless communication between the brand, OEM and dealership, sync incoming lead data with the CRM. You can then send targeted emails to each lead, addressing their pain points and motivating them to buy from you. 

Stage 3 of the car buying process: Decision 

After clarifying their need and seeking out relevant options, the buyer arrives at the decision stage. At this stage, they intend to answer the question –

Where to buy the car?

The decision stage wraps up the sale with negotiation, signing the purchase contract and completing associated paperwork.

1. Dealership visit

Dealerships play a crucial role here as they're often the touch point for the final purchase.

The buyer visits the selected dealership to understand the product further, interact with it and close the sale. As the offline face of the brand, dealership interactions strongly influence the buyer.

At this stage, avoid pushing the sale on the customer. They're already on the last leg of their purchase decision. Instead, show that you care for their interests and make them feel valued. This builds trust and encourages the buyer to finish the sale with your business. 

2. Online to offline transition 

If the buyer is coming into your dealership after requesting an appointment or test drive online, it's essential that you know their details. This is possible only when you've synced your CRM with online campaigns across the buyer journey.

Integrated data helps make a seamless transition from online to offline. It stores available information on the buyer's demographics, preferences and interests so you can personalise each offline interaction.

For example, if the buyer registered a test drive after seeing your ad for an SUV, the point of contact at your dealership shouldn't push them towards a sedan. 

3. Financing options 

Once car shoppers show significant interest in purchasing a car, they'll move on to questions about financing.

At this time, guide and support buyers. Simplify the available information and terms on financing options so they know precisely how to purchase their dream car.  

4. Wait time 

Buyers will be anxious about their final decision because purchasing a car is a significant investment. Don't keep them waiting!

Tech can improve and quicken their purchase experience. Forward customer quotes, offer chat support service and help match their need to specific products (such as insurance) using tech. 

Lexus does this splendidly. It provides an entirely paperless  car-buying and financing experience at the dealership. As a result, customers keep coming back to the brand for their next purchase. 

Stage 4 of the car buying process: Post-purchase

Given how competitive the automotive industry is, loyal customers go a long way in keeping your bottom line stable.  

Your aim should be to  convert the buyer journey (one-time) to an infinity loop (recurring purchase) . That is, make the customer return to you for their next purchase, whether for an accessory or a new car. 

1. Handover

Delivering the car to the buyer could take weeks or even months. During this time, keep in touch with the customer and share regular updates over the phone or email.

Seamlessly transfer them from the sales to the post-purchase point of contact using integrated CRM data. Also, refine the customer response and query resolution times.

You could improve the experience by building an application or platform where buyers can log in and check the delivery status.

Offer any additional support services they may need, such as licence plate registration.

When handing the car over, capture the buyer's joyful moments. Also, happy car shoppers willingly share testimonials of their purchase and delivery experience. Both act as social proof that attracts new buyers, particularly those in the consideration stage.

Source: Subaru, Instagram

You could post them directly on your channels, or you may encourage the buyer to share these moments on their social media account and amplify them on yours. 

2. Loyalty and advocacy 

Appreciate customers who keep coming back for regular servicing and maintenance. Enrol them into loyalty programs over the course of several post-purchase engagements. Offer them special discounts or coupons to encourage continued loyalty.

Loyal customers refer your business to their family, friends and peers. So, you can incentivise any referrals coming through them.

Ensure they can easily schedule service appointments through lead generation forms on your website or customer platform.

Alternatively, you can send them service reminder emails. Also, share emails for updates on your brand, car, dealership, industry, loyalty program benefits and owner events.

Keep capturing additional data from these post-purchase engagements. Use the information to suggest additional products based on their needs proactively. Conduct customer satisfaction surveys to continue improving your processes, marketing strategies, lead management and the overall customer experience.  

Make the car buying journey an exceptional experience 

The car buying journey can be complicated and intimidating for the customer. You can make it seamless through integrated CRM data to track leads from first touch to post-purchase. 

Power an exceptional buyer experience with an end-to-end lead management system like Driftrock. Our platform drives lead generation and management for 22 automotive brands and 500+ dealerships, including notable brands like BMW , Honda and Land Rover. 

Stay connected with the customer across their car buying journey.  Get in touch  with us to learn how. 

We help make marketing something you want to see.

Terms of Service Privacy Policy Data Protection

Top Takeaways from the 2023 Car Buyer Journey Study: A Story of Normalization and Resiliency

With the past several years keeping dealers, OEM’s and the industry on its toes…. It’s no wonder many of us were holding our breaths as the results from Cox Automotive’s 14th annual Car Buyer Journey (CBJ) study came in. However, the results and insights from the highly anticipated study nearly 3,000 respondents who purchased or leased their vehicles in the previous year made two things are clear:

First, Dealers and the automotive industry on a whole have emerged as massively resilient in 2023. Second, things appear to be normalizing . (Knock on wood.)

While ‘normal’ may be a relatively subjective term in the automotive industry, especially over the past four years with the highest inflation we’ve seen in 40 years, record profits, heavily fluctuating inventory, and the rapid shift to digitization… We might finally be at the point we can officially categorize those times as historic and move forward. The CBJ findings signified that bridge into something more level.

The data from the Car Buying Journey offers critical insights that help dealers, OEMs and or industry on a whole determine key changes in consumer buying behavior. Together, let’s look at how the changed consumer behaviors discovered are shaping the car-buying experience, vehicle ownership and digitization both now, as well as for the road forward.

Invest in the Customer Experience for the Long Haul

It’s a keeper! That’s the overall sentiment from the 2023 Car Buyer Journey Study of vehicle owners who planned to hold onto their vehicles. This was one of the more surprising results uncovered from the Car Buyer Journey (CBJ) study as it showed that ride shares and subscription models don’t quite hold the allure they did five years ago. Car ownership is not only here to stay but is increasing.

And while that means your buyers may be slow to return to your sales floor to consider a trade-in or newer model, that doesn’t mean they won’t need to hear from you. Those shifting mindsets around vehicle ownership indicate that more personal usage, more service needs and more consumers adding to their household fleet. It’s presenting you a unique opportunity to build on your relationships with your existing customer base and attract the attention of previous and potential customers.

With the results showing that the number of buyers motivated to own more than one car is increasing, why would you let them buy from a dealer down the street when they already have a relationship with you? It’s time to hit the phones (or emails or texts!) and reach out to current and former customers to get them in for regular service and maintenance.

Going forward: Use the data within your CRM and first-party data and activate it! Reach out in their preferred method, follow up on past customers and make sure current customers know how much you appreciate their previous business. Keeping their best interests as your priority while keeping their vehicles in good working condition is part of the relationship building process. You already have their information on file, so give a personalized experience and show you know who they are, want they want, and should remain their dealer and service department of choice.

91% of respondents plan on keeping their own car for their primary mode of transportation for the next five years

Satisfaction with shopping journey surged.

In case no one has told you lately, you’re doing a great job. That’s according to the results from the Car Buyer Journey which indicated that overall satisfaction from the shopping journey surged in 2023 from 61% to 69% overall. With inventory levels returning to pre-pandemic levels, your buyers are returning to peruse your vehicle selection. They also enjoy more options, greater deals and incentives rolling back in, as well as more responsive communications from your sales team.

Going forward: Don’t lose this momentum! Build off the enhanced experience most dealers focused on. Keep in mind that your competition down the block is working just as hard, or harder, to get the attention of shoppers as well. If you let a lead go uncontacted for too long, they’ll find a better deal or better experience, and fast. Don’t forget – Autotrader’s technology is backed by Cox Automotive’s first-party data to deliver AI-driven insights and predictions that help you create more powerful, engaging, and personalized shopping experiences. They don’t just drive leads… they drive real results.

