Attracting millennial customers to your dealership is critical to your continued business success. The increasing purchasing power of this generation, plus their life stage as young adults and young parents, will make them just as valuable a demographic as Baby Boomers have already been to your business. But once you’ve got those millennial shoppers in the door, how can you keep them coming back?

Be consistent

Millennials are expecting a seamless transition. They switch from looking at your website on a smartphone or tablet to looking at it on a desktop to eventually walking into your dealership. If your store is having an Independence Day sale, you better make sure that message is conveyed on your website. And it goes both ways: If your website says you have a particular vehicle, you better make sure that vehicle is shown prominently when they show up at your store. Disappointing or frustrating millennial customers is the surest way to lose their business. Plus, millennials aren’t going to be as forgiving if it’s not an easy transition from digital to in-person. With the power and savviness they possess with social media, you can bet they’ll be telling their friends and the rest of the world.

Offer expertise

How many times has a customer walked into your store and you quickly ascertained they know more about the vehicle than your salespeople? You can count on millennial shoppers showing up with a world of information at their fingertips. When they visit your store, they expect your sales team to be just as knowledgeable. Here’s a sobering number: 40 percent of millennials say that “deep product knowledge” is important to them when visiting a store, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers reports. That means you and your staff need to be ready for them. Your employees should be able to answer in-depth questions about products, provide recommendations and suggest complementary upgrades.

Reward followers

Millennials won’t follow your store on social media just because they think you’re cool. Just like you when you go shopping, they expect to get something out of the relationship. Exclusive access to deals, discounts or information are key reasons millennials follow dealers on social media. When millennial shoppers manage to find their way to your dealership, that’s when you can tell them by word of mouth or signage to follow you on social media by explaining the rewards they’ll get. Millennials may be different from past generations when it comes to shopping habits, but one thing still holds true no matter the shopper. We all want to feel wanted and rewarded for our loyalty!

Related reading: Higher Customer Retention Means Higher Profits!

Use mail

If you want millennials to become loyal retail customers, you’ve got to offer those personalized, targeted promotions and discounts. That means offers sent by email or mailed to their homes can often be the most effective promotional tool for this age group. In this age of fast-is-better technology, sometimes the best way to grab the attention of millennials is to drop an offer in the mail.

Text them

Why should a dealership’s service advisor, salesperson or your BDC text? A dealership must put themselves in their client’s shoes. A doctor can text between patients, a plumber can text while on a job, and a lawyer can text while in a meeting. The data supports this as texts are replied to, on average, within 4 minutes. The expectation for a return call to a voicemail is the same day and the expectation for an email is 24 hours. Millennials don’t talk … they text!

Conclusion

Adjusting your customer retention methods to focus on millennials is smart. Not only is this generation growing in influence, they’re influencing how their parents shop as well.