Katie Mares, book author and automotive industry veteran, recalls a time about five years ago when she confidently embarked on a car-shopping journey without her husband, armed with her desired brand and model and a generous budget. But she says the seven dealerships she visited didn't exactly roll out the red carpet.

In fact, the first dealership asked if her husband was along. The second inquired if she had enough money, and the third wondered if her dad would be coming.

“I wasn’t taken seriously, and I was ignored,” says the author of “CustomHer Experience: The Importance of Tailoring Your Brand Experience to the Female Customer.”

“The reality is I had a huge budget. And I wanted a three-row SUV from a luxury brand.”

Dealership No. 7 had three-row SUVs, just not the one she had her heart set on. Still, she walked away from that dealership with a Hyundai SUV because of the exceptional customer service she says she received.

“They treated me like an equal and even took care of my kids. They didn’t ask if my husband was there or if I had enough money. They just listened to my needs and created a very safe environment,” she says.

This got Mares, a customer-experience expert, wondering what women want when buying a car and how dealerships meet those needs. Her research resulted in the book, which she intended to help all businesses, not just auto dealerships, better understand female customers and turn transactional service into relational service.

She points out that women are the world's most powerful consumers, accounting for $43 trillion in global spending annually as of 2020. “That number is only increasing as we make more money and gain more influence,” she says.

When it comes to cars, that purchasing power matters even more, according to Mares, who says research shows women influence a majority of vehicle purchases. It stands to reason then that when dealerships prioritize creating a positive customer experience for women, they should see an increase in sales and customer loyalty.

Understand Gender Differences

Men and women not only have physiological differences, but their brains are also different, research has shown.

A woman’s deep limbic brain, the center for emotion, motivation, memory and behavior regulation, is larger than a man’s, Mares says.

“This means women feel more deeply and pay more attention to the details,” she says.

Remember the book, “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus”? The No. 1 bestseller from 1992 provided practical ways for men and women to improve their communication and relationships with each other. The book focused on communication differences between the sexes.

Men use the logical side of their brains, specifically the left side, for communication, an inclination that impacts what they expect in a sales experience, Mares says. “They want a utilitarian sales experience that gets them from Point A to Point B. They decide what they want, then they go get it. That is the extent of what they want in a sales experience.”

Women, however, use both left the side of their brains and the right, the side associated with creativity, intuition and holistic thinking, when making a purchase, she says.

“Women have more natural pathways connecting both sides of the brain, so we communicate with creativity and logic,” she says.  “When you couple that with a larger limbic brain, you can see women want an experience that speaks to the senses. We need to touch it, see it, smell it, and feel it.”

This is where automotive sales experiences often go wrong, she says. “When dealerships create a very sales-driven, transactional process, women are out. Women want a pleasant relationship, a sense of safety, and an experience of the senses.”

Women should be immersed in a sensory experience from the moment they enter a dealership, according to Mares. She says female buyers pay attention to appearance and smells, restroom cleanliness, and availability of updated magazines. If a female customer brings her children along, she also wants a play area to keep them busy while she shops.

Next, how the salesperson talks to her is important. The person must be authentic. “If they are not genuine, women will leave. We need that connection,” she says.

Get in Touch With Female Buyers

Dealerships can do much to make the experience better for female buyers, according to Mares.

For one, the dealership should survey customers about their experience. Written surveys and focus groups are solid methods for collecting feedback, Mares says.

“When surveys come back, pay attention to what they say,” she stresses. “Women are more likely to fill out surveys than men, by a great percentage. Giving customers a voice at every single meeting also helps identify when the dealership is dropping the ball. If we ask, our customers will tell us.”

It’s valuable to seek the feedback of any female dealership employees. Which aspects of the company culture are beneficial for women? And which areas of company culture fall short?

“A company culture that welcomes women transcends to all customers,” she says.

Female employees can identify areas that may not appeal to women. Most male employees and general managers have never seen the women’s restroom, for instance.

They don’t know what it’s like to sit on that toilet, look in that mirror or how the soap smells.

“Dealers have their own research lab on staff. They should ask them what they want and need,” Mares says.

Maximize Marketing, Inventory, Systems, Processes

Dealerships view success through the lens of effective marketing, inventory turns, and good systems and processes, she says.

“The problem with those things is nowhere in them do they discuss the consumer,” she says. “Marketing focuses on generating leads but fails to consider if they are targeting the right customer. The messages are all the same.”

Inventory is usually determined by the previous year's top-selling products, according to Mares, who says dealers typically don’t separate sales data by consumer demographics. “Are they asking questions and looking at this data as they fill their floorplans?”

Most dealerships also implement processes and systems without considering their appeal to individual customers, she adds.

“Break down the customer journey, the touchpoints through time when the customer does business with you,” she says. “Examine each of those touchpoints and identify what goes wrong. Then consider what can be done to elevate the customer experience and better anticipate the needs of the customer, especially for women.”

Common Problems, Good Solutions

Improvements can start with how dealerships greet customers. Is it the same every time? Is it warm and welcoming?

“I did a survey when I first got into the automotive industry,” she says of the 2018 research that she repeated in 2020. “I found 88% of all women went into a dealership with a man. Out of that number, 87% said they were not acknowledged, and 100% of them said the man was greeted first.”

Sellers can make female customers feel more at ease by acknowledging both the man and woman when they arrive together. “Make them feel comfortable right off the bat. This is low-hanging fruit, and yet in many dealerships they are still not doing this.”

Immediate assistance should be provided to women who have their children in tow while shopping cars. “She clearly wants to get in and out as quickly as possible,” she says. “She doesn’t want her kids running amuck. She’s already nervous about that.”

Mares also recommends greeting the children, steering them toward an area to color or play. This keeps the kids busy so that she can shop in peace, she says.

"Limit the waiting time during the process," she adds. “When there are moments of pause, women begin to think things like, ‘They are going to charge me more.’ ‘They are going to sell me things I don’t need.’ When there is waiting time without communication, your customer is already putting your back against the wall. Be upfront. Communicate and be transparent.”

Finally, train the team to be consistent with every customer, Mares says.

“Number one, if you’re going to do something, stick with it and do it every time. No. 2, create a brand experience playbook that covers how to treat customers and make sure every employee follows it. Finally, teach employees to build relationships with every single customer, especially women. Emotional intelligence training is key. To create connections and develop relationships, you need emotional intelligence.”

Dealerships that prioritize a pleasing experience for women will gain trust. Trust fosters loyalty, generates referrals, boosts sales, and ensures female customers remain loyal, she says.

Retaining both male and female buyers requires dealerships to move from transactional to relational buying experiences, Mares maintains. “Men do not care if the experience is purely transactional, but women do.”