For many years, auto dealerships have reached out to customers via telephone calls to explain repair issues, discuss financing options, and many other important things that go along with providing important products and services to those customers. However, there is evidence to suggest that texting may be more effective, and you can learn the reasons why below.
People Prefer Text Messages
Thanks to today’s technology and the ability to send or receive a text message almost instantly, more people than ever before actually prefer text messages to traditional telephone calls. Per the International Smartphone Mobility Report by Infomate published in January 2015, people send and receive five times more text messages than phone calls. What’s more, another report showed that three out of every 10 smartphone users would give up phone calls entirely in exchange for text messaging. As the years go by, it is expected that even more people will begin to appreciate and even prefer text messaging for communicating with friends, family, and even service providers.
It’s More Convenient
One of the biggest reasons why today’s consumers prefer text messaging to telephone calls is because texts are viewed as being less intrusive. When the telephone rings, consumers often believe they have to answer it right then; when they receive a text, they are more inclined to believe they can answer that text on their own time. This means texting is viewed as more convenient, and in today’s day and age, anything that is convenient is often more effective than its inconvenient counterpart.
Texts are Easily Understood
Though it has been said that one should never have important conversations via text because there is no tone or body language to indicate context, this simply does not apply to communication between a service or product provider and a consumer. In this case, the consumer simply needs matter-of-fact information, which is exactly what a text message is intended to deliver. Customers can read the text message you send and immediately understand what it says, which adds to its convenience.
It’s a Written Record
In some cases, when you choose to speak over the telephone, your customers may not hear you clearly – or they may mistake what you’ve said for something else entirely. Then, when the time comes to pay for services rendered, that customer may be confused about the repairs provided to them or even the customization on their new vehicle. Text messaging provides a written record that simply does not exist with traditional telephone calls, so it not only helps to prevent these misunderstandings, but it also provides you with a written record so that you can verify the customer received the correct explanation at the correct time.
When communicating with your customers, there is little doubt that text messaging is the way to go. Not only do statistics prove that most consumers prefer them, but they also offer unsurpassed convenience and they are typically easier to understand. What’s more, in the event of a disagreement, a text message provides a written record of the conversation history, which makes finding a resolution much simpler.