It is nonetheless potential to get a stay particular person on the cellphone at Tesla. But it surely’s not straightforward. There might be menus and ready and recordings to endure. And also you is perhaps transferred down a blind alley solely to be left annoyed. It did not was once that method. Tesla as soon as gained rave evaluations for its personalised customer support. Engineers chatted with prospects. CEO Elon Musk usually personally answered prospects’ questions on Twitter.
However then Tesla’s gross sales took off — it grew to become the world’s most useful automaker — and the private contact was changed by bots, blogs, FAQs and emails. Now, the posts in blogs have an offended tone from some homeowners.
Rivian, about three months from its first deliveries, goals to take care of shut communication with its prospects.
The corporate final week mentioned every buyer might be paired with a “Information” for the complete size of possession of a Rivian R1T pickup or R1S SUV. The Information, stationed on the manufacturing unit flooring, could have entry to engineers and manufacturing personnel. They are going to be only a cellphone name away to shortly reply prospects’ questions, from discovering the closest charging station to configuring the infotainment system.
The Guides program will not finish, Rivian says, after the R1T and R1S obtain quantity gross sales. “The Guides crew will increase with our Rivian proprietor group,” firm spokeswoman Amy Mast advised Automotive Information.
Talking on to early prospects in a video posted on Twitter, CEO RJ Scaringe mentioned: “The Rivian Guides program makes positive that each one of you has a person, an individual you’ll be able to name or electronic mail and ask any questions and supply any suggestions, you’ll be able to go to for something Rivian. These guys have spent a ton of time attending to know the product, attending to know the corporate. They’re passionate, energetic and may’t wait to spend time with you as you undergo your whole possession course of.”
However the problem for Rivian, analysts say, is retaining the strains of communication not solely open, however straightforward to make use of and in a position to ship quick solutions as soon as the corporate has tens of 1000’s of autos on the street.
“In my humble opinion, Rivian is wildly underestimating the variety of calls they’re going to get,” mentioned Laurie Foster, founding father of vendor consulting agency Foster Methods.
“Rivian could have individuals hitting the panic button over a noise or an absence of a noise,” she added.
“The place is the charging station? How do I keep this? How do I configure this by myself? Capacities. Every part. Every part about these autos goes to be totally different.”
If Rivian will get it proper, the Guides might pay dividends.
“In automotive, individuals do not feel as if they’ve a straight line of communication. Once you name a dealership as we speak, typically the receptionist does not perceive their query or places them on maintain or sends them to the improper division,” mentioned Foster.
“After which buyer fatigue and abandonment of these calls may be very excessive. If Rivian can really ship on that, there are a section of shoppers who’re going to really feel that is purple carpet therapy to what they’ve had earlier than.”
Rivian wouldn’t present particulars on the variety of Guides who might be taking calls when the primary R1T pickups are delivered. However Mast mentioned the Guides will not have any duties aside from to work together with prospects.
“Being a Rivian Information is a full-time job,” she mentioned. “To start out, all Rivian Guides are primarily based in Regular, Unwell., at our manufacturing facility. It is essential to us that every buyer appears like they’ve somebody to attach with … right through their possession expertise.”
Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst at Guidehouse Insights, remembers how Tesla’s interplay with prospects receded after gross sales grew and sees the identical factor taking place at Rivian.
“With a brand-new automobile from a brand new firm with first-time prospects, I feel it’s a good thought for these Guides to offer help and reply questions. To present prospects that have is a very good factor to do. The problem with that is that it really works nice at first. But it surely’s not one thing that’s going to scale,” he mentioned.
Being tweeted at tens of millions of occasions monthly, Musk — who has 49.2 million followers — nonetheless often solutions buyer questions on Twitter.
Scaringe, with 25,800 Twitter followers, would possibly discover it considerably simpler to personally reply to his prospects — for now.