People are lazy, including you and me—at least when we’re acting as consumers. It’s not really surprising when you consider that the average adult (25-54) spends most of the day working, according to the American Time Use Survey. We guard our short moments of leisure, putting off what’s not convenient. 

With the right approach, though, your dealership can benefit from such consumer “laziness.” How? You make life easy for car buyers, from sales to service. Dealerships who do, win. 

First, Remember This 

Mobile technology feeds the expectation of everything at our fingertips, from information to paying bills and purchasing items. Even desktops or laptops may seem like too much effort. Why go through the hassle of logging on if I can do it all from the screen at hand (my smartphone)? In fact, my family doesn’t even own a desktop computer or home phone. 

There can be a hefty price for mobile inconvenience, too. A business I used frequently didn’t allow account updates on their mobile site; I had to visit their desktop site. So I did...and canceled. Maybe I’m a lazy consumer, but I’m not alone: 49% of consumers recently changed service providers due to experience-related factors (per a 2015 IBM and Econsultancy study). 

Oh, and that consumer laziness? It extends to phone calls. Just because people spend so much time on their smartphones doesn’t mean they like calling businesses, not if there are other mobile-friendly options. I’m in my mid-30s, and I put off any errands that require a phone call until the very last possible moment. And I’m not alone: Text / mobile messaging has displaced talking as consumers’ preferred interaction, per a recent IDC InfoBrief. 

With That In Mind, Here’s What You Can Do

Become the convenient part of the customer’s day and lower barriers to interacting with your dealership. These four steps are a good start:

1. Empower consumers to do everything via your mobile site or app (or desktop if they so desire). Google followed one shopper through 900+ digital interactions in her search for a car, 71% of which occurred on mobile. Would you have been ready for that shopper? From asking questions to scheduling test drives or service appointments and possibly even making payments or starting finance paperwork, what processes could you move online (or at least start)? Then test those processes on different devices as if you were the customer. That way you’ll know where any hang-ups or irritations are, so you can streamline.
2. Let them choose how to talk with you: text, chat, in-app messaging, phone, etc. If you let them choose their engagement, they may reach out earlier with a question, giving you the chance to win their visit. Plus, the phone calls and in-person meetings you do have may be more effective because they chose to interact with you that way (they weren't forced). 
3. “Remember” them. You’ve been there, filling out the same information about yourself again and again each time you visit the doctor or call your insurance company. So make interactions quick and personal when people engage with your dealership. With text or in-app messaging, for example, you can easily identify customers if they reach out hours, days or months later, pick up conversations where they left off and build on that relationship. 
4. Create a sales-to-service mobile messaging network (here's a quick video example). By offering mobile messaging at every customer touchpoint, you fit into their busy lifestyles. They’ll stay connected with you because it’s easy. They can re-engage with you at the tap of a button, get questions answered, schedule appointments, etc. (That can mean good things for your fixed ops business, not to mention the lifetime value of a happy customer.)

Multiple studies have found that people would buy cars more often if the process wasn’t so difficult—we consumers are lazy, after all. So make the process painless and more mobile-friendly. Appeal to the "lazy" in us all. You’ll likely win more often if you do.