Top 3 reasons every car dealership needs live chat
At the beginning of 2020, customers could walk into dealerships, browse for cars, discuss their price points, and more. As we all know, the pandemic drastically shifted this experience. This change has expedited the need to optimize online shopping experiences.
Consumers are beginning to expect live chat options when they shop online. Based on the size of the purchase, the number of questions can quickly increase. Car dealers must have live chat to answer customer questions immediately (not to mention keeping at pace with new competition, like Carvana, Tesla, and other low interaction commerce models).
1. Expanded marketing opportunities
Most marketing efforts lead back to a landing page (though we recently wrote about why they don’t have to). While the landing pages may be somewhat customized to your audience, that still leaves a potential gap of information depending on who exactly clicks on your link. A survey found that 80% of the respondents expect retailers to personalize the shopping experience, which is why live chat is essential.
Adding live chat to your landing pages and website gives visitors the opportunity to create their own customized shopping experiences. They can ask questions that are important to them and guide the conversation so they feel confident in becoming your customer.
You can also advertise your live chat in email signatures, direct mailings, promo email newsletters, and more. Make it easy with a short URL or a QR code so customers can easily access your page and immediately start chatting with an agent about their car needs. To assist with impulsive decisions, be sure to include “schedule an appointment” feature.
2. Improve customer journey
Customers want to feel special and attended to when shopping online, just like when an attendant helps them with their in-store shopping experience. While an online shopping experience is different, it is still important to give customers the concierge service when they need it. Live chat is a quick and efficient way to simulate this on-demand experience online. By making your customers feel valued through quickly-answered chats, their whole customer experience will be improved.
An added bonus of live chat is that it can provide 24/7 responses for the customer. They can shop on their time, removing another barrier that prevents them from purchasing. While your dealership may be running on a small staff, there are many BDCs like our partner Better Car People that can help field the web chats your company may receive. They will work as your agents to answer chats and schedule appointments. Your staff can continue their normal processes with a higher sales volume generated from your web chat.
3. Lead capturing, nurturing, and converting
Your website sees a variety of traffic. There are qualified leads who visit but you have no way of quickly knowing. Even if you do know a qualified lead has come to your site, finding contact information in the age of data privacy is a challenge.
Adding web chat to your site allows high-intent, qualified leads to immediately ask their questions to agents. With tools like Botsplash, you can add automatic conversation flows that capture contact information and push it directly to your CRM for lead nurturing.
67% of consumers say that they would leave a brand if they have to repeat their information more than once. If a lead returns to your site, Botsplash will show your agent the entire conversation history so your customer doesn’t have to repeat themselves again and again. This will help customer experience and your bottom line.
All of your marketing efforts, from social media to paid advertisements, will be driving towards a page that is easier to find and convert leads. Instead of losing leads on the landing page, converse and convert with a web chat widget.
