Auto dealerships face a unique challenge when it comes to growing customer engagement. In general, the modern customer is inundated with advertising and people have become adept at tuning out messages. However, your brand has an opportunity to rise to this challenge and can use great rewards programs as a cornerstone of customer engagement. Here’s how:

Deemphasize sales

Although it may seem counterintuitive, it may be helpful to take a step back from your sales pitch and consider alternative ways to engage with customers. For example, some dealerships have been very successful using contests as a way to connect with their audience. Social media is a great platform for contests and you can ask customers to submit things like best tailgating recipes, photographs of their dogs, or road trip horror (or funny) stories that match a specific theme. You can offer rewards points for every submission and a prize for the winner. After the contest, you can compile the best submissions into an e-book or other collection that participants can download. Another idea would be to host charity events and offer rewards points for donations or ticket purchases. Both of these approaches allow customers to earn points while engaging with you based on something they genuinely care about, which, in turn helps build a positive impression of your company.

Reconsider freebies

One popular idea at dealerships in recent years has been to give away free vehicle maintenance packages at purchase. Although some dealerships have found this approach an effective way to build on-going engagement, other dealerships have noticed that people don’t consistently take advantage of freebies unless they are reminded of them. If you want to keep customers coming into your service center, it may be more effective if the customer purchases something like a pre-paid maintenance plan. You can structure the plan so that customers will pay less for the pre-paid plan than if they paid individually for each service visit. This takes advantage of two important concepts for customers: saving money and getting their money’s worth from what they have purchased. Plus, you can offer rewards points for the initial purchase of the plan and each service visit, further increasing the value for customers.

Increase accessibility to rewards programs

In order for rewards programs to grow customer engagement, they need to be convenient and accessible. Many dealerships use email to inform customers about this information and customers would likely respond best to emails that clearly express the value of the rewards offered in the program. In other words, it should be easy for customers to see how many points they have, what those points are worth, and how they can be used. The most effective emails may include a points balance and a link to the items that can be purchased with the given amount of points. Being able to tell at a glance that the rewards points have value will increase the chance that a customer will actually use them and engage with your company. Another idea is to create an app that provides the same information in a mobile format and notifies customers when they earn points.

Get feedback

Modern customers have high expectations of businesses. They expect to feel heard and will quickly abandon a business that ignores their concerns. A great way to tap into the opinionated nature of customers is to ask for their feedback about how to improve your business while simultaneously tying in your rewards program. For instance, you can use surveys to learn about how customers feel about the buying process, vehicle selection, service department, or rewards programs offered by your company. If you make changes to your business based on this feedback, let customers know so they can see their impact. Asking customers to post reviews, give referrals, or provide references to other potential customers can also be a great way to encourage on-going engagement. Rewards points can be given for all of these activities. More importantly, customers will feel like they are actively involved in the growth of your business, increasing the likelihood that they will remain loyal customers in the future.

Growing customer engagement is a challenging but rewarding process for auto dealers. By focusing less on the one-time sale, attaching real value to rewards programs, increasing accessibility, and encouraging feedback, you can create a loyal customer base that actively engages with your brand.