Laakkonen is Finland’s largest car retail chain, representing 15 different car brands and operating more than twenty car dealerships with the help of around three hundred car dealers all over Finland. The service mission of Laakkonen is to positively surprise the customer. Digitalisation has changed the way cars are bought. Customers are increasingly using online service to compare their options and generally visit less than two car dealerships before making the decision to purchase. Therefore it is critical for car dealers to be present online so that the online services and the car dealership offer a seamless experience for the customer. “We strive to positively surprise our customers by offering effortless transactions and excellent service both online and in person” says Tea Koivisto, marketing director at Laakkonen
Inside a car dealership, the sales margin is low and competition fierce therefore leaving no room for error when it comes to the customer experience. Car dealers today need to have the ability to make multi-channel sales. In light of the changing needs of customers Laakkonen has started to increasingly focus on the online customer experience. Providing customer service online is its own art form and therefore Laakkonen pursued reliable partners to help elevate their online customer experience.
Suitable partners were found when Lekane and Rainmaker combined their skills to activate the online sales of Laakkonen. The goal is to identify and activate the most potential customers among all the online visitors and guide them forward in their purchase process. Rainmaker uses Lekanes new Sales Booster Dashboard, which enables effective identification of customers from the masses of online visitors. The dashboard enables the sales person to be proactive, i.e. the seller can start conversations with customers of their choosing.
Proactive chat functions are effective in activating passive potential. “ With the Dashboard by Lekane digital sales personnel can reach out to customers in the right place and time, positively surprising customers with excellent customer service. Active digital sales improve the conversion rate of online traffic significantly”, asserts Jari Hakulinen, Business Director at Rainmaker.
Surprising the customer is particularly successful when the salesperson is able to utilise known service history of the customer by Laakkonen. Rainmaker is able to transfer an in-progress customer service chat to the sales personnel of Laakkonen when a customer wants to move forward with a purchase. Thanks to the new process the customer does not need to repeat any information already given and sales personnel at Laakkonen will get high-quality and sales-valuable customer contacts. Every other online conversation with a customer leads to a sales opportunity.
“There has been a significant increase in the amount of people favouring online shopping. Customers have a wide range of options that they can choose from; to use chat or not, to buy directly from the online store or with the help of video-chatting, all of which include digital elements”, Juha Kalliokoski, CEO of Kamux assesses.