A Personalized, Optimized and Online Experience is King

In the past five years, shoppers took their automotive search online, and, thanks to rapid innovations, resoundingly gave feedback they enjoyed their experience. Time spent searching online went down as digitization made the process smoother and more efficient.

40 minutes was the total time saved at the dealership of purchase for mostly digital buyers vs. light buyers

Going Forward: Build on the trust and transparency established as more buyers use third-party sites than OEM sites to look for their next vehicle. Activate insights and leverage the data from third parties like Autotrader and Kelley Blue BookTM to send personalized messages to buyers. The right message, at the right time, in the right way will help you get them in the funnel faster and help you close the deal.

57% of auto-shoppers visited a third-party site without using an OEM site

Don’t let good enough be good enough.

According to the Car Buyer Journey study, the dealership experience was reported as even better in 2023. That’s great. What’s even better than “even better”? There’s still opportunities for improvement to take those higher consumer satisfaction ratings up a notch or two. That’s because shoppers who submitted an enhanced lead before going into the dealership were even happier than the rest.

Enhanced leads make the car-buying process smoother and easier for both sides. Your buyers is happier because they get a more customized, personalized experience that is faster and more transparent, and you get a customer that has shown out the gate they are more serious. It’s a win-win for both sides and makes everyone happier throughout the deal process.

Going Forward: Be the dealership who takes customer satisfaction to the next level by encouraging enhanced lead form submissions. Take your enhanced leads and focus on creating the ultimate personalized experience for them. They gave you more information… now the ball is in your court to tailor the purchase process to what they’ve already shared with you they want, need, prefer and prioritize.

77% of shoppers who submitted an enhanced lead online reported being more satisfied with the dealership purchase experience

The omnichannel movement continues its momentum.

We all know that when dealerships fully embraced digitization and consumer buying habits shifted the way the world interacted with shoppers, the industry did something unique: it

blended the online and in-person experience into the ‘omnichannel experience’. And it doesn’t look like we’re ever turning back.

Car buyers are now moving towards a mix of in-person and online steps. The key is to have different ways to buy based on the shoppers preference, then ensure that the deal carries forward no matter online or in-person. Seamlessness is the name of the game, and the modern dealers that make this the nucleus of their strategy are seeing some pretty big payoffs in both consumer satisfaction and driving profits.

Going forward: There’s still room for improvement, particularly in the financing steps of the car-buying process. Could you make digital forms easier to find for potential customers? Have you educated everyone on assisting consumers through the new omnichannel experience?

81% of shoppers surveyed said digital retailing improved the overall buying experience

For the road forward.

Understanding consumer behavior, no matter what economic or industry hurdles you may be facing, puts you in a primed position. When you center your business and marketing strategy around today’s shoppers wants, needs, preferences and prirorities, you’ll be able to deliver a next-level customer experience to not only capture their attention, but also close the deal.

All that shaking and shifting of the past few years led to digitization and innovations that have shown to be positively affecting not only the auto consumers experience, but also their satisfaction. With normalization taking center stage in this year’s Car Buyer Journey study, we’re starting to see lasting effects of a shifted narrative which are helping dealers have the success they’re after.

Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, backed by the power of Cox Automotive, continues to be the connected partner you need in today’s times to power your business forward. Together, we’re providing the solutions and products car buyers demand, to help you get the results you need.

Want to hear more about the Car Buyer Journey Study from one of the lead senior researchers Vanessa Ton with Cox Automotive? Then register for an exclusive behind-the-scenes opportunity hosted on Automotive News.

(1) Comscore data, Autotrader and KBB.com traffic combined 


(2) 2023 Car and Buyer Journey Study

Related Posts

Five Ways Distance Retailing Can Expand A Dealer’s Reach and Revenue 

Apr 11, 2024 The Autotrader Team

Whether you realize it or not, your car dealership is competing on the national level. Consumers are already buying, browsing, and researching online for their next… well everything. And while […]

Delivering a Consumer Experience Online – The 5 Key Steps 

Mar 7, 2024 The Autotrader Team

The next great phase of the automotive consumer experience is happening online. Your buyers are not only purchasing online, but they’re also making intelligent decisions about payment plans, researching competitors, […]

The 10 Actions Auto Industry Buzzwords are Driving Dealers to Take in 2024

Jan 10, 2024 Jade Terreberry, Senior Strategic Director at Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book

It’s easy to wonder how (and if) the latest auto industry buzzwords will affect your business, especially after the last few years that came along with an abundance of rapid […]

[FREE]  Indonesia E-Commerce Trends Report 2022

Subscribe To our Newsletter

Subscribe to get the latest news and updates No spam promise.

Request a Demo

Request a Personalized Demo

Get in Touch with our Expert

The CX Insider

Customer Experience

• Infographics

Automotive customer journey: Surveys for every stage

8 mins read

Manisha Khandelwal

Senior Content Marketer at SurveySensum

What do you do when you want to buy a new car?

You would research, right?

You ask Google, social media, and your friends and family! 

You find the newest car in the market and research its features. Then compare those features with the other cars of similar prices. Talk about it with the people around and ask for their experience.

At last, take a test drive.

And if everything satisfies you, you book the car.

But, sometimes the car delivery takes days and you want a car NOW. So, you do everything again and choose a different car that’s available now.

There are many stages in the journey of the consumer who wants to buy a car.

Now the question is – how are you helping the consumers buy the car they want!

Are you there where your customers are.

In this article, we’ll talk about how you can listen to your customers’ experiences at every touchpoint of their car buying journey with your brand. It will help you answer certain questions like,

• Are you there to provide them with the info on the car they need?
• Are you there to offer them the confidence in the car they want?
• Are you there to help them choose the car that is a fit for them?

Well, you can be!

But first, understand your customers’ expectations, know what they want at every step of their journey and offer them just that. 

How? – By simply asking them and listening to their feedback.

But asking the right questions at the right time on the proper channels is also important.

We are here to help you with that. Let’s first understand the touchpoint of the customer journey of buying a new car!

A Customer Journey – Buying a new car

STAGE 1: Awareness

At this touchpoint, the consumer gets acquainted with the new car launch via social media, newspaper, advertisements, etc., or becomes aware of their desire to buy a new car. When he wants to buy a car, he can check car’s number with car identification checker .

STAGE 2: Discovery

Then they start exploring the cars suitable to their expectations via digital channels and asking the people around. 

STAGE 3: Consideration

When a car catches their attention that meets their expectations, they visit the brand’s store. Research on the make and model, talk to the salespeople, and take a test drive, weighing the pros and cons of each make and model.

STAGE 4: Purchase

When everything checks out and they are happy with the servic e, the ongoing process prior to the handover takes place such as negotiations, arranging finances, car offers, insurance, and more.

STAGE 5: Handover

At last, post the purchase and the notified waiting period, the car is delivered to the consumer with the celebration of their achievement. 

STAGE 6: After-sales

The consumer may visit the brand’s workshop to get the maintenance or repair service done or check the car’s spare parts. 

Now the question is, where you can take feedback from your customers and ask about their experience? 

Surveys to launch in an Automotive Customer Journey

Let’s start with consideration.

Take a survey before the sale of the car – Pre-Sales Surveys

Now you can’t take their feedback at the first two stages because you are making them aware of the brand. But you can start from the 3rd milestone, that is, consideration.

This milestone is one of the primary touchpoints where consumers reject cars.

Many consumers abandon a car merely because the sales agent didn’t show the car properly or were unable to share the features. And sometimes the test drive didn’t go well. That’s why understanding customer experience is really important here. 

→ Here are some of the questions you can ask at this touchpoint.

