NORFOLK, Va. -

For dealers who would like to continually analyze consumer buying patterns and behavior to determine when the consumer is in-market to buy a car or service his or her vehicle, they can now use the services of their intelligence assistant, “Otto.”  

Otto is part of Dominion Dealer Solutions’ new MarketActivator technology, which Dominion describes as a “data-mining, marketing machine” that uses data science to drive prime opportunities for sales and service. The company says that results in a more profitable relationship between the dealership and end consumer.  

The product is meant to help dealers, who lose 88 percent of customers over four years of ownership, Dominion noted, using data from IBISWorld. Dominion added that most service transactions take place with third-party independents and not the franchised dealer.

“If dealers can be more proactive in determining when customers are ready to transact, we estimate that much of the sales and service business that they are losing will return,” Jill Whitehead, senior vice president of operations for Dominion Dealer Solutions, said in a news release.

“Otto,” the intelligence assistant in MarketActivator, triggers a marketing power sequence for each consumer based on his or her unique profile and shopping behavior. Otto sends personalized sales and service offers across multiple channels — such as Facebook, email, direct mail and outbound call — and those offers direct customers to their personalized URL.

The system sends internal alerts when qualified customers arrive in the service drive. Dominon adds that Otto is always mining for what Dominion calls “lost souls.” The system automatically communicates tailored offers to bring customers into the store.

When a customer posts a negative review or his or her online behavior indicates that he or she is interested in upgrading to a new or used vehicle, Otto ensures that sales and service teams are appropriately alerted.

The reverse inventory sales match feature within MarketActivator identifies a vehicle of interest and directly markets those vehicles to existing and conquest customers.

Dominion reported the case of Brian Singh, general manager of Parkway Family Kia and Mazda, who said his business experienced an increase in sales soon after implementing its processes and more targeted messaging through MarketActivator. He added that the business sold its first car from the service lane within seven days of using the technology.

Whitehead said almost half of the customers in a dealer’s database have moved or no longer own their vehicle. MarketActivator, she added, ensures that every message is targeted and will reach the consumer that owns that vehicle.

“We take the output of each customer’s engagement with the complete customer lifecycle communication and use it in our AI system to better prescribe the next message and channel to the customer,” she said.

The technology has been piloted and installed with multiple early adopters and will officially launch in conjunction with NADA Show 2019 in San Francisco.