How One Car Dealership Increased Leads by 15% with Cloud-Based SMS Messaging
Go Auto, a car dealership in Edmonton Canada, was using SMS messaging in their business for marketing. And their sales staff used text messaging to connect with customers. But it was all getting a bit out of control. They wanted something that would let them manage their SMS messaging better.
First, they wanted centralised control. Their sales staff were receiving messages on their personal phones, sometimes at odd hours from customers. Customer service representatives weren’t always getting the messages they should because people texted the sales personnel directly. So they needed something that would let them review and route messages appropriately.
Second, they discovered that some people respond better to text messages than sales calls. About 15% of their leads came by text messages. But they found those people usually didn’t answer sales calls, and they never returned voicemails. But when they received a text from a sales representative the people would text back within minutes and become active buyers. The company says those 15% were leads they wouldn’t have had without text messaging.
An added benefit of centralising their messaging to a single number meant their customer service representatives could respond to texts. In addition to email and live chat, they monitored the number for service related text messages and responded when needed.
To streamline the process the company created software to automate some of the sorting and routing of the messaging. This is easy to do with a cloud-based SMS service that offers a simple application programming interface (API).
The company also benefited by using an actual phone number to receive texts rather than assigning keywords with a shortcode. The dealership found a way to convert their landline number to receive texts so they didn’t have to change their existing collateral. But it would be the same if you used a virtual mobile number (VMN) which appears like a regular mobile number. Whether you choose a keyword and shortcode, or a VMN depends on your end goals, but either will let you take advantage of cloud-based SMS messaging.
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