• Please rate your overall experience at the center.
• How satisfying was your test drive? For vehicles that do not meet expectations, a total loss calculator can help determine if it’s more beneficial to pursue a claim.
• Were you happy with the sales agent’s behavior?
• How satisfied were you with the information shared by the agent?
• What is the delivery they promised?
• Which other car brands are you looking at?

When to launch this survey? – Same day after the test drive

What will you get out of it? – The Result

You get to know 

• How well your agents are trained at each dealership?
• Are they making any false promises?
• Which brands are your direct competitors and in which particular region?
• How satisfied your customers are with each dealership center?

Survey after booking the car

If and when the consumer chooses the make and model of a car of your brand, their journey with you has just started. It’s time to discuss the finances. They talk to the sales advisor about the loan process, insurance, offers on the car, and later book the car.

• How easy was the process of booking the car?
• Did you find any discount offers?
• Did the sales advisor help you with the finances or the loan for the car?
• What were the delivery timelines promised to you?

When to launch this survey? – Same day after booking the car

You’ll learn

• What your customers are looking for while booking your car?
• Are the sales agents well versed to help customers with their finances?

During the car delivery

The car is finally delivered to the consumer. But that’s not it. How was their experience from the time they booked the car to the time when the car was finally delivered, how did they feel, or were they satisfied with the entire experience? And how was the waiting period?

→ Here are some questions you can ask to understand their experience. 

• Was the delivery date clearly communicated to you?
• Was the car delivered to you on the promised date?
• How easy-going was your communication with the agent during the waiting period?
• How would you rate your overall experience today – from walking into the showroom, getting attended by the dealer, and getting your car delivered?

When to launch this survey? – Same day after the car delivery

You’ll understand

• How smooth is the process of your car delivery?
• Is there a gap between the agent and customer communication?

After the car delivery – Post Sales Survey

Yaay! Finally, the car is delivered and your customers must be really happy with it. But are they? Or are they facing some problems with it? Know about by launching a post-sales survey, after 5-6 days of delivering the car. 

• ​​How satisfied are you with your driving experience?
• How satisfied are you with the features of your car?
• How happy are you with your purchase?
• Did you face any trouble in the last 5 days? 
• Was the dealership helpful during the trouble you faced? If yes, please explain.

When to launch this survey? – 5 days after the delivery

What will you get out of it?

You’ll discover if there is anything more you need to know to make your customers feel special while delivering the car. 

When your customers come back for the service

Take a survey when your customers are coming back to your workshop for their car service or repair. It is your time to engage with them and build a healthy relationship.

→ What can you ask?

• How satisfied were you with the service advisor’s behavior when you shared your problems with them?
• Were you informed of the costs covered for the car service?
• How smooth was your experience with the car post its service?
• Were your listed problems fixed post the car service?

When to launch this survey? – 3 days after the car service

You’ll get to know how well each service station performs.

What if the customers dont come back for the service?

And that’s not it. Launch a survey or call the customers who didn’t come to you for their car service after a year or so. If they are going somewhere else to use their services and if yes, understand their reasons. 

• Did you face any challenges while getting the service done from the workshop? If yes, please explain.
• Where are you getting your car serviced?

When to launch this survey? – 1 year after the car’s delivery date

You’ll get to know what your customers are not liking about your workshop or services.

All the data gathered is analyzed by each dealership. And the feedback is shared with every dealer so that they can work on their customer’s experiences. Moreover, the dealers are notified as soon as there are customers with negative feedback.

Stay up-to-date with latest CX tips and tricks, subscribe now!

How much did you enjoy this article?

• Leave a reply

Download your copy

Blog to read.

Net Promoter Score

NPS Email Surveys: All You Need to Know

Effective Team Collaboration: Driving Project Success and Customer Delight

Innovative Team Collaboration: 3 Tools for Seamless Project Management

Make customer feedback actionable with NPS, CES, and CSAT surveys.

• Support: 855-COX-AUTO
• International

Shopper Insights

2018 car buyer journey study.

Monday January 29, 2018

Article Highlights

• More buyers are purchasing from dealerships where they have previous experience and the number of buyers visiting multiple dealerships has been declining.
• Shoppers are spending less time in-market for a car. The biggest decrease is among Used buyers, as 1 in 3 state they need, rather than want, a new vehicle.
• The length of the dealership process continues to be a sore spot with buyers as less than half were satisfied with how long the process took.

The 2018 Car Buyer Journey Study explores how consumers complete the entire vehicle purchase process by exploring when, where and how consumers decide to start their research, make their decision and close the deal – and how dealers can best position themselves to be their store of choice.

In addition to continuing analyses of online shopping trends and customer satisfaction with various aspects of the dealership experience, this year’s study reveals the importance of total price compared to monthly payment when researching a vehicle:

Other new findings provide insight into:

• The decline of consumer time spent in-market
• Where buyers start and finish their car-shopping process
• How previous dealership experience impacts final purchase decision
• Decline in trust and satisfaction with purchase price

About This Study

For the past five years, Cox Automotive has conducted studies designed to gain an understanding of consumer car-shopping behavior and perceptions of the dealer experience. The 2018 Car Buyer Journey, commissioned by Cox Automotive through IHS Markit, is based on a survey of 2,050 consumers who purchased or leased a vehicle within 12 months of September 13, 2017.

Featured Solution

Sign up here to receive bi-weekly updates on news and trends dominating the automotive industry.

@coxautomotive, related content.

See what makes ActivEngage messaging so unique and effective

Live Messaging

• MyDrive Experience
• ServiceConnect
• ActivTarget Behavioral Ads
• Video Assist
• OEM Programs
• Co-Ops & Certified
• Our Integrations

Auto industry insights, trends, and tips on how to effectively grow your dealership.

• [email protected]
• (321) 441-7700
• [email protected]
• (321) 441-7733
• Let's Talk!

A Look Into the Car Buying Customer Journey

Written By Ted Rubin March 31, 2023

The car buying process can certainly be compared to a journey. An adventure, even.

And just like any adventure you can think of in a book or movie, the car buying journey can be filled with unexpected turns and trials to overcome. Now, that might be an exaggeration. But, between pre-research and finding a dealership, selecting the perfect car, test driving , figuring out financing - well, it's starting to sound like an adventure, right?

The car buying journey is unique for nearly everyone — because people are unique!

But, in the digital age, with online shopping and digital interactions gaining prominence even for bigger ticket items like vehicles; there are a few constants that can help car dealerships map out the automotive customer journey.

What is the Car Buying Journey?

While the name is pretty self-explanatory, the car buying customer journey goes well beyond thinking and then buying.

Generally speaking, a vehicle will be the second most expensive purchase of a customer's life and the first most emotional one. This is a heavy consideration and requires quite a bit more planning and thought to make an informed decision that makes sense for the customer, while also incorporating the emotions needed to make that final decision.

So, what is the car buying journey? Let's ask a friend!

According to LeadsBridge , the automotive customer journey is as follows:

• "Awareness , when a customer first discovers your brand
• Research , where they are considering buying options 
• Consideration , when they are actively considering purchasing 
• Purchase , where they cross the i’s and dot the t’s 
• Loyalty , where they may refer other customers to you and purchase again in the future"

The Car Buying Journey Never Ends!

As you can see, the journey...never really ends.

You'll need to ensure that every step of their customer journey, as it relates to you, has the best customer experience and customer satisfaction that would lead them to maintain long-term customer loyalty and to refer friends and family to you.

A Stellar Customer Experience is a Hybrid One

The rise of the digital age means that customers expect a seamless and personalized experience, even when shopping for a car. The vehicle buying experience is certainly not a simple snap-decision purchase, a la Amazon.

