To fully serve their customer, auto dealers need to communicate over the customer’s preferred channel. If a customer is in a meeting and can’t pick up the phone to talk right now, why can’t they send a text message to their dealership? Not only should dealerships recognize that this could be a customer’s preferred method of communication, they should be seeing the potential of these text conversations.

In fact, 68% of survey respondents said they wanted to be able to message a business. Couple this with the stat that 70% of inbound calls to a dealer are “status and payment / authorization-type calls” and it becomes apparent why a phone call may not be necessary. There is no reason a customer needs to go out of their way to call a dealer if they can handle the transaction with a few text messages. The average call to a dealer lasts about 3 minutes, which feels like a hassle to a customer who just wants to know a price or approve maintenance.

In an industry where 90% of inbound calls go to voicemail or the wrong person, customers can easily become turned off by navigating a complex phone tree before reaching their destination. With text messaging, a customer could text their department and not have to wait on the phone while the dealership identifies the right employee to respond. On top of that, the text message to the customer has a 98% open rate within 3 minutes, leading to quicker approvals and happier customers.

Texting is no longer just another communication option, it is becoming the preferred channel for many customers. By reacting and responding to this preference, a dealership ensures both a happy customer and an efficient shop.

To read the full article, “Embracing Conversational Commerce” by Ujj Nath, follow this link.