How Can Used Vehicle Dealers Capitalise On Millennials in 2018 and Beyond?

In recent times, barely a day goes by without an article, news story or study on millennials and their increasing effect on the ever-changing face of consumer culture.

Here at Click Dealer, we’re lucky enough to have a hefty multi-storey office space packed full of them, so they’re a breed of creatures that we know a lot about!

With that in mind, it seems only fair that we impart some of our wisdom to our dealers about what makes millennials tick, how to market to them and get them interested in vehicles, as well as how to close a deal with them!

Videos > Images

When it comes to millennials it’s safe to say that professionally shot videos of your vehicles are a far better bet in terms of getting them to engage with your content. It’s so much easier to watch a 60 second video tour of a vehicle than it is to ‘swipe’ through hundreds of images and they’re less likely to get thumb ache too!

Your stock videos are also more likely to be shared on social media than your images, with videos proven to attract more engagement on Facebook, meaning that more potential customers will see how great your vehicles are, increasing the chance of more sales and further improving brand awareness too.

Use Social Media to Connect With Millennials

If you’re looking to sell vehicles to millennials, then social media is where they can be found! Dealers should be utilising social media marketing to target all demographics but millennials are likely to be the most receptive as they spend so much time on these platforms.

Instagram is a good example of a very visually focused platform, ideal for showcasing stock, which many dealers are yet to fully embrace. Yet it’s arguably the most popular, fastest growing social app amongst millennials and is also great for enhancing imagery.

Online Selling

Millennials are far more open to purchasing online as it’s something that they’ve grown up with, e-commerce has helped to embed the ‘I want it now’ attitude into this generation and there’s no reason why this can’t extend to vehicle sales.

Even if you’re not fully ready to sell vehicles online, there’s no reason why you can’t take deposits and reservations or offer accessories and aftersales services via online platforms in order to target this tech savvy bunch.

Online Reputation

It’s vital that dealerships now take their online reputation seriously and generate as many good reviews as possible to build trust with consumers. Ignoring negative reviews isn’t an option either, it’s far better to be seen to be resolving issues and communicating positively with customers. Millennials will look online at reviews of vehicles and dealerships before buying which means dealers must be proactive in asking customers to leave feedback online.

It’s also important to remember that if millennials have a good or a bad experience at a dealership, one of the first things they’re likely to do is post about it on one social media platform or another. With many having hundreds or even thousands of followers, your reputation could take a battering if you leave a sour taste in their mouths, so it’s worth staying on good terms with everybody, no matter how awkward they might be! It works both ways though, so if your service is brilliant then you don’t have anything to worry about!

Finance Deals

This generation aren’t too fussed about whether they own their own vehicles, take the Click Dealer car park as a perfect case study snapshot. Its spaces are full of 16 & 17 plate registrations coming from all areas of the business, apprentices right through to management and the way many millennials afford these brand-new vehicles is often through utilising finance and leasing deals rather than buying outright.

At the end of their contracts, they usually just move onto another vehicle and with finance on used vehicles becoming more and more prevalent, this is where the smart money will be made in the future for savvy dealerships.

For more information on how to improve your dealership’s performance this year, get in touch with the digital experts for independent dealers today on: marketing@clickdealer.co.uk, 01782 478 220 or via our contact page.