But, it's becoming increasingly important to an ever-changing world with a reliance on technology to universalize an easy digital shopping experience when shopping online.

Carvana comes to mind.

They almost went too far in the other direction with their entire process, however, and didn't consider what else the customers might need to go alongside their vehicle moving forward. Dealerships very often offer their own service and repair center. Carvana cannot say that they offer that!

Not to mention, ending the car buying process in person gives the customer hands-on assurance, and avoids a lot of back-and-forth during a very complex process!

Meet Car Buyers Where They Are in the Car Buying Process

Paying close attention to where car buyers are at in their car buyer journeys can give you an incredible edge when it comes to how to approach them. Meeting them where they are is the ultimate key to success!

In fact, noting where car shoppers are in their car buying journey can be a cheat sheet on the best way to build the most trust with a customer, and affirm their decision to work with you.

While price is still somewhat important, modern car shoppers highly value a convenient and transparent customer experience. This means they could be more willing to make a car purchase at your dealership if the process is smooth and they are treated in the best way possible.

4 Ways to Use the Car Buying Customer Journey to Your Advantage

Dealers are best primed for action and to attract customers in the Research Phase through the Loyalty Phase. Here's how you can use the car buyer journey to your advantage:

1: Attract customers in the research phase.

The research phase is important for car dealerships to capitalize on. Clearly mark what inventory is available today, or on its way in. (Make it exceedingly obvious if something is In Transit!)

If it's neither available nor on the way, have a way to display that model and allow them to communicate with you about it. You can still be a resource for the customer, and potentially look into a dealer trade or order a vehicle for them; you never know! ( Our behavioral offer tool, ActivTarget , is perfect for engaging customers and waitlisting them for something that might not be readily available!) 

Video can be a big help when customers are researching. What a great place, on your site, to have videos of vehicles they are interested in to provide that extra rush of emotion. ( Our virtual test drive tool, MyDrive , allows us to float videos of vehicles in action right to your customers!) 

2: Accommodate car shoppers in the consideration phase.

You've piqued potential car buyer interest with your crystal clear inventory portrayal, information, and set the right expectations. Now what? Your dealership is now in consideration to do business with.

This is where ease of doing business plays a critical role. Do customers feel welcomed on your site? Do they feel listened to and regarded? Do you have tools that help them continue to the next step?

This includes having an advocate available to assist these vehicle buyers (a real person, ideally!) and a digital retailing tool option that can get them started on the path to purchase.

3: Wow vehicle buyers in the purchase process.

Buying a vehicle is a complicated process and differs greatly each time. How easy is it to get started online? Is there someone to help them go as far as they may want? Is there someone to answer basic questions and let them know what steps are next?

What needs to be present in terms of numbers will differ based on what is most important to the shopper. However, what we know is important to every person is that they are heard and assisted.

4: Foster and nurture continued customer loyalty.

Perfection is unattainable, so what is your plan to address concerns when steps may not live up to the customer's expectations? Who is responding to online reviews? What is your post-sale follow-up process ?

You've done the extremely tough work of capturing your customer initially. Now, it's time to foster and nourish that relationship beyond winning their business. Now, it's time to win future business, and peripheral business from their family and friends when you wow them enough to get referrals by word of mouth.

Level Up Your Car Buying Customer Journey Approach with ActivEngage

When it comes to having customer conversations, no other automotive live chat provider does it better than ActivEngage . 

We use 100% live customer engagement experts, no bots and/or AI, and are an effective BDC-style implement that helps support your sales and service teams. We bolster your digital dealership, and you'll never miss another opportunity with ActivEngage on your dealership website. 

Start having better conversations today, and meet your shoppers wherever they are in their customer journey with our messaging solutions. Choose from:

• Messaging Software
• Fully Managed Messaging
• Co-Managed Messaging

ActivEngage Can Help You Level Up Your Dealership Customer Experience! 

Let's talk about it .

Subscribe to get the most valuable information about industry trends and new products from ActivEngage, straight to your inbox.

Learn more about how activengage enhances your google my business.

[vc_row content_placement=”middle”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”30″][vc_single_image image=”11099″ img_size=”126×100″ alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_custom_heading text=”Enroll Now with Your Digital Communication Partner” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_empty_space height=”15″][vc_column_text]

[contact-form-7 id=”6568″ title=”Berkshire Hathaway Automotive Enrollment Form”]

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row content_placement=”middle”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”35″][vc_single_image image=”11099″ img_size=”126×100″ alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_custom_heading text=”Book a Demo and ActivEngage will Donate to Your Charity of Choice!” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_empty_space height=”5″][vc_column_text]

[pardot-form id=”23891″ title=”Demo to Donate (COVID-19 Relief Promo)” height=”400″]

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

*Demo must be booked before July 1st, 2020 and is valid for new customers only.

[vc_row content_placement=”middle”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”30″][vc_single_image image=”11099″ img_size=”126×100″ alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_custom_heading text=”Need assistance with an ActivEngage CoOp program? Let’s talk!” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_empty_space height=”15″][vc_column_text]

[pardot-form id=”22417″ title=”Contact Us (CoOp General Form)”]

[vc_row content_placement=”middle”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”30″][vc_single_image image=”11099″ img_size=”126×100″ alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_custom_heading text=”Enroll Now with Your Digital Communication Partner” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_empty_space height=”15″][vc_raw_html]JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwY2xhc3MlM0QlMjJwYXJkb3Rmb3JtJTIyJTIwc3JjJTNEJTIyaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZnby5wYXJkb3QuY29tJTJGbCUyRjM1NDEyJTJGMjAxOC0xMi0xOSUyRjIxcWRwdmIlMjIlMjB3aWR0aCUzRCUyMjEwMCUyNSUyMiUyMGhlaWdodCUzRCUyMjU2MCUyMiUyMHR5cGUlM0QlMjJ0ZXh0JTJGaHRtbCUyMiUyMGZyYW1lYm9yZGVyJTNEJTIyMCUyMiUyMGFsbG93dHJhbnNwYXJlbmN5JTNEJTIydHJ1ZSUyMiUyMHN0eWxlJTNEJTIyYm9yZGVyJTNBJTIwMCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRmlmcmFtZSUzRQ==[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row]

RESEARCH REPORT

Automotive customer experience rebooted

Pivoting toward the automotive industry’s future success

5-MINUTE READ

December 6, 2021

Automotive CX challenges & opportunities

When it comes to purchasing and using vehicles, today’s buyers are setting higher standards for OEMs and dealers. The demand is shifting from vehicle performance, design and price toward more connected, virtual and responsible experiences. What does this mean for OEMs? How can they compete in a marketplace where consumers are accustomed to an interactive, personalized experience?

To better understand the customer experience (CX) challenges and potential benefits in the automobile market, Accenture conducted extensive research, including surveys with 7,500 car-owners and 203 dealers across six countries, interviews with more than 20 experts, executives and industry insiders and analysis of more than 1.5 billion social media posts and 300 investment transcripts of leading automotive companies. We found that forming relationships and developing intra-industry ecosystems would help secure manufacturers’ future.

car-owner surveys conducted

Our findings point to two critical steps automotive manufacturers can take to improve sales and increase customer loyalty: utilizing consumer data and strengthening their relationships with dealers.

Automotive customer demands are on the rise

Today's consumers are setting higher standards for OEMs and dealers for a greater customer experience, increasing the complexity of the sales process, and requiring coordination among multiple parties. Three factors to watch in the next three years:

Key factors are expected to double

While vehicle performance, design and price will remain important, five other factors will become critical for a positive customer experience. 

