THE humble telephone has come back into vogue as Australian call tracking and analytics company, WildJar, reports a 156 per cent increase in monthly call volumes to car dealerships compared with 2019.

WildJar said the increase of 156 per cent in September 2020 compared with the same month in 2019 – sourced from more than 600 dealerships – was the largest call volume ever recorded from its automotive clients.

It was followed by a near record increase of 142 per cent in November compared with November in 2019; the slightly lower figure reflecting the easing of restrictions.

The founder and CEO of Wildjar, James O’Neill, said: “Despite all the tools marketers now have, it is the humble phone – a technology more than a century old – that is coming to the fore.”

Mr O’Neill said phone calls had become more important during the pandemic with showrooms closed to walk-ins and appointments.

“Dealers have come to accept that customers are no longer coming into the showroom to start their purchasing journey,” he said.

“Instead, customers are doing most of their research (and decision-making) online, long before they enter a dealership.

“The increase in call volumes reflects this transition with customers and dealers moving to e-commerce-based solutions.

“With the onset of COVID-19, this transition has been fast-tracked with dealers’ websites and their ability to handle customer calls being more important than ever.

“Unlike online, if I’m talking to a salesperson, I have more of a connection with you through tone of voice and nuances – something not offered over email.”

Mr O’Neill said that WildJar’s call tracking analytics has discovered a blind spot for dealers when a customer transacts with them on their websites.

“For dealers that are already tracking their inbound phone calls, we are seeing a large number of customers abandoning the ‘cart’ at purchase or deposit point and calling the dealership to complete the purchase over the phone,” he said.

The technology provides the ability for dealers to “attribute” offline phone calls to the customer’s online journey and help improve and further prove the strength of the e-commerce model, by showing that the “offline” phone transaction started on the dealer’s website e-commerce channel.

Mr O’Neill said WildJar’s software allows dealers to see how much revenue is generated from each phone call.

This then gives instant insights into which marketing efforts are driving phone calls and lead enquiries – and which ones are performing and which ones aren’t.

WildJar also integrates with Google Analytics to ensure all calls that are tracked through a WildJar tracking number are pushed into Google Analytics as an event-based Goal.

“When a customer calls, an Event will be sent into Google Analytics which will trigger a single, unique Goal conversion,” Mr O’Neill said.

The WildJar platform also provides dealerships with the flexibility to automatically Tag which callers or tracking sources based on their purchasing intent, to integrate into Google Analytics.

“This is extremely useful for businesses looking to track and manage their leads more efficiently within their reporting suite,” he said.

WildJar has about 5000 customers with 35 per cent of its business in the automotive sector.  It covers major manufacturers including Hyundai, Bombardier Recreational Products, Toyota, BMW and Porsche.

It deals with automotive groups such as IDOM, Tynan Motors, Car Giant, Von Bibra, Cricks Auto Group, Giltrap Group, Sime Darby Asia and the LSH Auto Group.

Wildjar also has key integrations into third-party dealer management and attribution tools to manage flows and follow up leads such as Autogate, Saleshighway, Dealer Socket, FusionSD – AMS, Total Selling Solutions, Autoplay and AdTorqueEdge’s ALICE.

By Neil Dowling