SMS texting at the dealership

3 Ways to Jumpstart Text Conversations with Your Dealership

Written By Eric Schlesinger

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade, you’ve noticed that just about everyone has a smartphone in their hand nowadays. In fact, over 2.8 billion people use the Internet from their smartphones.

But even with the promise of a miniature computer in our pockets 24/7, it’s surprising that more dealerships aren’t leveraging the full potential of mobile engagement via texting.

I mean, real-time communication that’s available for car shoppers at any time in their shopping process is not just invaluable for them, but a great opportunity for your store! Am I right?

If you’re one of the forward-thinking dealers looking for ways to start or improve your texting strategy at your store, check out the tips below:   

Keep a Clean Website Layout

A cluttered website is the number one culprit of consumer confusion and cause of lag time in a shopper’s path to purchase.

For shoppers to engage and text with you, they have to find the “Text Us” button first -- and if your website is a convoluted mess, chances are they won’t see it!

So, to help potential buyers find your invitations to text more easily, do a quick run-though to evaluate the effectiveness of your website.

Here are some quick points to look for during the evaluation process:

  • Is there a pop-up ad on the home/VDP page?
  • Are all the main pages accessible from the homepage?
  • Can you easily find the text invite?
  • How many calls-to-action are on one page?

This quick website review is the perfect opportunity to remove the clutter and focus on emphasizing calls-to-action that will move shoppers further down the sales funnel.

And Remember: A “Text Now” button is only as effective as the website it’s on.

Strategically Design Your Website Graphics

Both text invitations and any other graphics on your website need to be strategically created to flow with the theme of the website.

There are a few main focus areas to keep in mind when creating your graphics and text invitations:

  • Color - Design text invitations in line with the color scheme used throughout your site.
  • Design - Keep text invitations as similar as possible to other buttons on your site.
  • Placement - Make text invitations easily visible, and make sure they don’t overlap important information.

Stay away from tacky or flamboyant colors and design. Keep the text invitations simple and place them in an inviting location that doesn’t inconvenience to the customer.

Key Take Away: Consumers will be more reactive to “Text Now” buttons that seem to be a part of the website design rather than a foreign popup or third party provider.

Use Behavioral Advertisements

Billboard advertisements, paper ads, email campaigns, etc., just don’t cut it anymore. It is time to embrace the power of behavioral targeting technology. The ability to personalize an experience by segmenting consumers and providing relevant content can increase consumer follow through significantly.

A Bibliometrics published study, authored by Jun Yan and associates, found that “Click-Through Rate (CTR) of an ad can be averagely improved as high as 670% by properly segmenting users for behaviorally targeted advertising.”

For example, at ActivEngage, implementing custom advertisements with ActivTarget is as easy as contacting your complimentary Customer Success Specialists. ActivTarget is a feature that has been created to allow dealers to provide consumers with relevant content at the right time. The ActivTarget feature tracks viewer habits and will deliver a customized offer or advertisement dependent  on the actions of the consumer.

Bringing It All Together

As the digital age of communication and shopping continues, it is your job to stay current with emerging technologies that can get you ahead or hurt you if you don't have them. Keeping your website clean and user-friendly, designing chic, but relevant digital graphics, and using strategic targeting strategies to provide customers with deals and promotions that fit theirs needs are the best business practices that will your dealership maintain a steady competitive advantage. After all, maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage is marketing 101. So don't be afraid to try new techniques and invest in technologies that will aid you in bringing your dealership into the future.

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Looking for an SMS texting solution that fits your dealership’s needs? Check out our SMS software capabilities today! 

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