New factors critical for a positive CX

• Dealer/repair shop accessibility
• Staff expertise
• Connected vehicle and advanced systems
• Data privacy and protection
• Sustainability and responsibility

Digital experience

A majority of customers (62% – 65%) expect online, virtual and real-time response experiences from their automotive OEMs and dealers.

Sales model at risk

Our research points to a gap between OEM and consumer priorities, increasing challenges to build customer loyalty and generating more sales. While automotive executives are focused on future-related issues such as new energy vehicles, consumers are more concerned with practical, everyday considerations such as repairs and maintenance. What’s more, loyalty is at the bottom of priorities for both OEM executives and customers.

This disconnect and disengagement, among other issues, puts the entire sales model at risk for the automotive industry. More important, it leaves the traditional approach that OEMs and dealers have taken with customers—and each other—over the last century at considerable risk. To face this challenge, most OEMs realize they need to take a more data-driven approach to sales and aftersales.

of customers perceived that their OEM is not prepared to provide a relevant experience

of customers would switch to a different OEM if it delivered better customer experiences

of customers think about changing their automotive brand after a company fails to deliver a relevant customer experience

Dealers and OEMs

—a fragmented relationship.

Aside from OEMs, dealers face challenges of their own, including a lack of organizational processes or an inconsistent, outdated IT infrastructure. However, many challenges are external—born from their fragmented relationships with OEMs. For example, dealers are not able to keep up with the pace of OEMs’ digitization efforts.

Perhaps most frustrating for dealers is that, although they contribute up to two-thirds of the entire customer lifecycle experience, OEMs are still not giving them the autonomy to act accordingly. It’s the dealerships that are building a seamless and appealing customer experience in the purchasing and post-purchasing periods (as they own the physical and digital contact with customers)—a complex process requiring close and seamless coordination with their OEMs.

In essence, there isn’t a uniform understanding of what ‘customer experience’ means. For the OEM, it is about tracking the entire customer journey; but for the dealers, it is only about aftersales.

Customer Relations Executive / A Major Global OEM

Roadmap to the future

Data-driven services and the corresponding customer experience are going to be the next battlefields for the automotive industry. To win and keep customers, OEMs should not only closely analyze the data, but also consider changing the entire dynamic with their dealers.

Regaining dealers’ trust

Communicating and working with dealers more collaboratively and transparently to gain their understanding and support.

Defining the future role of the dealer

OEMs should work with dealers to find the preferred sales model depending on the dealer’s strengths.

Building a win-win relationship step by step

Establish trusted relationships, develop a work plan, and focus on budget, reach, data and system integration.

Embedding flexibility in implementation

Moving from a linear customer journey and process toward a modular toolbox of applications that dealers can pick and choose at will.

The future of in-car human machine interfaces

Consumers’ desire for vehicles that respond dynamically to changing lifestyles and growing sustainability concerns is already changing the automotive industry’s business model—but there’s much more to come. A significantly more personalized human machine interface (HMI) is emerging, responsive to the needs and desires of individual users. This is the promise of My(H)MI - a personalized universe of digital interactivity between humans, vehicles, and the environment.

Quality data is only the starting point to derive real customer insights. A structured analysis and interpretation methodology should follow any data collection initiative. Also critical is a strong, overarching, company-wide data management system and utilization strategy.

Serving customers today, and into the future, is no longer only about meeting their mobility needs. Beyond engine power and vehicle features, OEMs must discern what customers really want. Today, OEMs (together with their dealers) have an opportunity to transcend their role as a mobility provider to become a long-term partner to their customers. This involves rethinking their entire ecosystem, particularly their relationship with dealers, engaging customers across all touchpoints with an intelligent data-driven approach and building agility across every facet of their operations.

of dealers surveyed see CX as extremely important to their future growth

Related insights

• The value of predictive customer service
• The automotive experience reimagined
• The great marketing declutter

Teodoro Lio

Senior Managing Director – EMEAan Automotive Lead

Alberto Sernia

Managing Director, Automotive Customer Experience Offering Lead

Joel Van Durme

Accenture Song Sales Lead DACH

Customer Journey Maps: How to Create Really Good Ones [Examples + Template]

Updated: April 17, 2024

Published: May 04, 2023

Did you know 70% of online shoppers abandoned their carts in 2022? Why would someone spend time adding products to their cart just to fall off the customer journey map at the last second?

The thing is — understanding your customer base can be very challenging. Even when you think you’ve got a good read on them, the journey from awareness to purchase for each customer will always be unpredictable, at least to some level.

While it isn’t possible to predict every experience with 100% accuracy, customer journey mapping is a convenient tool for keeping track of critical milestones that every customer hits. In this post, I’ll explain everything you need to know about customer journey mapping — what it is, how to create one, and best practices.

Table of Contents

What is the customer journey?

What is a customer journey map, benefits of customer journey mapping, customer journey stages.

• What’s included in a customer journey map?

The Customer Journey Mapping Process

Steps for creating a customer journey map.

• Types of Customer Journey Maps

Customer Journey Mapping Best Practices

• Customer Journey Design
• Customer Journey Map Examples

Free Customer Journey Map Templates

Free Customer Journey Template

Outline your company's customer journey and experience with these 7 free templates.

• Buyer's Journey Template
• Future State Template
• Day-in-the-Life Template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

The customer journey is the series of interactions a customer has with a brand, product, or business as they become aware of a pain point and make a purchase decision. While the buyer’s journey refers to the general process of arriving at a purchase, the customer journey refers to a buyer's purchasing experience with a specific company or service.

Customer Journey vs. Buyer Journey

Many businesses that I’ve worked with were confused about the differences between the customer’s journey and the buyer’s journey. The buyer’s journey is the entire buying experience from pre-purchase to post-purchase. It covers the path from customer awareness to becoming a product or service user.

In other words, buyers don’t wake up and decide to buy on a whim. They go through a process of considering, evaluating, and purchasing a new product or service.

The customer journey refers to your brand’s place within the buyer’s journey. These are the customer touchpoints where you will meet your customers as they go through the stages of the buyer’s journey. When you create a customer journey map, you’re taking control of every touchpoint at every stage of the journey instead of leaving it up to chance.

For example, at HubSpot, our customer’s journey is divided into three stages — pre-purchase/sales, onboarding/migration, and normal use/renewal.

1. Use customer journey map templates.

Why make a customer journey map from scratch when you can use a template? Save yourself some time by downloading HubSpot’s free customer journey map templates .

This has templates that map out a buyer’s journey, a day in your customer’s life, lead nurturing, and more.

These templates can help sales, marketing, and customer support teams learn more about your company’s buyer persona. This will improve your product and customer experience.

2. Set clear objectives for the map.

Before you dive into your customer journey map, you need to ask yourself why you’re creating one in the first place.

What goals are you directing this map towards? Who is it for? What experience is it based upon?

If you don’t have one, I recommend creating a buyer persona . This persona is a fictitious customer with all the demographics and psychographics of your average customer. This persona reminds you to direct every aspect of your customer journey map toward the right audience.

3. Profile your personas and define their goals.

Next, you should conduct research. This is where it helps to have customer journey analytics ready.

Don’t have them? No worries. You can check out HubSpot’s Customer Journey Analytics tool to get started.

Questionnaires and user testing are great ways to obtain valuable customer feedback. The important thing is to only contact actual customers or prospects.

You want feedback from people interested in purchasing your products and services who have either interacted with your company or plan to do so.

