UK automotive retailer Vertu Motors has partnered with cloud communications platform Twilio to offer digital car sales using video, SMS and email.
According to Vertu, it has been able to deliver a multi-channel digital showroom experiences in its 147 outlets across the country. This has included all elements of car buying process, from meeting the dealer and looking at the vehicle to completing FCA-compliant finance paperwork.
The company said the digital solution enabled it to quickly ramp its finance signups to close to pre-Covid levels and to maintain sales volume through the most recent pandemic restrictions.
The Twilio programmable video was used to embed video chat into Vertu Motors’ showroom product, which is used by its team for day-to-day interaction with all Vertu systems and customers.
Using video allowed the Vertu Motors team to do everything as though the customer was sitting in front of them in the dealership, from creating and presenting a deal to customers to working through finance calculators in a compliant way.
If the customer had a question about the vehicle they could not physically see, the Vertu Motors team could simply “walk” the customer over and let them see any elements they needed to be sure of via the tablet camera. The company said this gave customers confidence to make often significant financial decisions at a distance.
Additionally, Vertu Motors has built a solution to enable digital signature, in compliance with FCA regulations. Using programmable SMS from Twilio, Vertu Motors is able to send a customer a link to the document via SMS as well as a 4-digit code. Once happy with the content of the document, all the customer has to do is to reply with the 4-digit code and their date of birth to sign.
David Crane, chief operations officer at Vertu Motors, said: “This has not been a shift from analogue to digital: Vertu Motors was already moving forward with digital acceleration but the pandemic meant we had to put our foot on the accelerator.
“Because of Covid-19, things that would have taken months became an immediate priority so we could continue to meet the needs of our customers and our business.
“With the model we’ve implemented, our customers tell us they can’t believe how easy it is and we’re delighted to have been able to build a simple solution to a complex problem that’s delivered clear value. As we look ahead to what may come in the next year, it’s clear that, whatever happens, the great strides we’ve made create solid foundations on which we will continue to build.”
