Helping dealers work smarter, not harder

In the early 20th century, American companies met the growing needs of their customers by using extraordinary amounts of manpower to deliver finished goods and services. They’d use hundreds of hands to tackle any challenge and get the job done.

Today, few companies in our efficiency-driven world can afford to solve problems the same way. It’s all about working smarter, not harder. One way companies can make it possible for their customers to work smarter and have a better user experience is to offer a web portal to take care of business.

A web portal puts everything a customer needs right at their fingertips. And it’s what a majority of customers want! Recent research from Statista shows that 88% of customers expect a brand or organization to have an online self-service portal.¹ In today’s world, providing such a tool isn’t an option any longer; it’s just smart business.

A good web portal, for example, gives users complete visibility into all of their interactions with an organization. It can track key metrics, support requests, facilitate instant communication and allow documents to be uploaded quickly and easily. It provides users with a secure forum for conducting business and collaborating, and it allows them to help themselves through self-service.

The self-service aspect of a web portal is particularly important because another study found 67% of customers prefer self-service to having to talk to someone on the phone. Then, if something happens to go wrong with their transaction, that same Zendesk research found that 69% want to troubleshoot the problems on their own first -- before they ever talk to someone on the phone.² 

So, it seems clear that offering an online portal is the right move for any organization trying to take good care of its customers. Providing strong customer service through a well-trained team of professionals is critical, too. But more and more customers have made it clear they want access to online solutions first.

At Exeter, we’ve proudly joined the ranks of those companies providing online web portals with the introduction of our new Dealer Portal this year. It allows dealers to see all the deals they’ve submitted in one place. Dealers can upload documents seamlessly, rehash deals in real time, and chat directly with our buyers. Plus, it’s integrated with both Dealertrack and RouteOne, so users won’t be prompted to sign-in when finalizing an eContract.

Contact us for more information or to inquire about registration.

^{1 Statista. (Jan. 11, 2022). Customers: opinion on self-service portal usage by brands U.S. & worldwide 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/810374/share-of-customers-by-if-they-expect-brands-to-have-a-self-service-portal/.}

^{2 Zendesk. (2020). Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2020. Retrieved from: https://d1eipm3vz40hy0.cloudfront.net/pdf/cxtrends/cx-trends-2020-full-report.pdf.}

If you ever have questions, concerns or comments, chat with us directly through the DealerPortal or call our Dealer Operations Group at 1-855-4EXETER (855-439-3837).