Automobile dealers today are using text marketing to acquire lifelong and loyal customers. For any car dealer, it is a challenge to retain old customers and to get new incoming leads. They have to constantly come up with new marketing tricks to retain their customers.
While text marketing has been around for quite some time, dealerships are continuing to modify it and leveraging its use so as to make the customer experience enjoyable.
By text-enabling their dealership, a car dealer offers time-saving tools to the customer to make their own dealership the preferred one.
Text marketing, when done in the right way, can be quite useful for car dealerships.
SMS is the number one tool that can anticipate your customer’s needs.
Here is how you can use it to its maximum potential for car dealerships:
Automated Messages with Necessary Information
Sending an automated message once the customer has made the deal, reassures them after a purchase. Using scheduled texts, templates, and autoresponders, essential information is sent to the customers with details of the purchase directly. The messages should also have a link through which the customers can reach back to you instantly.Autoresponders can offer hours of operation, operating status, or any aspect of your business that is static.
Sale Offers Through Text
When you draft your text messages to encourage sales with your offers, remember that there is a thin line of success between annoying a customer and attracting them to make a purchase.TXTImpact recommends only ever sending a text that will interest and engage the customer and limiting texting to suit the needs of your business. If this customer is actively shopping for a car, one text a week is sufficient. If they just purchased a car, one text after a month to check-in is more suitable.
Text messages are better than a phone call because they deliver your offer announcement and yet give the customer space to think. SMS messages allow you to send your offers in a subtle way without being overbearing. You can also use keywords to deliver discount codes automatically to eligible customers.
Service Promotions and Deals
Most car dealers tie-up with local mechanics for car servicing. Send text SMS to your customers with exciting offers and deals on car service and regular oiling. By automatically sending service reminders to your customers, they are more likely to avail them as they prefer to get everything done at one place.It is more convenient for them.
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Because of this, you keep your customers and business and increase profits. With TXTImpact, you can have the ability to send the barcode, number, or link, right to their phone.
No More Phone Calls Required
If you do not want to be pushy to your customers, then sending an SMS is the best option as they can contact you on their terms.Phone calls are more irritating for customers today and most of them cut calls in between without even listening to the full message. A quick text allows you to convey your message quickly without wasting any time and thereby increase your conversion rate too.
Manage all your Services
Multiple user-accessible platforms can be used by all your salespeople and billing agents. This provides ease of handling client promotions, sales messages, and also helps you stay more organized from just one location.Scheduling and Appointing Messages
SMS messages can also be used to schedule and fix appointments with customers regarding new purchases, sales, customization, and services. You can schedule to send these messages to a specific customer or create an autogenerated responder to send such scheduled appointments.Sales Lead Generation
You can send an alert or an announcement for new products or restocked ones by sending SMS texts.You can also send discount offers to your old customers and send welcome bonus offers to new ones.
Instant Follow-Up
Text Marketing can also be used for instant follow up with your potential customers without doing extra work.You can create autoresponders for your clients who have shown interest in your products.
Service and Satisfaction Surveys
Text Marketing can also be used to get your customer’s satisfaction feedback. By sending text links to surveys you not only get answers about your service level, but you can also create a good relationship with your customers and understand their needs well.Texts have a good response rate and hence most customers feel it just takes a minute to give feedback.
How to Kick-start Your car Dealership Using Text Marketing.
Choose a number
First of all, you need to get the main number for your dealership. If you have a number already, you can use the same number to make it your text-enabled marketing number too. You can also take a toll-free number for your car dealership company or create a 6-digit shortcode.Reserve Keywords
When customers search on Google or Bing your keywords can show up in their results. The more you get your keyword out there, the more likely customers are to find it.Add Sign Up Forms to your Website
Create an option on your website to allow a sign-in for mass text messaging. This way, you get your customer’s approval to receive text messages from your company.If you send messages without their approval, they might opt-out.
Customers can receive exclusive updates and information regarding their favorite car brand from these messages.
Advertise on public forums about your new texting feature
Just getting a text marketing number or feature is not enough, you need to also inform your customers that you have a text number where you can be reached. You will also need to update this new feature on your web material and advertisements to let people know about it.
