[Alex Snyder]

Originally Posted by VIP Autos Live

I'm a firm believer in face to face video chat and for obvious reasons. In my opinion there is no better way to communicate than face to face and live - via the web.

It just so happens that I know of a company that specializes in video chat as well.

Video chat is an interesting concept and one I haven't considered using at our stores. I'm going to put some thought into it for something of possible future use.

I bet you do know a solution for video chat - you should put a link to them in your signature


On the broader topic at hand - chat is a very simple communication tool that is only as successful as the people manning it. As we (dealers) get better with staffing for Internet marketing, I think chat is a solution that is on the cusp of blowing wide open! I don't know what I'd do if we were forced to take chat off of our website!

[JoePistell]

Most of our site traffic comes during work hours (office workers surfing for a new car), if we give the car shoper a great chat experience, it only makes sense that customers will LOVE chat for service communications .

Us marketing types love to create hooks to keep 'em coming back after the sale. Early in the sales process, CHAT needs to be positioned as a handy "service window" AFTER the sale!

[toddsmith]

As I was reading through this conversation I wanted to share some information I just posted on my Driving Sales Blog about selecting your chat software. Cheap can be deceptive as Alex mentioned having Integration with your ILM, CRM is critical to keep leads flowing and follow up happening. I would like to hear your comments.

Here are 5 specific things your automotive chat should be able to do to make you more competitive and successful with your online chat.

1. Ability to view visitors on your website in real-time and watch as they shop around your website. Chat intelligence offers you the same power of watching an up on your lot look at three Nissan Maximas, before coming into your dealership. Having this insight before a shopper want to chat put you in control of where you should take the conversation.

2. The referring URL and Keywords shoppers used to find your website. This gives you valuable insight about what the shopper is thinking and looking for as they start to shop on your dealership website. You also want a system that will push your PPC keyword information back into your Google Analytics so you can track which keywords are converting to chats and at what cost.

3. First time visitor or returning visitor, with current and previous click paths available for review to identify exactly which vehicles the site visitor is interested in. This is like having a print out of every webpage a consumer visited to prepared your sales pitch, before they visit the dealership. Understanding your shoppers’ needs and desires allows you to craft a very powerful sales presentation. That is what Chat intelligence can offer you.

4. GEO‐IP targeting to identity if the shopper is local, or even a competitor checking out your website. Location gives you insight into your online approach, especially if you are a dealership that will give more aggressive pricing to a shopper outside your local market. Chat intelligence, not IM software, gives you that information and more.

5. “Shop with me technology.” This is a term you will be reading more and more about in the coming months as chat technology has improved. Sending a link to a shopper on chat is one thing, but redirecting their browser is much more powerful. “Shop with me” lets you lead shoppers around your website, explain things as you go, and lets you give you a powerful online presentation, with you in complete control.

Ask any vendor if you will have access to this information because it is incredibly valuable to help understand consumers and their needs. Also ask if you can monitor your sales reps during a chat. Do they have ”Whisper” technology that allows managers to coach representatives while they are chatting with the visitor, in the same chat screen? This lets you continuously improve chat agents’ skills and increase the service you provide your site visitors. Very advanced chat intelligence will also let you include the keywords originally used in the online search that brought the visitor to your site. So imagine instead of a pop up inviting them to chat, imagine a pop up that said, “I see you recently did a search on Google for ‘Cheap Cars in Newark.’ Can I assist you with your search?” This gives you a truly personalized experience with each shopper, giving them the right message at just the right time.

Chat business intelligence is what can help you significantly increase lead generation; merely adding a “click to chat” button will not increase your website leads. Make sure you ask these questions before you sign any agreement and ask to see it in action. I am not from Missouri but I do believe in the show me state. Your dealership needs more than technology to increase leads and sales for all dealership profit centers; you need a comprehensive service that lets you understand consumer behavior and engage at just the right moment.

[Alex Snyder]

Originally Posted by toddsmith

As I was reading through this conversation I wanted to share some information I just posted on my Driving Sales Blog about selecting your chat software. Cheap can be deceptive as Alex mentioned having Integration with your ILM, CRM is critical to keep leads flowing and follow up happening. I would like to hear your comments.

