The auto industry has spent countless hours and dollars developing, building, and selling their vehicles. Despite all of this effort, what happens once a new owner drives off the lot?

Not much.

The onus has forever been on the vehicle to build lifelong customer relationships, to cement brand loyalty, and to create an audience of repeat purchasers and brand advocates.

Using the embedded technology in Ford vehicles, we’ve built an experience where Ford is now able to enhance the relationship it has with its customers after — and even before — the customer owns the vehicle.

For as long as vehicles have been made, the primary focus of automakers has been on selling the vehicle — a limited, singular interaction in a years-long ownership experience. What’s more, on average, the vast majority of a driver's day is not spent inside their car.

How can we build trust when our brand is such a small portion of a person’s day and life? How do we strengthen the bond between a user, their vehicle, and the Ford brand? How do we add value to the Ford ownership experience, and do all of this on a global scale?

Our goal was to dissolve the current one-way, limited interaction that our users share with Ford and instead create an ongoing relationship — delivering a holistic solution that elevates their ownership experience — through a global, digital ecosystem that builds trust and loyalty.

The Ford brand had been almost exclusively focused on the moment of purchase for more than 100 years. When it came time to launch the new all-electric Mustang Mach-E, instead of planning to market another new Ford vehicle, we reimagined the entire Ford ownership experience.

We knew from research that we needed to modernize the purchase process and make it more convenient. We also knew owners craved support and engagement beyond the moment of purchase for any new vehicle — especially for what is likely their first all-electric vehicle. And we learned that around 25% of preorders cancel while waiting for their vehicle.

We rolled out a complete ecommerce experience for researching, shopping, reserving and purchasing.

We expanded our tech platform to give the vehicle more capabilities and give owners more support, allowing them to keep tabs on their vehicle.

We experimented with partnerships to expand our services.

We made it all connected — a singular experience across devices, including in-vehicle.

And to keep people engaged during the time between reservation and delivery, we invented a first-of-its-kind experience that allowed owners to set preferences in their new vehicles before they were even built.

With our new tech platform, Ford owners can now truly connect with their vehicles. And by analyzing the incoming data, Ford can now tailor the ownership experience to its owners on a regular basis.

Consequently, Ford owners are now interacting with their vehicles tens of thousands of times a year. From creating daily routines to having Amazon packages delivered to their trunks, even earning rewards for purchases along the way, Ford owners are in touch with their vehicles like never before.

Despite all this, there was still a slight disconnect. There was a void between the time a customer ordered their new Ford vehicle and the time it was delivered. Not anymore. By creating the industry’s first Remote Vehicle Setup, we allowed owners to start communicating with their yet-to-be-delivered vehicles as soon as buyers hit “purchase.”

As a result, the industry average 25% who canceled between the time of order and the time of delivery didn’t cancel with Ford.

What had been a fragmented, incomplete experience that ended at the point of purchase, became a unified, thoughtful holistic experience that is adding value and building trust with Ford customers —the new way forward for all Ford launches to come.

Thinking of customers throughout their ownership experience made a huge impact on both Ford customers and the brand.

Our new ecommerce experience accounted for 97% of Mustang Mach-E reservations and 165,000 reservations for Bronco. These Mach-E reservations accounted for nearly 100% of Tesla’s lost market share. What’s more, our first-of-its-kind Remote Vehicle Setup ensured our preorders remained engaged and stayed with Ford until delivery — as opposed to the 25% cancelation rate our competitors were experiencing with impatient would-be owners.

We’re building loyalty with the FordPass App—which has nearly 12 million downloads — and showing appreciation for that loyalty with our FordPass Rewards program, which boasts 7.8 million members.

And we’ve made the whole digital experience seamless, with a unified design system across app, web, and in-vehicle, with a single sign-on for all.

This effort, combined with our expanding tech platform, has accounted for more that 600 million interactions across digital touchpoints.

As a result, Ford stock is steadily rising—crushing first quarter estimates in 2021.

All of this effort has created millions of interactions (not to mention revenue) in parts of the Ford business that didn’t even exist just a few years ago—improving trust, loyalty and the bottom line.