Technology is moving at an unprecedented pace and it’s changing the way industries operate, including the automotive industry. What was once thought of as impossible, AI (Artificial Intelligence) is becoming increasingly popular, and will only continue to grow until its a staple in most industries. While many businesses are already using AI as a customer service tool, others are still on the fence about taking the leap into the world of AI. For automotive specifically, it’s worth considering how AI can make dealerships more effective. In this article, we’re going to predict how we think AI will change dealerships' websites in the future. 

1. AI Will Learn and Adapt

AI is an incredibly smart and complex technology that learns through interactions. AI relies on data collection from the interactions it has and becomes more and more efficient in dealing with these interactions. Much like a human, the more practice it has at its job, the better it gets. So for an AI chatbot for example, as the AI deals with customer interactions and repeated questions, it will become better at managing these interactions and answering questions more efficiently. The more times an AI chatbot gets asked the same question, the more refined the answer will get. 

2. Frequently Asked Questions? No Problem!

Take a minute and think about some of the questions you get at your dealership every single day. You’ve probably answered them dozens of times throughout the course of your career and it can get tedious needing to give the same answer day after day. This is why the “Frequently Asked Questions” section was introduced on most businesses' websites so you don’t need to have someone answer for you, instead the answer is on your website for anyone to read. It should be noted that many customers don’t think to look at the FAQ page on a website and would rather call, email or ask their question in person which can sometimes lead to a frustrated answer from a dealer employee. While it’s not acceptable or appropriate for any one of your team members to answer with a frustrated tone, it does happen and it will not reflect well on your dealership. The beauty of AI is that it will never get frustrated when it has been asked the same question 10 times in a single day. In fact, it will only become more effective in answering the question and helping your customers. 

3. AI is Available 24/7

At most dealerships, customers will only be able to get their questions answered by a customer service member during their open hours. With an AI chatbot, regardless of when the customer needs the answer to a question, the chatbot will be able to answer. As we mentioned in the earlier points, the AI chatbot will have all the information at its disposal and most likely have refined many of its answers through repeated questions. This is an extremely powerful tool as it will allow customers to get the answers they want, on their schedule without the hassle of trying to get ahold of someone. On top of helping out your customers, that chatbox serves as a great first point of contact for the dealership. So you could potentially be generating leads at all hours of the day without actually needing a human to initiate or respond to the customer. 

4. Every Dealer Will Use It

With how quickly AI has become an effective tool for all types of industries, it should be of no surprise that within this decade, everyone will be using AI in some form. Currently, we’re seeing a big shift in consumer trust while using bots and as AI continues to evolve that trust will as well. The bottom line is that AI will be a part of most dealer's websites in the next decade so you may want to consider incorporating it soon so you can be ahead of the curve.