MINNEAPOLIS -

Finding valuable trade-ins that can be turned quickly are likely even more important to dealerships now in a COVID-19 retail world.

To help dealerships locate those treasured vehicles, technology firm Outsell launched what it’s calling Outsell Equity, which is designed to help dealers identify buyers who are most likely to trade in their vehicles for another right now.

The company highlighted Outsell Equity includes triggers such as equity status and “similar payment” modeling that can accelerate sales retention by engaging past customers at exactly the right time with an individualized message.

Outsell explained the four steps of how the tool is geared to works:

• Outsell Equity automatically identifies customers and prospects who reach positive equity status, so that the dealer can inform them that they are in a good position to trade their current vehicle and purchase a new vehicle sooner than they normally would.

• Using a new “Similar Payments” feature, Equity can even show customers specific VINs that they can get with similar payments to what they have now.

• Then it automatically picks the best channel to reach them and deploys relevant equity campaigns (Email and/or Direct Mail).

• The software enables dealers to optionally add a custom offer to these campaigns (like all other Outsell automated campaigns).

A pair of dealerships shared their experience using Outsell Equity through a news release the company distributed on Monday.

“Outsell turned what used to be a huge slog of gathering incentives, making creative, and deploying haphazard and dull equity emails to our customers into something elegant and intuitive,” said Chris Basha, marketing & technology director at Carriage Auto Group.  “There’s no need for a data scientist or a graphic designer anymore – Outsell turned similar payment upgrades into a piece of cake.”

Kevin O’Neill, director of sales, marketing, and technology for Classic Kia and Classic Toyota added, “Outsell Equity is user friendly. It allows us to quickly send out communications to the right customers and present a strong value proposition. You can be very specific in your targeting or you can have a broader approach. Either way it is simple to execute.”

Equity is included in Outsell’s comprehensive Enhanced package, which includes everything a dealer needs for automated virtual customer engagement, including artificial intelligence-driven, omnichannel marketing automation, sales and service conquest capabilities and in-market buyer detection.

Results for Outsell’s packaged solutions are guaranteed, tied to a dealer’s linked sales and repair orders (ROs), according to the company.

“Customer retention is key in this economy, and dealers need to do all they can to entice past customers to become repeat customers,” Outsell founder and chief executive officer Mike Wethington said. “Outsell Equity helps by surfacing these likely buyers and teeing them up for a sale with a relevant, customized message. Consolidating your vendor approach with Outsell leads to a superior customer experience because all the sales, service, and equity messaging is coordinated across each individual’s consumer lifecycle.

“We’ve long said that dealers need to sell smarter, not harder,” Wethington added, “and Outsell Equity is a prime example of how to do that effectively. Our dealers who are already using this solution tell us that it makes an impact quickly.”

A comprehensive, multi-year study conducted by Outsell, RXA and Experian showed that AI-driven consumer lifecycle marketing leads to:

• 23% increase in repeat sales

• 31% increase in service visits

• $427 increase in individual customer value

To learn more about Outsell Equity, visit https://www.outsell.com/equity.