Brief

Have you ever tried to buy a car online before?

This outlines a prospective customer’s stages of conversion are broken into 4 broad categories; learn, shop, buy, and own (AKA Buyer’s Journey). Successful commerce platforms carefully guide consumers through these 4 stages by displaying the right message to the right person in the right place at the right time. In the case of purchasing a car, the relation of different business owners (OEM and Distribution) become apparent in the digital buyer’s journey.

This deck made to present a cheap and simple solution to address a customer pain point when shopping for a car online.

Discover & Learn (Marketing, Brand sites)

Customers who are intrigued by marketing materials will eventually end up on a “Learn site”. This layer holds the information for prospects to learn more about a product that they found interesting, as well as allow them to discover more about said products or new products all together. Prospects will decide to move forward or abandon the shopping journey based on life or vehicle triggers.

Shop (Dealership websites, Leads)

Prospective shoppers are actively seeking out the product of interest. At this point, they have or are beginning to consider Needs, Budget, Features, and Specifications. Shoppers will refer to 3rd party advisors for reviews about the product, the manufacture, and the dealership.

This is the point in the process where most shoppers will consciously experience the product, further narrowing the list of considerations.

Point of Purchase (SCD, Cox)

This is the point in the shopping journey where shoppers are converted to buyers. By this time, shoppers have decided on Specs, Trim, Accessories, and a price they are willing to pay. Negotiations between dealerships and shoppers begin.

Onboard & Own (GM branded tools)

An online vehicle management tool. Car owners are given the information necessary to maintain their vehicles. Any aftermarket features and products can be maintained in this environment. This tool can act as a 1-way direct communication pipeline from manufacture to owner, as well as showcase marketing material that is relevant to the product.

Problem

1 - In this model, there are 4 different businesses that brand their own unique experience in the buyer’s journey. The jarring experience makes the shopping journey difficult and presents many opportunities for the customer to abandon their purchase.

2 - GM currently faces a challenge where a customer’s shopping journey has a distinct starting and ending point. With no strong incentive given to the customer to remain loyal to the brand, life events are currently the leading cause for GM to lose customers to competitors. Some examples of life events include:

• Change in marital/employment/residency status

• Change in family structure

• Accidents

Our Competition

While the business leaders continue to focus on the Fords and Toyotas as our competition, I believe that it is the YouTubes and FaceBooks that are fighting for what truly matters; our time.

While brick-and-mortar commerce competes for real estate, the advanced internet giants have successfully created digital environments where a Buyer’s Journey is consolidated and presented to the user without the user having to express any desire. This new landscape has been making competition increasingly difficult for commerce players who were late in adopting the digital platform.

Customers Need:

A rep that is the customer’s go-to for any question
It turns out that shopping behavior is not as intuitive as we think it is. The way people shop can be cultural or learned behavior over time. This is most evident when interviewing foreigners who have moved from non-Western countries, or young adults who are making their very first large purchase.

To have their next-step expectations managed throughout the shopping process
Vehicle purchases require documentation that many people usually don’t have on hand. In the online lead-forms, this point tends to have the highest abandonment, preventing a vehicle from becoming an impulse buy. If every milestone in the shopping process could set the next steps up for success, the GM environment would see higher conversion and retention.

The customer needs to have their information held without creating an account
Personal information in the digital space is a new form of currency. In an era where customers suffer from Account Fatigue, GM need to become more adept at weighing said currency against the features they offer. Features offered early in the Buyers journey should not require Personally identifiable information. Rather than trying to build a customer profile early in the journey, GM needs to take on the burden of building the customer profile over time on the customer’s behalf.

Solution

My solution to address these customer needs are to create a “My Acct Lite”. A lite account would be a way for GM to acknowledge the customer (at any point of their shopping journey) as a lead, while the customer can have their information moved along the shopping journey without having to re-enter their personal information over and over again.

It should be noted that the sole purpose of this solution isn’t the elimination of redundant task on the customer’s behalf, but rather an opportunity to establish its presence in the mind of the customer and foster trust. Trust is the currency that buys loyalty.