How Will RV Customers Of The Future Use Technology?

The folks at Go RVing were interested in finding out how the RV consumer of the future is going to use technology so that Go RVing could pinpoint the best ways to reach out to those potential customers. They called upon a company called Influential that uses IBM’s WATSON to join machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to analyze the last 22,000+ words used by a brand or influencer, in this case, Go RVing, on social media.

Influential's report suggests some new and exciting ways for GoRving to best tap into the current RV conversations in the social space and reach emerging audiences - Millennials, African Americans, and Hispanics - in an authentic way. The survey’s results are not only important for Go RVing to note, but they are also relevant to sellers and marketers of RVs who can incorporate the action points into their own sales and marketing procedures.

(Photo courtesy/Go RVing)

Some key findings of the report focus on how three emerging groups of future buyers of RVs have different expectations when they consider the outdoor lifestyle and what they would enjoy about RVing. Millennials, for example, are young but more established than believed, and are driven by a need for freedom found in the great outdoors; Hispanics are price-sensitive and fiercely independent, and are focused on self-expression and creating experiences. They also respond to the DIY nature of road trips; and African Americans, most of whom are city dwellers, value family escapes to the country, spending time with loved ones, and enjoying the outdoors.

Some of the survey’s key takeaways and action points:

• California, Texas, and Florida had the highest amounts of conversation
• Find events to entice locals to come out and get to know RVing better.
• Content about RVing does best on Instagram and Twitter
• Jump onto those platforms for best results across all audience segments.
• Hashtags are widely used by the RVing community on social media
• Combine relevant RV and non-RV hashtags to start connecting non-RV audiences with RV activity.
• Upgrading and maintaining RVs is a point of pride for owners
• This provides an opportunity to activate influencers who like to enhance their lives by trying new things.
• Create touch points in another perspective
• Most of GoRVing’s current social content focused on the benefits of RV travel, while very little content aimed to address the barriers preventing people from purchasing/renting an RV.

(Photo courtesy/Go RVing)

By looking into the lifestyles of three essential RV consumers of the future, the study lays out out some active ways to reach those potential buyers: use local events to draw the crowds; make good use of Instagram, Twitter and hashtags; appeal to that online audience that likes to upgrade and try new things; find out why some people are resistant to buying or renting an RV; and create emotional and nostalgic messages that appeal to people who are turned off by sales messages. Here’s how WATSON might summarize: The study’s results have built a valuable inventory of some new ways to start thinking about reaching those future RV consumers before the future is even here!

Members may access the Consumer of the Future full executive summary.