Volvo Fang Xizhi is user centric and promotes the upgrading and reform of automotive after sales ser

Mondo Cars Updated on 2024-01-31

A year after the launch of Volvo's "Six Service Commitments", Fang Xizhi and his team found that Volvo's "customer retention rate" had increased by 3% in the past six months. This indicator represents the proportion of business relationships with existing customers, and also reflects customer loyalty. For automotive companies, the ability to retain repeat customers is critical to maintaining market share. In fact, it's easier and less expensive to retain existing customers than it is to acquire new ones. There is a famous saying in the automotive industry: "The first car is sold, and the first."

The second and third cars were sold by after-sales personnel. ”

People in the automotive after-sales industry know that the customer retention rate can have a percentage point in half a year or a year, which is a relatively high achievement. If there are millions of car owners, one percentage point of ** means 10,000 more customers will be returned in 1 year. Fang Xizhi said.

Only when you repair the car can you remember that Volvo is a luxury car. "Although the joke on Douyin is just a joke for users, it is still a thorn in the body of Volvo. What the outside world may not know is that Volvo has made up its mind to unplug it.

Reducing the after-sales cost of users is whose life is being changed?

In the first half of 2021, Volvo achieved excellent results in the global market: sales reached 38080,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 41%. China, Volvo's largest single car market in the world, sold about 9530,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 449% - the growth rate exceeded the Mercedes-Benz 276% and 41 for BMW9%。

Behind the sharp increase in sales, the continuous development of after-sales service may be one of the reasons.

In fact, for any luxury car brand, after-sales is a piece of the profit pie. However, Volvo has decided to take a long-term view, whether it is the "six service commitments" or the significant reduction of the zero integer ratio, which has greatly improved the car experience of consumers.

A year ago, Volvo Cars released a new brand after-sales service concept: "Make it safe, more comprehensive", which includes six service commitments: lifetime warranty for parts, appointment for fast maintenance, free pick-up and delivery of cars, ultra-long hours, exclusive scooters, and all-weather protection.

Our commitment is never an empty word!In this regard, Fang Xizhi said, "Historically, I have never seen any brand like us, launching six service levels at a time with clear standards behind the commitment, so we want to change some of the traditional ways of playing in this industry through the process of doing practical things." ”

As the first brand in China to propose "lifetime warranty for parts", Volvo stipulates that if the vehicle parts are damaged under non-external factors, as long as the original designated parts are purchased and installed at any local Volvo Cars authorized dealer, and the owner does not change, you can enjoy the service guarantee of "one-time payment, lifelong worry-free" (non-vulnerable and consumable parts).

Over the past two years, Volvo has also optimised for individual parts** in an attempt to minimise repair costs for owners. Official data shows that since 2019, Volvo has been more than 12The price of 30,000 parts was reduced, with an average reduction of more than 20%, involving more than 1,000 product categories, including batteries, spark plugs, brake pads and other products with high customer replacement frequency. Of these, there are more than 1The price of 10,000 parts has been reduced by more than 50%.

This has resulted in a significant reduction in the zero-to-whole ratio of Volvo's models. In June this year, the "12th Automobile Zero Integer System Data" of the China Insurance Research Institute showed that the Volvo S90 decreased by 123 compared with the previous published value55%, lower than the Lexus ES, E-Class, 5 Series and other models of the same level;The XC60 zero-integer ratio coefficient is 46660%, which is the lowest in the same class (X3, GLC-class, Q5L, etc.).

At the same time, the main safety concept has also been extended by Volvo to the after-sales end. For example, 24-hour all-weather guarding, free pick-up and delivery vehicles within 20 kilometers of each way, etc.

Through the "Six Service Commitments", Volvo has gradually shifted the after-sales costs from the owner's head to itself. You will find that Volvo, as a luxury car brand, is quietly improving its cost performance in terms of after-sales.

Fang Xizhi said frankly: We must be worthy of every penny consumed by customers, and let customers "afford to buy luxury cars and use luxury cars"!We must prove that our commitment is never an empty word!

Is it so bothered to reduce the after-sales cost of the C-end, just to "lose money and make money"?Apparently not.

In this regard, Fang Xizhi pointed out a clear development path: reduce customer after-sales costs - increase customer stickiness - increase the possibility of returning to the original factory for after-sales service - profitability and brand influence improvement. That's why Volvo's customer retention rate has risen by 3% over the past six months.

