Advertisement feature from Cazoo
AI may be one of the most talked-about technologies in automotive, but at Cazoo the focus is firmly on where innovation can make a practical difference. That means helping dealers save time, make more of their opportunities and, ultimately, sell more cars.
That thinking can already be seen in Cazoo’s latest product innovation: AI-powered customer call summaries, available free to dealers using Cazoo’s Dealer Centre.
The new tool analyses customer phone enquiries and pulls out what matters, including vehicle availability, part-exchange information, finance discussions, deposits and promised callbacks. It means dealers can quickly see what happened on a call and, crucially, what action to take next.
Over the last three months, 95% of buyers’ calls included a detailed vehicle enquiry, proof of the quality of leads Cazoo continues to drive to dealers. Half of all calls resulted in a confirmed showroom visit or test drive where the vehicle was available.
For Thomas Orthgiess, Chief Product Officer at Cazoo, it is a good example of where AI can deliver tangible value rather than simply adding more technology.
“Our dealer partners asked us for help to stay on top of their calls, so we built this for them and made it free,” he says. “When every callback happens and every promise is kept, dealers sell more cars and customers get a better experience. That’s a win for everyone.”
Cazoo sees plenty more opportunities to save dealers time on everyday tasks, including:
- Creating vehicle adverts: Cazoo is exploring how a dealer could capture a 360-degree video of a vehicle using a smartphone, with AI helping to extract and enhance imagery, identify specifications and prepare descriptions and other content. The dealer would then review and approve the finished listing. It is AI as a co-pilot, rather than a replacement for human judgement.
- Making better use of data: Dealers already have access to huge amounts of information on pricing, the market and customer demand. The challenge is turning all that information into something useful. Cazoo is looking at how AI could help dealers get to useful insights more quickly and, importantly, understand what action to take.
- Changing the way buyers search: Cazoo sees an opportunity for AI to make car search feel much more natural. Instead of starting with make, model and a series of filters, buyers could simply describe what they need in their own words, from “a reliable family car for the school run” to “something economical for a long motorway commute”. Traditional criteria such as price, mileage and age still matter, but they no longer have to be the starting point.
For Cazoo, useful innovation isn’t about chasing the latest technology; it’s about finding practical ways to make life easier for dealers and creating a better buying experience for their customers.
Brook Bishop. Chief Commercial Officer.
www.dealer.cazoo.co.uk
0333 038 2051