• Report looks ahead to how video will change the automotive landscape and become number one business tool for the industry
• Video technology will create remote, two-way communication between business and customers
• Salesmen and workshop technicians will be replaced by presenter roles

Dealer Sales Executives and Technicians could be replaced by Video Relationship Managers and Technical Presenters within five years, as video becomes the number one business tool for the automotive industry.

Research carried out by video technology pioneer, CitNOW, and published in its White Paper “How video has changed the face of the automotive industry forever” has been released this week.

CitNOW’s study of video’s role in the industry reveals that the retailer will always remain crucial to the process.

However, the rapid adoption of video services by the industry plus advancing mobile device technology and the anticipated introduction of super-fast 5G indicates that the car-buying landscape will change immeasurably by 2020.

Among the key findings in the White Paper are:

• Some 86% of dealers said that video had positively impacted on customer retention
• Meanwhile, 88% of used car sales and 70% of new car sales were completed within four weeks using video
• CitNOW’s 315,000 emails and 33,000 SMS’s per week deliver an open rate of a whopping 70%, compared with an automotive industry standard average of just 30.7% and an average of 23% across all industries

CitNOW CEO, Alistair Horsburgh, said: “At the moment, the industry is in its First Phase where it is embracing the benefits of video as a revenue and profit driver. But, as video enters its Second Phase, the customer will be expecting a video rather than an impersonal email, text or letter, as video facilitates a two-way conversation.

“Video will be integrated into every customer touch point. Its convenience and transparency will see the best dealers and manufacturers dramatically improve their Customer Retention figures. It will become a core pillar of an OEM’s CSI strategy; a driver of a brand’s marketing strategy.

“Driven by the consumer, video will have made the motor industry unrecognisable in the next five years.”

Download the full White Paper “How video has changed the face of the automotive industry forever” here: http://www.citnow.co.uk/white-paper/