LabunskyIn 2022, the online experience is invaluable. More customers than ever are visiting a dealership website, likely several times, before ever stepping foot in the showroom and talking to a member of the sales team in person. A top-level Customer Relationship Management (CRM) suite is crucial to track interactions and nurture relationships with online leads and prospects. High-performing dealers know that a CRM built with hyper-targeted marketing solutions is the key to success in dealership sales.
Today’s customers count on finding all the information they need online, and they also expect to get answers to their questions instantly. There is no better way to fulfill that expectation than by allowing them to text directly with your team. Pop-up texting tools allow dealers to easily communicate directly with prospective buyers in the way 90 percent of leads prefer, according to one survey. The widget appears as a simple text box on the dealership website that allows customers to send a message to the sales team. This simple and straightforward tool creates a seamless experience for customers, which results in a higher chance of those leads converting to sales.
The most effective texting tools provide advanced options for dealerships to best accommodate customer needs. For example, dealership managers should be able to select settings for how text messages are distributed among their teams – sending all texts to one specific team member, round-robin distribution, going through a chain of command based on availability, and more. There should also be several options when it comes to how dealership sales team members reply to customers, including auto-replies – these ensure that customers receive instant responses. Advanced texting tools that bring the best results for dealerships allow both customers and dealership team members to switch between multiple devices throughout the conversation.
Seventy-eight percent of people wish they could have a text conversation with a business, and response rates are over 200 percent higher through texting compared to phone calls and email, another survey said. At a time when technology allows texting as a form of quick and easy communication, dealers who do not provide this option on their websites are facing a major loss of sales opportunities.
Lauren Labunsky is a digital marketing consultant and content marketing contributor for Dealership Performance 360 CRM. She has over seven years of experience in studying and writing about digital marketing trends for dealerships in the RV industry. She can be reached at lauren@dp360crm.com.