What is after-sales service in the new era?

In the traditional automotive industry chain, after-sales maintenance services are just needed by users, and the industrial scale reaches trillions. As a connector between OEMs and users, dealers are an indispensable link. In the past, the majority of dealers also grabbed huge profits from it, and the aftermarket was chaotic.

When the new car-making force represented by Tesla entered the market, its direct sales model continued to impact the traditional 4S store model. To a certain extent, Volvo's "six major service commitments" and a series of measures such as the sharp reduction of the zero integer ratio coefficient are an attempt to transform traditional OEMs.

While Volvo bears most of the costs, it does cost dealers service time but doesn't generate revenue for them.

Fang Xizhi believes that this is the collision process of new and old concepts. "In the long run, good after-sales service ultimately leads to increased profitability. Volvo is also passing on this concept to dealers, but acceptance is a slow process. ”

Another alternate point between the old and new concepts is that when the engine, gearbox, and chassis "traditional three parts" disappear, the after-sales service of fuel vehicles and electric vehicles is fundamentally different, including after-sales service tools, required knowledge structure, etc.

Volvo began to conduct pure electric related training and assessment for all its technicians, and even launched a special "new energy certification" project, hoping to prepare for the large-scale application of pure electric vehicles in the future. In addition, Volvo equips dealers with new energy balancers, various discharge equipment, safety equipment, and anti-combustion equipment for batteries.

In the face of the advent of the pure electric era, the above preparations may be the most basic. In Volvo's view, in addition to the traditional maintenance service, the after-sales service of pure electric vehicles should also extend to the entire life of the user.

We hope to create an ecosystem in terms of charging. Fang Xizhi shared Volvo's internal business slogan, "Charge everywhere, charge as you like." ”

In response to the former, Volvo has put forward "five standards" covering almost all kinds of charging demand scenarios of users: free home charging piles, DC fast charging piles covering 200 dealers, lifetime free charging rights covering the whole country, brand charging stations, and one-click power-up services.

For the latter, Volvo's secret lies in data interoperability.

Fang Xizhi believes that the form of charging card is too backward, and for users who "keep their mobile phones in their hands", it is a convenient and fast way to charge vehicles with mobile phones. Volvo interconnects the background of the charging pile interface with the digital service platform to open up the data, which can not only provide the car owner with the "one-click charging of mobile phone" service, but also achieve "family and friend authentication", that is, the various free rights and interests of the car owner are directly shared with friends.

For Volvo owners, the greater significance of data exchange is to add a layer of guarantee to the safety of charging. In the past few years, spontaneous combustion of electric vehicles has occurred from time to time, which has caused many misunderstandings about electric vehicles. When the data of the charging pile and the service center are connected, the background can monitor the whole process of vehicle charging, and once an abnormality is found, it can synchronize the owner's information and provide emergency treatment suggestions, and arrange professionals to connect with customers for emergency technical support of the vehicle, so as to ensure the safety of charging to the greatest extent.

In addition, with the help of digital means, Volvo has specially built the newbie system, which connects the data of users, dealers and OEMs in real time, which not only efficiently serves car owners, but also provides dealers with more accurate clue push.

Fang Xizhi revealed that under the premise that the owner agrees to data sharing, the owner app, the newbie system can generate a portrait of the owner, and take the initiative to provide suggestions such as "it's time to replace xx parts" and "it's time for maintenance".On the dealer side, the newbie system can be calculated through big data, and 80,000 clues are issued to more than 270 dealers every month. The NewBie system will be rolled out at all Volvo dealerships later this year.

With the in-depth development of vehicle electrification, after-sales service is an important and easily overlooked part of traditional car companies, and Volvo is the first to try in this field. However, under the overall transformation of traditional car companies, this is only a small step for Volvo.

With the continuous changes in the automobile market and user needs, automotive after-sales service has been increasingly valued by users, and this is also an important step for Volvo on the road of reform. Volvo Fang Xizhi has repeatedly emphasized: "Our commitment is never an empty word!We like to speak with facts!"Every successful product is perfected step by step, and I hope Volvo Cars will do better and better and become a leader in the automotive field"Every successful product is gradually formed in the process of continuous pursuit of perfection, and we sincerely wish Volvo Cars can become better and better in the future development and become a leader in the automotive industry!

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