Hyundai’s goal of improving customer experience leads to service scheduling deal

The reinvention of Hyundai continues.

Following a slew of upscale products, the news of a new corporate image program and a refined marketing campaign, the automaker says its new online service-scheduling program is aimed at improving the customer experience.

Dubbed the Hyundai Car Care Scheduling platform, which is essentially a branded version of Xtime’s Scheduling 7 software, customers will be able to access their dealer’s service scheduling system online and book appointments through tablets, smartphones and computers.

Customers can select appointments based on a preferred service advisor, place the service in their personal calendar and schedule reminders by SMS or email.

“This puts us in the position to better respond to customer demands and make sure we make it as convenient as possible when it comes to servicing their vehicles at Hyundai dealerships. That starts with appointment scheduling,” says Annie Deslauriers, director of customer services at Hyundai.

She says the OEM began actively pursuing the partnership back in October. Dealers were told about the program during a series of regional dealer meetings in February.

Hyundai confirmed it was currently in trial phase with 10 dealers in April, noting the program is set to rollout to participating dealers nationwide over the coming months.

Deslauriers says the automaker completed a “thorough analysis” and the DMS integration component.

“We already had some Hyundai dealerships on the solution, so we leverage their information, too.”

Participation is not mandatory. Head office is covering install costs for stores interested in signing up, though she says they are giving it roughly six to eight months to determine dealer appetite for the system.

“The internal goal is to have a high percentage of dealer participation; somewhere between 80 and 100 per cent would be ideal. It’s a strong solution and there can be some great benefits for dealer operations and customer experience,” she says.

Chris Howie, V-P of international sales for Xtime, says Scheduling 7 works because it helps keeps customers connected to their dealers through a consistent online brand experience.

Hyundai is also the latest Canadian OEM to sign a deal with Xtime for one of its software solutions. Howie reports the Cox Automotive company has deals signed with Honda, Toyota, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Mazda, Nissan, Infiniti and Volvo. Volkswagen and Audi also endorse Xtime.

“We are helping Hyundai dealers to further enhance their appointment processes and shop loading, which helps with the increase in UIOs that Hyundai dealers have over the past few years,” he says.

Dealerships running the Scheduling 7 have seen, on average, six new customers per month, a 5.5 per cent better show rate, a 9.6 per cent increase in service retention and roughly $13,000 in additional monthly revenue.

Deslauriers insists the motivation behind Hyundai Car Care Scheduling was not poor service retention numbers or reflected the performance of Hyundai’s fixed operations.

“This is all centred around our customer service strategy,” she notes.