CHICAGO — The online shopping experience offered by the majority of dealerships fails to meet customer expectations, according to a new Affinitiv survey of 1,000 automotive consumers.

While 76% of recent car buyers said it was important for the dealer website to be personalized, only 26% of respondents agreed that dealers provide a highly personalized experience on their website. The data is highlighted in the Affinitiv whitepaper “Predictive Personalization: The Evolution of the Customer Experience.”

“The website is often the first point of contact with a dealership, but most dealer websites were built using unsophisticated technologies that reflect an antiquated notion of how consumers buy cars,” said Doug Van Sach, Affinitiv’s vice president of strategy and analytics. “To meet customer expectations, auto retailers must evolve their shopping experience to match the precedent set by retailers in other industries.”

When customers were asked what part of the website experience they wanted dealers to personalize, the top items were “vehicles of interest,” “vehicle features,” and “vehicles within my budget.”

Affinitiv’s survey found that the online shopping experience offered by dealers falls short in three key areas. When customers were asked what part of the website experience they wanted dealers to personalize, the top items were “vehicles of interest,” “vehicle features,” and “vehicles within my budget.”

While 65% of consumers want websites to personalize vehicles of interest, only 47% of dealer websites proactively recommend vehicles of interest based on the customer’s browsing behavior.

Fifty-eight percent of consumers want vehicle recommendations based on specific features of interest, but in the study sample of websites, not a single dealer website recommended vehicles based on features of interest.

To download the whitepaper, click here.

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