Automotive Loyalty Gets Boost With Real-Time Digital Disbursements

Auto companies and dealers can no longer depend on direct customer interactions in the showroom to build rapport and keep customers interested. Digital is already dominant, accounting for 72% of automotive customer interactions, and that percentage is expected to grow. At the same time, 75% of consumers are more interested in doing business with companies that offer rewards, and companies are expanding rewards programs in response.

When it comes time to pay out rewards to customers, most want to receive any payments digitally, making digital disbursements a key part of the end-to-end digital car-buying experience. That is good news for payors, as most CFOs agree that digital disbursements are more efficient and reduce costs.

The “Expanding Payments Choice Playbook” explores how an end-to-end digital car-buying experience, from shopping to disbursements, builds customers’ loyalty and keeps them coming back.

Around the Expanding Payments Choice Space

With more than half of surveyed consumers purchasing cars online in the past two years, end-to-end digital experiences are becoming an increasingly important part of car buying. COVID-19 restrictions may have incentivized digital shopping, yet just 14% of surveyed consumers said either restrictions or their related comfort level pushed them to buy online. Convenience, cost and other factors are now fueling this growing trend.

As automotive companies continue to see the benefits of rewards and incentives programs, even longtime holdout Tesla has begun offering incentives, though they are only available in China at the moment. The package of steep discounts and incentives meant to encourage existing owners to upgrade is valued at approximately $6,000 per vehicle.

For more on these and other stories, visit the Playbook’s News and Trends section.

The Insider POV on End-To-End Digital Customer Experiences

Embedded payments are improving customer experiences and making payor processors more efficient and cost-effective. Improving speed, efficiency and transparency make disbursements more manageable, and that ability to know what is happening with a payment at every step is becoming table stakes for disbursements.

For this month’s Insider POV, we spoke with Reetka Grewal, head of digital for commercial banking and corporate and investment banking with Wells Fargo to learn more about how embedded payments are improving the disbursements process from end-to-end.

Meeting Car Buyers in the Digital Space

Younger consumers are taking a larger role in the car-buying space, bringing with them expectations for a fully digital consumer experience. This trend is helping fuel the growing demand for a truly end-to-end digital car buying experience, from how consumers research and choose vehicles to how they expect to interact with brands after they are owners. To build loyalty, many automotive brands are embracing rewards and incentive programs, which also need to meet consumers’ digital expectations.

As in other industries, consumers prefer payouts related to rewards and reimbursements to come through digital channels, making digital disbursements an essential part of a truly end-to-end digital car-buying experience. For brands that enable digital disbursements, the advantages do not end with satisfied customers and can include more efficient internal processes and cost savings.

To learn more about how auto companies and dealers can meet car buyers in the digital space, read the Playbook’s PYMNTS Intelligence.

About the Playbook

The “Expanding Payments Choice Playbook,” a collaboration with Onbe, examines satisfying car buyers with an end-to-end digital car-buying experience.