The automotive industry is currently in a state of rapid transformation. Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a massive increase in the number of innovative new technologies emerging in this sector. Vehicles are becoming increasingly intelligent, and sustainable, with the rise of hybrid devices, AI, and IoT connectivity.
While adapting to this landscape comes with a number of challenges for any organization, it also has the potential to unlock new opportunities. Connected, intelligent vehicles can play an important role in the evolution of the CX strategy, when the right technologies are implemented.
For instance, with CRM solutions like Salesforce, companies can more effectively track customer information, provide predictive service, and even deliver preventive maintenance. Zero Motorcycles, a leader in state-of-the-art electric motorcycles, leveraged this new environment with the support of leading CRM solution provider, Salesforce.
Here’s how Salesforce and Zero Motorcycles are changing the automotive space.
Innovative Customer Experiences for Innovative Products
Electric vehicles in all of their forms are gaining increased attention in today’s sustainability-focused landscape. Zero Motorcycles is leading the charge for a more eco-friendly approach to the bike landscape. Offering a combination of amazing service and innovative products, Zero Motorcycles has already been described by market leaders as the “Tesla of Motorcycles”.
This rapidly evolving innovator is setting the stage for high-performance electric motorcycles, capable of surpassing traditional motorcycles in virtually every metric. Few other motorcycle companies have made bigger strides in a shorter time period than Zero. Unfortunately, despite the company’s reputation for automotive innovation, the brand was struggling to deliver amazing service.
According to the Director of US Dealer Development and Sales, Mike Cunningham, the brand new it had a great product, but they didn’t feel they were delivering the optimum experiences. Work needed to be done to provide amazing outcomes to dealers, prospective buyers, and customers alike. Fortunately, Salesforce offered a powerful solution.
Updating the Customer Service Strategy
Before accessing Salesforce technology, Zero was using a range of three different systems dealers needed to negotiate. This included one system for sales, another for service, and a third for marketing. What’s more, dealers also had to manually send paper warranty cards to get new owners registered. This meant employees spent a lot of their time standing around fax machines waiting for paperwork to be delivered, so they could continue with tasks.
Director of Customer Experience, Aaron Cheatham, felt the company simply couldn’t call itself a high-tech company without also delivering an innovative customer experience. The Zero team decided to take a fresh look at its entire CX strategy, partnering with Salesforce Ignite to accelerate the project. According to Cheatham, the business had some significant goals to achieve with it’s new tools, including a growth of 100% revenue every year.
The ambitions of the business meant they needed a platform capable of offering exceptional scalability. Following extensive research, the team decided Salesforce was the solution best able to transform the entire business.
Using the Ignite program, Salesforce and Zero used a human-cantered design approach to reimagine the dealer and rider experience. This led to a solution powered by the Salesforce customer success platform, to deliver a high-touch customer experience. The solution offered a service capable of going above and beyond anything else available in the industry.
Creating a Connected Experience
According to CEO of Zero Motorcycles, Richard Walker, the team believes everyone who buys one of their bikes is sure to have a fantastic experience with the product. However, they also know, to be a world-class brand and industry leader, they also need to ensure the CX strategy is on point. Every touchpoint with the customer has to be a first-class experience. Fortunately, Salesforce enables the team to offer this level of support.
Today, prospective customers can access seamless experiences from Zero Motorcycles from start to finish, beginning with the Marketing Cloud. The Salesforce Marketing Cloud allows Zero to generate relevant, targeted communications, showcasing the latest product news, industry trends, and even bike reviews. Sales managers at Zero can then track the journey of a lead the moment a rider opens an email, to the point when they sign up for a demo.
Perhaps most exciting to the innovation of Zero’s CX approach is the way the team chose to integrate its products into the seamless customer experience. If owners have a mechanical problem, they can tap the “help” button in the app and get service advice delivered instantly. Zero can access the key data about the motorcycle remotely, and diagnose an issue. The solution allows the company to schedule appointments when necessary.
Zero has achieved a 50% faster response time for emergency service with the new technology. There has also been a 25% reduction in support tickets. What’s more, firmware updates which were previously rolled out manually, requiring owners to bring bikes to a dealer, will soon be pushed to owners automatically. This means every Zero bike can be updated remotely.
Better Experiences All Around
As an added bonus, Zero has also been able to significantly improve its dealer experiences too. Using Community Cloud, Zero has built a dealer community capable of enhancing communication among dealers. The solution also comes with access to a common inventory, a forum for solving issues which might arrive, and more.
The seamless communication system between bikes, dealers, owners, and manufacturers, has virtually eliminated the miscommunication and lag time which occurred commonly during Zero’s early days. The Salesforce Customer Success Platform has transformed the entire ownership experience for every rider, and created a new sense of engagement with the community and brand.
According to Director of Marketing for Zero, Chris Heimbuck, Salesforce has opened doors to opportunities for the brand they never knew existed.