Some examples of good questions to ask are:

• How did you hear about our company?
• What first attracted you to our website?
• What are the goals you want to achieve with our company? In other words, what problems are you trying to solve?
• How long have you/do you typically spend on our website?
• Have you ever made a purchase with us? If so, what was your deciding factor?
• Have you ever interacted with our website to make a purchase but decided not to? If so, what led you to this decision?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how easily can you navigate our website?
• Did you ever require customer support? If so, how helpful was it, on a scale of 1 to 10?
• Can we further support you to make your process easier?

You can use this buyer persona tool to fill in the details you procure from customer feedback.

4. Highlight your target customer personas.

Once you’ve learned about the customer personas that interact with your business, I recommend narrowing your focus to one or two.

Remember, a customer journey map tracks the experience of a customer taking a particular path with your company. If you group too many personas into one journey, your map won’t accurately reflect that experience.

When creating your first map, it’s best to pick your most common customer persona and consider the route they would typically take when engaging with your business for the first time.

You can use a marketing dashboard to compare each and determine the best fit for your journey map. Don’t worry about the ones you leave out, as you can always go back and create a new map specific to those customer types.

5. List out all touchpoints.

Begin by listing the touchpoints on your website.

What is a touchpoint in a customer journey map?

A touchpoint in a customer journey map is an instance where your customer can form an opinion of your business. You can find touchpoints in places where your business comes in direct contact with a potential or existing customer.

For example, if I were to view a display ad, interact with an employee, reach a 404 error, or leave a Google review, all of those interactions would be considered a customer touchpoint.

Your brand exists beyond your website and marketing materials, so you must consider the different types of touchpoints in your customer journey map. These touchpoints can help uncover opportunities for improvement in the buying journey.

Based on your research, you should have a list of all the touchpoints your customers are currently using and the ones you believe they should be using if there’s no overlap.

This is essential in creating a customer journey map because it provides insight into your customers’ actions.

For instance, if they use fewer touchpoints than expected, does this mean they’re quickly getting turned away and leaving your site early? If they are using more than expected, does this mean your website is complicated and requires several steps to reach an end goal?

Whatever the case, understanding touchpoints help you understand the ease or difficulties of the customer journey.

Aside from your website, you must also look at how your customers might find you online. These channels might include:

• Social channels.
• Email marketing.
• Third-party review sites or mentions.

Run a quick Google search of your brand to see all the pages that mention you. Verify these by checking your Google Analytics to see where your traffic is coming from. Whittle your list down to those touchpoints that are the most common and will be most likely to see an action associated with it.

At HubSpot, we hosted workshops where employees from all over the company highlighted instances where our product, service, or brand impacted a customer. Those moments were recorded and logged as touchpoints. This showed us multiple areas of our customer journey where our communication was inconsistent.

The proof is in the pudding — you can see us literally mapping these touch points out with sticky notes in the image below.

Don't forget to share this post!

Related articles.

How AI Image Misuse Made a World of Miscommunication [Willy's Chocolate Experience]

7 Ways to Delight Your Customers This Holiday Season

14 Customer Experience Fails that Companies Can Learn From

How Customer Experience Has Evolved Over the Last Decade [+ 2024 Trends]

Memorable Examples of AR in Customer Experience [+Tips for Implementing the Technology]

Digital Customer Experience: The Ultimate Guide for 2023

How to Implement a Hybrid Customer Service Strategy That Works [Expert Tips]

User Flows: 8 Tips For Creating A Super Smooth User Experience

11 Best Practices for B2B Customer Experience

Customer Experience vs. User Experience: What’s the Difference? [+ Examples]

Outline your company's customer journey and experience with these 7 free customer journey map templates.

Service Hub provides everything you need to delight and retain customers while supporting the success of your whole front office

The new key to automotive success: Put customer experience in the driver’s seat

Key takeaways.

• Car manufacturers once competed largely on their engineering capabilities: superior driving performance and reliability were their marketing boasts. These qualities still matter, but they are table stakes. The new battleground is customer experience.
• Incumbents will need to commit to bolder change to keep pace with new tech-led, data-rich, electric vehicle manufacturers, leaping from technology-centric product development to customer-centric innovation.
• Leadership from the CEO and a chief experience office will be key to establishing the components of a transformation: a new business model, and the ability to scale fast, to amass data at every customer touchpoint, and to measure the customer experience in a manner that reveals precisely how to improve it.

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when car manufacturers competed largely on their engineering capabilities: superior driving performance and vehicle reliability. These qualities still matter to today’s consumers, but they are table stakes. The new battleground is increasingly one where tech-enabled, data-rich, electric vehicle (EV) companies currently have the upper hand: customer experience.

The bar is already high. For many consumers, visiting a car showroom has lost its appeal. They prefer the convenience of digital interactions. Google search trends suggest some 60 percent of car buyers under the age of 45 are likely to purchase their next car online and are interested in contactless sales and services. The majority of online shoppers in other industries expect real-time customer service, switch brands if they don’t get a consistent experience across channels, and abandon their online carts if the checkout process proves too taxing. 1 Emily Cummins, “45 customer service statistics you need to know (updated for 2021),” Netomi, May 10, 2021, netomi.com; Philippe Aussant, “Top 40 customer experience statistics to know in 2021,” Emplifi, June 1, 2021, emplifi.io; Jacqueline Renfrow, “Most shoppers abandon their purchase if checkout is too hard,” Retail Dive, August 13, 2018, retaildive.com. There is no reason to believe expectations will be any lower among car buyers.

EV companies have tapped into the zeitgeist. Tesla sells direct to its customers, who can buy a car with fewer than ten clicks, choosing from a simplified range of just four models and with no price haggling. China’s NIO also sells direct and only through its website and app. Both companies offer a range of add-on, customer-centric services, from worry-free energy packages, where an app click brings someone to charge the vehicle on the spot, to a “battery as a service” package that rents the battery to the buyer by the month, or even retail and dining suggestions.

With frequent software updates that improve services as the norm, the notion is taking hold among EV customers that they are no longer buying the latest car model that will last five years or so, but a smart device on wheels where they can work, socialize, and be entertained—and which will constantly improve.

In a world of electric, connected, and autonomous vehicles, OEMs face a considerable challenge if they intend to keep pace. Company transformations are hard, and harder still when the future is uncertain and resources are limited, making it difficult to know where to place bets. This might be why many OEMs are still tentative about shifting their focus to customer experience. But to win in this race, they will need to be bolder and committed to more rapid change.

Ultimately, they will need to rapidly discover, design, scale, and constantly refine solutions that thrill customers, generate new sources of revenue, and keep costs in check— an approach honed by leading customer-centric companies . Here, we focus on five of the most important elements of the approach and how OEMs can address them. The first is to ensure the CEO leads the effort, assisted by the newly appointed role of chief experience officer (CXO). Together, they will need to adopt a new operating model and new ways of reaching scale, capturing more data, and measuring the customer experience more accurately—all of which will likely require substantial investment. But the changes cannot be avoided if companies are to make the leap from engineering-centered product development to customer-centric innovation.

Would you like to learn more about our Marketing & Sales Practice ?

Leadership: the ceo must drive the transformation, with the cxo as copilot.

OEMs have hitherto thrived largely on their engineering prowess. The customer’s experience, beyond the driving experience itself, has been the responsibility of the marketing and communications team, which might improve touchpoints such as booking a test drive or car handover. Today however, customer experience cannot be just a complementary OEM activity. It has to be the driving force for every department, including product development, IT, quality, and purchasing. That is a huge reorientation for an OEM, which is why the CEO has to drive home the need for change and make it happen.

To help them in this regard and to oversee day-to-day work, CEOs should consider appointing a CXO, a position already created by companies renowned for the strength of their customer focus. A few automotive companies—Volkswagen (VW) and General Motors among them—are following suit.

