When it comes to the customer experience, personalization is the name of the game.

There’s no question about it: the digital age has changed how we do — and respond to marketing. Delivering a frictionless customer experience now means personalization at scale and through time — with multiple, personalized touchpoints and communications uniquely relevant to every customer.

Once constricted to targeted offers, personalization now extends to the entire customer experience. About a decade ago and more importantly, pre-COVID-19, customers were satisfied with generic and simplistic customer experiences that did not extend to online shopping. Today, disruptors like Amazon and Netflix have changed how companies serve their customers and set the standards of how customers expect to be treated.

“It’s time to get personal,” says David Boice, co-founder and CEO of Team Velocity. “Instead of finding ways to bring the customer to the dealership, it’s how to bring the dealership to the customer. The expectations are higher than ever for companies to deliver a highly personalized one-on-one customer experience across all mediums, not just digital. They want to feel like the brands know who they are and what matters to them.”

Today, 89% of shoppers expect a personalized and unique shopping experience and would likely remain with that brand that recognizes them as a person and not a number. And, over 60% of those shoppers today would even switch brands after one bad experience and lack of personalization. 

Over the years, we’ve seen tremendous strides in digital and integrated transformation. Regardless of the industry, companies have sought new ways to stand out from their competition and provide the best possible customer experience across both online and offline mediums. Dealerships and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) alike are utilizing an all-inclusive customer experience platform called Apollo that digitizes the car buying and vehicle ownership experience. It empowers thousands of dealers nationwide to grow their business with intelligent marketing technology that connects the entire customer journey from the initial engagement to a final transaction.

One of Apollo’s primary functions is the ability to create a personalized and frictionless shopping experience for every customer, dynamically customized to their unique information. Consumers are targeted with dynamic, relevant and personalized offers from one touchpoint to another without noticing the difference. What they see online is what they get in real life and no in-between.

“Team Velocity is driven by the data. It’s the attention to detail that helps the store move forward,” says Noah Brauer, general manager of Jeff Wyler Eastgate Automall. “They were more in tune with getting a specific message, on a specific car, to a specific customer at a specific time…more than anybody else.”

With Team Velocity’s all-inclusive customer experience platform, dealers can unify the entire customer experience through a single platform. With many industries moving increasingly online, Team Velocity is guiding dealers into this new age of a frictionless customer experience. Apollo provides a 360-solution across websites, advertising and retention, resulting in higher profits and more transactions. 

“Team Velocity has helped our dealership remain consistent across all of our marketing mediums,” says Mike Zafiriou, general manager of Volkswagen of Downtown Chicago. “The ability to feature upgrade vehicles and monthly payments in all ads has helped us grow in all of our departments year over year. Using targeted messaging across targeted mail, email and digital, we increased our trades by 27% YOY and have seen our CP business grow by over 10%.”

Personalization doesn’t stop there. To stay competitive in today’s market, dealers have to create a user-friendly, personalized and one-stop-shop website geared toward seamless online transactions and offline services readily available online. For example, appointment scheduling, repair reminders, vehicle pick-up and delivery, and more.

Using DMS data, Team Velocity developed a transaction-driven platform designed to deliver a hyper-personalized, fast and integrated customer experience. For dealers, the customer experience typically starts with their website. Team Velocity’s website product, Apollo Sites, harnesses the data gold mines within the DMS to provide every customer a unique, personalized, Amazon Prime-like experience. “I have been with many website providers over the years and have never been able to find one that provided a total package the way Team Velocity does,” says Joseph Bratkovich, general manager of Freedom Kia of Morgantown.

“What I like most about the Apollo site is it allows us to give offers to our customers,” says Ryan Seamen, sales director of Hansel Toyota. All customers have a personalized experience when they go on the site and are immediately recognized when they log on. They use smart money to drive the customer to have a better and better experience in the dealership. And based on everything we’ve seen at Team Velocity, they’re a step ahead of every other provider out there.”

Apollo Sites is the industry’s first transactional website built for a frictionless customer experience. Everything your customers need to transact is natively built into your website, no plug-ins required, making it less expensive, lightning-fast and easy to navigate. It includes a suite of transactional features geared toward sales, service and trades-ins, like one-touch service scheduling with built-in pick-up and delivery, virtual test drives and buy-online applications to provide an unparalleled customer experience. 

It’s not only Apollo’s ability to provide consumers with a frictionless and transactional website experience that has dealers around the country raving but its comprehensive sales retention tool that takes equity mining to a whole new level. 

“Team Velocity has shown me a dedication to meeting the requirements as a certified digital provider with multiple brands we represent,” says Jeff Williams, director of digital marketing, Fowler Automotive Group. “They are compliant across all advertising mediums and their strategy for meeting manufacturer objectives, turn rate, service retention and increasing market share is second to none. Their website platform is unique in the sense that it gives our customers an experience like no other provider we have seen in the industry — one tailored to them individually and giving the customer easy access to information and a low barrier of entry into the online retailing process as well as retaining their service business. Apollo helps us see our customers’ needs and approach each one more intelligently, adding value with every customer interaction as a dealer and representative of our brands.” 

“To reach today’s consumers, they stay up to date with current market trends and technology,” says Meghan Balum, marketing director of W & L Dealerships. “All of their marketing tools tie in together for maximized and optimal results, not to mention making it a more personalized experience for each of our customers. Apollo dashboard and analytic reports are simple and easy to use, so you never lose sight of your marketing.”

Like most consumers, maybe you’ve come to appreciate personalized recommendations and offers relevant to you? Or related products and services based on something you’ve recently purchased? Personalization is the name of the game, and it’s here to stay no matter which industry you serve. 

Today’s customers expect a personalized experience when they are shopping. The standard “one size fits all” approach simply does not apply anymore. Offering fully integrated websites and technology that personalize car shopping and service experiences will drive higher engagement and brand loyalty and create lasting customer relationships.

If you’re interested in learning more about how Team Velocity and Apollo can help your dealership exceed the demands of consumers today with a fully integrated solution for customer retention, websites and advertising, please visit teamvelocitymarketing.com.