I think you nailed some big items Todd

A while back Dealer.com asked me to come up with a list of things I wanted to see from their chat engine, and I made a long list. We never circled back around on those items because I got tied up in things and I think it wasn't as burgeoning a genre as it is becoming now, so they didn't push things either.

I think it is time to circle back around....as if I don't put enough stuff on their plate already

[Chris Bayle]

Hello everyone, thanks for starting such an interesting topic.

Just so happens, I have been testing out a new chat program call whoson. I think this program is something I will recommend to our dealer group.

Aside from the ease of the chat program, whoson allows you to create tracking code for many different site that will track who, when, where from, who reffered, wether or not they were a new visitor or a repeat and a host of other nice to know info.

Because of the ability to track, it allows you to see if the work your doing to increase traffic to you websites is paying off.

Has anyone used or looked at this software?

Chris Bayle

[JoePistell]

All,

Is there a wiki we can all contribute to, to create a Chat wiki? I see a table with features down the left and platforms across the top. I don't have this well developed, but features could be broke into departments like:


.................................................. ....................Software1...............Softwa re2.........Software3



Chat Distribution

• round robin............................................. .........................x........................ ......x........................ ..
• broadcast......................................... ...............................x.................. ............ ........................x
• request chat with specific rep (pick rep from list)..... .............................x.................... .... ..
• prior chat notice (talked to another rep).......................x...................... ........ ........................ ..
• prior chat archive access............................................ .x..............................x................. .......x

Multi Store

• Direct chat to the correct store
• .....
• .....
• .....

No Rep avail

• "We're away" Icon
• Too busy to answer, hold shopper in a Cue
• Too busy to answer, Esclate to manager
• Too busy to answer, round robin to broadcast
• roll-over to 3rd party as backup

After Hours

• .....
• .....
• .....

It's not perfect, but you get the idea.

[Jeff Kershner]

There are several wiki programs out there including a few vbulletin plugins. If you think there is a need/want for this..I'll do some research on it.

[jchanger]

Here's a no-brainer for dealers advertising on Cars.com.

Cars.com announced at NADA that they are offering chat free-of-charge to all dealers that advertise on Cars.com. This is a great way for dealers looking to try chat to do so. And for those dealers who are already "chat believers", this is a great way to increase the number of leads you recieve via Cars.com. The software that Cars.com licensed is from ContactAtOnce!.

ContactAtOnce! has also been licensed by a long list of other 3rd party auto classified sites including Cox Auto Trader's AutoMart.com, CarSoup.com, CarSmarts.com, BargainNews.com, The Houston Chronicle, The San Francisco Chronicle, Hearst-owned newspaper affiilate web sites, Freedom Communications-owned newspaper affiliate web sites, Morris Communications-onwed affiliate web sites, and more.

So if your inventory is on any of these sites, you should ask for their Live Chat feature and in so doing you will be able to begin using ContactAtOnce! to handle inbound sales inquires from those web sites.

[umer.autojini]

Joe, I would add a smart chat bot to the list... 90% of the times you can train AI to answer the customer questions. See... the AIML bots... very nice... Pandorabots - A Multilingual Chatbot Hosting Service

Attaching a screen shot of AutoJini Live chat client.. hard to display the title as lot of pages on the dealership site would have the same title.. SEO??... so title is on mouse over... brings up users full footprint.

[bmwbirdman]

This chat system is the best I have ever seen. There is nothing on the market that can provide this kind of results for such a small investment. I run the Internet Department for Global Imports BMW & Mini. We are one of the top producing Internet Departments for Sonic Automotive Group with 163 dealerships throughout the US. This product works so well that we have expanded it to our Parts Department, Service, and Mini. Our sales have increased a minimum of 10% due to this tool. Training of the staff is critical because if handled incorrectly it will not work. My opinion is that this product is a no brainer.

Dave Parrott (The Bird Man)
Internet Director for Global Imports BMW
www.atlantabmw.com