Just as the chief quality officer protects product quality and the chief financial officer protects the company’s financial health, the task of the CXO is to protect the end-to-end customer experience. This will mean disrupting the company with new business developments—not refining the status quo. Such a task requires the appointee have not only the trust of the CEO, but also the clout to both drive a transformation and win the support of other C-suite executives.

One of the CEO’s primary tasks, meanwhile, is to communicate and act on a clear, bold vision of what the company aspires to be. Adequate funding for the transformation may depend upon it. Different companies will clearly set different aspirations, but all will need to take account of trends afoot, which indicate that the automotive landscape is likely to develop the following attributes by 2030:

• Flexible ownership: Many people, particularly urban dwellers and younger drivers, may not own a car, preferring to rent, car share, or use mobility services. But car ownership will not disappear. People in less densely populated areas as well as premium customers and driving enthusiasts may well want to own a vehicle, but often through various short-term, flexible subscriptions to both lease vehicles and buy additional services.
• Amazon-like services: The delivery of services will be radically simplified. Booking the use of a vehicle or a test drive, leasing a different model, ordering a ride, or canceling a service will be as easy and convenient as ordering on Amazon. And many services will be personalized: artificial-intelligence-powered software will anticipate, prebook, and streamline time-consuming tasks such as finding a parking spot or scheduling maintenance.
• A seamless digital ecosystem: Customers will expect a smooth, superfast digital ecosystem that integrates all services—connectivity, mobility, entertainment, social, hospitality—without the slightest hiccup. Indeed, performance here could distinguish one EV manufacturer from another, given its impact on customers’ experience. An analogy might be consumers’ choice of laptop today: processor and chip performance and the associated brands are what tend to influence purchase decisions, not the brand of the laptop manufacturer.

Within such a context, the strategy of an OEM deciding to target urban markets with mobility services might be to offer an on-demand, more sustainable, time-efficient, and fit-for-purpose transportation experience. A company seeking to build a market for privately owned, premium vehicles might emphasize an intelligent, delightful experience for driving enthusiasts. Whatever the vision, it will dictate a road map, the products and services—and brand-new business model—needed to bring it to life for customers.

A new business model: Think recurring sales of services and products, not a one-off car purchase

In the new world of mobility, value no longer lies entirely in the sale of a vehicle and aftersales parts, as has been the case with combustion-engine vehicles. As Exhibit 1 shows, selling a vehicle or a subscription for its use is only one part of the customer journey. There are many more opportunities to engage with customers, influence their experience, and earn revenue. For younger consumers, spending on EV products and services could prove akin to spending on new fashion items or consumer electronics to buy into a community of people identified and united by their latest purchases. NIO’s CEO, William Li, has even stated his customers aren’t just buying a vehicle, they are buying a ticket to a new lifestyle.

McKinsey analysis estimates revenue generated from recurring services could boost OEM revenue from car sales by some 30 percent in the next decade. But OEMs will need to work closely with partners new and old to earn it. They will need new partners for services and products, and they will need to reassess existing relationships with retail, travel, and hospitality companies in their loyalty programs and, in particular, those with their dealers. That is because customer relationships and vehicle data insights will be key to delivering an outstanding customer experience. Most customer relationships and data aren’t currently owned by OEMs but by third-party partners, and little data is exchanged, largely because of privacy concerns.

It is too early to tell what the endgame might be for dealers. In banking, the number of bank branches shrunk considerably as services were digitized. Amazon, on the other hand, has expanded its retail footprint. What is clear is that OEMs will need to capture all customer data in all channels and offer a consistent experience.

Digitization in automotive retail in 2021 and beyond

Scaling up: rethink the operating model to be agile and outperform.

Selecting the right customer-experience strategy depends on identifying the experiences most likely to delight customers. This calls for developing a minimum viable product for testing in a pilot market or a specific product line, gathering customer feedback on it, and ensuring development continues in the right direction, wasting neither time nor money. Insights are quickly incorporated, and features can be added one by one, perhaps starting with a new, unified, digital interface where customers can make one-click comparison of car models, stock availability, prices, and delivery times, later incorporating financing, trade-in, and service options.

This process will not necessarily come easily to OEMs accustomed to using a waterfall approach to product and IT development. But the next step—scaling successful product, service, and business model concepts to other markets and product lines—can prove trickier still. While it is often relatively easy to test new digital customer experience offerings in a single market with workarounds or by tailoring them to the existing tech stack, rolling out the same offering to dealerships in multiple regions with different operating models and systems can kill momentum. Take, for example, booking a service appointment or test drive. Developing the software for an app might not be difficult. But getting the app to sync with all the different systems used by thousands of dealers is hugely complex. It could take years to negotiate technology setup costs, data- and revenue-sharing arrangements, and legal governance, and to implement an end-to-end, digitized customer experience with integrated data flows and agreed standards. In the meantime, unencumbered, nimbler competitors may get to market first.

This is where an agile operating model, able to marshal the early commitment of all relevant internal and external stakeholders, working in empowered, cross-functional teams, becomes important. The teams will be aware of the needs of each OEM function and those of any external parties, as well as their interdependencies. If team members are not only experts but also influencers, they will be able to plan ahead, aligning key stakeholders on what needs to happen and tackling foreseeable obstacles.

However, if a company is to scale dozens of such use cases in an agile way—not just one or two—it will also have to invest in building a single data platform that integrates all data sources and allows easy access to that data through application programming interfaces (APIs).

Advanced data analytics—the new competitive muscle

A successful customer-experience transformation is analytics led. Analytics will be key to understanding what individual customers value, and hence to prioritizing which features to build and offer to which customers. Behind good analytics is good data.

In this respect, OEMs are arguably in an enviable position, given the amount of data they can potentially tap. For example, data from dozens of in-car sensors, from apps, and from financing and leasing arrangements could be used to engage customers, personalize products and services, improve and develop new ones, and upsell.

But OEMs have obstacles to overcome, too. Like any organization looking to improve analytics, OEMs will discover existing customer data is siloed in different parts of the organization or often not tracked. In addition, much customer data is owned by dealers or third-party partners outside the OEM’s own customer-relationship management (CRM) systems. Some OEMs are already addressing this problem. VW is adopting a direct-to-customer sales model in which dealers act as agents and earn a handling fee per transaction, but VW owns the transaction, including the data it generates.

But whatever sales model or dealer relationship they choose, all OEMs will need to build a technology stack to capture and integrate customer data at every touchpoint—the digital touchpoints, mostly managed by the OEM and its national sales companies, and the physical touchpoints at dealerships and within the car. It is no small task. But success stories from other industries with franchises, from fast foods to luxury retail, prove that engaging franchise partners is not only a critical element in leveraging the power of data and analytics but that it definitely can be done.

Measurement: Identify the operational drivers of the CX

Though appearing at the end of this list, measurement of the customer experience is not the final act in a customer-experience transformation. The transformation starts with an audit of the available customer-experience data to assess what is already being measured and how this information is being used to manage performance at the dealer, regional, and country level in all markets. That assessment will no doubt reveal many improvement opportunities. Measurement then tracks the transformation’s progress, revealing whether the changes made are the right ones or go far enough. It must be a continuous process, because customer expectations continuously evolve.

The ultimate goal is a measurement system that can identify the precise operational drivers of the customer experience. As Exhibit 2 shows, any number of problems can feed through to a low overall customer satisfaction score, depending on the channel the customer is using, the stage of the customer journey, and the precise problem the customer is trying to resolve. But at its root will be an operational driver, such as processing time, staffing levels, transparency, or reliability. Only by breaking down the overall score into its component parts and measuring each and every one will it be possible to detect the sources of dissatisfaction and the operational cause and solution.

