AI holds huge CX potential for automotive brands in 2024

With a new year on the horizon, many automotive brands are thinking about ways to improve customer experience (CX) in 2024.

There’s no shortage of competition in the automotive industry and, to truly stand out from other brands and win over customers, you need to deliver seamless and personalized CX. Showing that you know your customers and crafting an experience that feels catered specifically to them is increasingly important.

A recent survey of U.S. vehicle owners by Acxiom found:

• Automotive brands that personalize CX can outperform competitors by as much as 40%
• 74% of consumers say the level of personalized CX they got the last time they bought a vehicle will influence what brand they buy from next time
• 34% say a more seamless customer experience would have resulted in them buying something different
• Just 55% say their last digital experience with a dealership was personalized

At the same time they demand more personalized experiences, customers also want their questions answered faster than ever and expect to have 24/7 access to brands. Companies that don’t acknowledge and embrace these evolving expectations risk losing customers to brands that do – yet brands must do so in a strategic, cost-effective way.

AI will be a key CX differentiator

AI is poised to be particularly transformative when it comes to CX in the automotive industry because automotive brands have so much data at their fingertips, especially with the advent of in-vehicle diagnostics. With all that data come actionable insights that can improve the customer journey.

Use your data to better understand your customers, elevate their experiences, boost efficiencies, and make your associates’ jobs easier. AI makes it easier and faster to comb through large volumes of data at scale and identify patterns, which in turn empowers brands to deliver much more proactive (and personalized) CX.

Today’s automation options go well beyond the tools many brands and customers have already grown accustomed to, like data analytics and customer support chatbots. For instance, AI can analyze vehicle data to predict maintenance needs and proactively schedule maintenance, reducing potential downtime and enhancing vehicle reliability.

AI can also optimize supply chain management by predicting demand, helping with inventory management, and identifying potential bottlenecks. The results? Cost savings, shorter lead times, and improved supply chain efficiency.

But even the best AI technology won’t achieve the results you need if it’s not balanced with a human touch. To thrive in 2024 and beyond, brands need to embrace the right mix of people and automation to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, grow efficiencies, and decrease attrition.

Striking the right balance of AI and humans is just one of the trends that will help automotive brands take CX to the next level in the coming year and beyond. For more trends you need to know, check out our strategy guide, “CX Trends 2024: 4 megatrends shaping the future of customer and employee experiences.”