With advanced analytics and the right data, the power of such systems becomes stronger still, for however good a company’s customer-experience surveys and sampling techniques are, they will still only reveal historical insights. In contrast, an analytics engine makes it possible to translate data signals into prompt action for each and every individual customer, not only identifying where problems might lie but predicting which improvements might unlock most value. It might, for example, figure out that simplification of the product portfolio will have the biggest impact on customer satisfaction in one market, or that offering an online aftersales appointment could increase penetration in aftersales services by 15 percent in another. In other words, companies can go from asking “How are we doing?” to “How do we deliver on what customers want now?”

Many OEMs have begun to reevaluate what they need to do to thrive in a world of future mobility, where the customer experience is central to success. Few, however, have yet committed to the bold vision and actions that will help ensure their rich heritage and brands endure. CEO and CXO leadership will be key to establishing the vital components of a successful customer-experience transformation: a new business model, and the ability to scale fast, to amass data at every customer touchpoint, and to measure the customer experience in a manner that reveals precisely how to improve it. Other industries have already made the transformation. Their lessons learned should help CEOs and CXOs of automotive OEMs follow suit.

Volker Grüntges is a senior partner in the Munich office, where Jakob Stöber is a partner; Alexander Matthey is a consultant in McKinsey’s Berlin office, where Florian Peter is an expert associate partner.

The authors would like to thank Katharina Fiedler, Isabelle Möller, Jens Sulek, and Sihong Zhang for their contributions to this article.

Explore a career with us

Related articles.

Driving the automotive customer experience toward the age of mobility

Car buying is on again, and mobility is picking up

‘Less searching, more finding’: The car-buying experience in 2030

• Deutschland
• Asia, Australia & New Zealand
• Europe, Middle East & Africa
• United States & Canada
• Latinoamérica

With more car shoppers online, it’s time for the auto industry to simplify the journey

Al-Karim Awadia, head of auto at Google Canada, and Kamal Oberoi, auto insights lead at Google Canada, share new industry insights and trends from this year’s Think Auto 2020 event.

This year, the auto industry quickly embraced digital tools and found new ways to engage with customers when visiting a dealership wasn’t an option. However, even as dealerships reopened, the shift to online didn’t stop. People have now experienced the convenience of buying a car online and they won’t go back to their old ways. The auto industry shouldn’t either.

Think with Google

Source: Kantar, Google Gearshift Study, 2020, CA, all car purchasers n = 3150, "Thinking about the time after the COVID-19, how will the vehicle market and car purchase process change after the current situation has passed?"

Share this page

This has pushed the industry past the “tipping point” of digital change to digital transformation. Car buyers have now strengthened their digital muscles and want simple, seamless ways to buy online. Dealers and manufacturers can use the digital insights at their disposal to meet evolving consumer expectations, and help deliver the services they want.

Consumers now expect an online experience

The world is changing rapidly but dealers and manufacturers now have a wealth of first-party data available and partners to help them make sense of it. Insights from customer data, sales history and more can help guide strategies now and in the future, and help identify the services your customers expect.

Trends show we’re in a car buyer’s market, and 42% of Canadian shoppers are showing increased intent in owning a vehicle. 1 This may be because people are looking at personal cars as a way to keep themselves and their families safe. In the spring, a University of Toronto study found one-quarter of people taking public transit would switch to personal cars. 2

Car buyers are also relying more heavily on online touch points, are well-researched and ready to buy. Online video continues to play an important role throughout the research journey. One - third of auto buyers say YouTube helped to change/reinforce brand perception. 3

Source: Kantar, Google Gearshift Study, CA, March 2020, Comscore Video Metrix, total videos, Canada, YouTube.com, people 18+

We’re seeing 90% of car buyers relying on online research 4 and an acceleration between research and buying, with 57% of consumers researching and buying within the first month. 5 As well, 68% of volume and 62% of luxury car buyers visit one dealership during their journey. 6 This means you only have one shot to make that sale.

Stay close to what customers are looking for, adapt services to best meet their needs, and reach more potential customers in the critical online research period.

Simplify the journey using digital tools

The pandemic stripped customer demand down to its simplest form — people either need a vehicle now, or can wait. Before the pandemic, 78% of new car buyers preferred to “walk-in” to dealerships, and that number dropped to 59% during the pandemic. 7

People are now accustomed to high-tech features and will continue to want them in the future.

Simplify the online purchase journey by regularly updating your Google My Business profile, and ensure your website and other digital channels offer clear and transparent guidance around hours, available services, prices, financing options and more. Make sure you’re showing up in search and YouTube to reach people during the research phase and include clear calls-to-action to help them efficiently make their purchases.

People are now accustomed to high-tech features and will continue to want them in the future. Digital experiences, like virtual sales meetings to virtual test drives and 360 views of cars, help simplify the buying journey. Investing in long-term strategies now will position you to reach customers well beyond the pandemic.

Stay visible through ups-and-downs

Keep online channels and marketing active even during slower periods so you can be there for customers when they are looking for you.

Early in the pandemic, when COVID-19 forced the closure of dealerships across the country, Kia Canada opted to continue engaging with customers on digital channels. They saw a 16% increase in digital leads and some of the strongest sales performance results from an auto manufacturer in Canada.

In March, Kia Canada released an ad for the new Kia Seltos on YouTube. The video, which features the Billie Eilish song “Bad Guy," is now the top ad Canadians chose to watch on YouTube Canada this year , and has received more than 4 million views.

“Kia Canada has been heavily invested in digital marketing channels for mass reach and awareness for a number of years now,” said Michael Kopke, director of marketing at Kia Canada. “The mediums’ ability to provide contextual messaging to various audiences has yielded strong results for us. During the challenging height of COVID this spring, we opted to hold digital investment in place to keep our voice strong as people became housebound and their online engagement increased.”

This year’s auto trends are showing us that no customer journey is the same. However, digital tools, channels and insights are helping dealers and manufacturers simplify the customer journey, to reach the right people at the right time, with the right message.

Watch the full Think Auto 2020 event video to learn more about Google Canada's latest auto buyers research, industry best practices, and insights on the future of the car buying experience.

Others are viewing

Marketers who view this are also viewing

Canadian auto trends show the demand for cars hasn’t gone away — it’s gone digital

The road to 2025: preparing for tomorrow’s auto industry today, how hyundai changed course to improve the customer journey, how jaguar land rover generates high-quality leads in today’s omnichannel auto experience, the auto dealer’s guide to moving metal in a digital world, 5 trends shaping the auto industry’s approach to a new normal, al-karim awadia, kamal oberoi, sources (6).

1 Kantar, Google Gearshift Study , 2020, CA, all car purchasers n = 3150, "Thinking about the time after the COVID-19, how will the vehicle market and car purchase process change after the current situation has passed?" - top two (very likely/likely)

2 University of Toronto Public Transit and COVID-19 Survey 2020, Preliminary COVID-19 Financial Impacts for the TTC 2020

3, 4 Kantar, Google Gearshift Study, CA, 2020, Comscore Video Metrix, Total Videos, Canada, YouTube.com, persons 18+, March 2020

5 Kantar, Google Gearshift Study, CA, 2020, First time buyers n = 966, "How much time passed between starting to research and actually purchasing a vehicle?"

6 Kantar, Google Gearshift Study, CA, 2020, All new car purchasers n = 619, "How many different dealership locations did you visit prior to purchasing?"

7 Kantar, Google Gearshift Study , 2020, CA, all car purchasers, who visited a dealer, n = 2947, "Which, if any, of the following ways did you contact a dealership or car lot?"

Others are viewing Looking for something else?

Complete login.

To explore this content and receive communications from Google, please sign in with an existing Google account.