We are a single point dealership and up until very recently have run a traditional cradle to grave internet team. I started using AVA about a year ago or so to supplement our lead followup process and have been extremely impressed with the results over that time. The word tracks that AVA employs does a remarkable job at engaging customers who were flat out ignoring my onsite "real" sales reps to gain phone numbers, additional contact details and just information overall that we didn't have as part of the original lead. And at this point I've yet to have a single customer call BS about "Jenny" not being real (you can choose whatever name you want...Jenny is ours)....in fact conversely people think she's so real we've had a few guys try hitting on her! Does the product have it's limitations? Absolutely. It still cannot replace a live human being answering specific questions a customer may have via email or phone, but it's simply to tool via email to try to make sure every customer is being handled and also obtain additional info as mentioned previously. However, if stores have room in their budget and particularly if they run a cradle to grave system as opposed to a BDC, I think it's pretty valuable. The company that actually sells the product directly is Turn Key Events. It is also re-sold by many other folks but I purchased it directly from Turn Key and the folks there are great....through the roof customer service and probably my favorite vender now that HomeNet has come down off the pedestal I've always had them on! If anyone has questions for me about the product, feel free to call me at the dealership and I'm happy to share my experiences directly.
AVA (Automated Virtual Assistant): anyone used it?
- Thread starter bzweifel
- Start date
Bryan - I've been out of the front line of the BDC for a few years and I always hated the virtual representatives. I'm impressed to hear that the technology has improved. Though, I shouldn't be surprised, the last time I was sitting in front of a computer calling leads, I also had a Nokia phone and I played SNAKE to keep me busy.
I say stick with what works, but I'd be interested in hearing a snippet of the phone calls that "Jenny" fields, if you have one available.
I say stick with what works, but I'd be interested in hearing a snippet of the phone calls that "Jenny" fields, if you have one available.
Katie:
AVA actually has nothing to do with phone calls, inbound or outbound. It is strictly an email followup and customer engagement tool. When a customer responds to AVA ("Jenny" in our case), it can "read" the customer's email to determine what work track course to go down next....or completely shut herself down if the customer says things like "stop emailing", "I already bought", etc.
Bryan
AVA actually has nothing to do with phone calls, inbound or outbound. It is strictly an email followup and customer engagement tool. When a customer responds to AVA ("Jenny" in our case), it can "read" the customer's email to determine what work track course to go down next....or completely shut herself down if the customer says things like "stop emailing", "I already bought", etc.
Bryan
Just wanted to chime in here on this thread and indicate that if any of you ever have any questions about AVA you can feel free to send them my way. I work as a product trainer at AutoFerret.Com up in Bellingham Washington and I have direct access to the development staff should any of you wish to ask questions.
Bryan provided some very spot on discussion of AVA. It's always great to see a user of the service who has a great handle on what AVA can do.
For the record we consistently see lead engagement climb up 270% when we set AVA to the task of tracking down potential buyers.
A side benefit that a lot of you might not know is that AVA is also excellent at reporting back to you which lead providers and lead sources are your top performers.
Bryan provided some very spot on discussion of AVA. It's always great to see a user of the service who has a great handle on what AVA can do.
For the record we consistently see lead engagement climb up 270% when we set AVA to the task of tracking down potential buyers.
A side benefit that a lot of you might not know is that AVA is also excellent at reporting back to you which lead providers and lead sources are your top performers.
Thanks for the intro Jeff.
I apologize for my extremely late reply to this thread: I need to be a better Refresher!
In response to Blake's original question looking for feedback from people who have used or are using AVA: Blake, I'd be happy to provide you with a list of dealers who are currently using AVA that will be glad to talk to you about their experience with AVA.
Bryan, thanks for your comments: AVA loves working for you!
Without getting too sales pitchy, here are a few stats:
1. The results of a pilot program we did with BlueSky back in 2009 showed that response rate increased 270% with AVA.
2. The results of a pilot we recently did for a manufacturer showed that the average closing rate on leads worked by AVA was over 27%.
3. In that same pilot, the AVA Re-Engage Campaign produced an average of 39 vehicles sold to old leads (the AVA Re-Engage Campaign targets all leads from the past six months).
4. We just provided an AVA Performance Report to a store that launched an AVA Re-Engage Campaign and an AVA Lateral Transfer Campaign on 5/31/12: by 6/15/12 there were 47 confirmed deals to customers in those campaigns and they still have another month or so to run (the AVA Lateral Transfer Campaign targets all customers who purchased a vehicle from the dealership between 2 and 5 years ago).
5. We are very proud to maintain a retention rate of approximately 90%.
Thanks everyone for your comments and feedback.
I apologize for my extremely late reply to this thread: I need to be a better Refresher!
In response to Blake's original question looking for feedback from people who have used or are using AVA: Blake, I'd be happy to provide you with a list of dealers who are currently using AVA that will be glad to talk to you about their experience with AVA.
Bryan, thanks for your comments: AVA loves working for you!
Without getting too sales pitchy, here are a few stats:
1. The results of a pilot program we did with BlueSky back in 2009 showed that response rate increased 270% with AVA.
2. The results of a pilot we recently did for a manufacturer showed that the average closing rate on leads worked by AVA was over 27%.
3. In that same pilot, the AVA Re-Engage Campaign produced an average of 39 vehicles sold to old leads (the AVA Re-Engage Campaign targets all leads from the past six months).
4. We just provided an AVA Performance Report to a store that launched an AVA Re-Engage Campaign and an AVA Lateral Transfer Campaign on 5/31/12: by 6/15/12 there were 47 confirmed deals to customers in those campaigns and they still have another month or so to run (the AVA Lateral Transfer Campaign targets all customers who purchased a vehicle from the dealership between 2 and 5 years ago).
5. We are very proud to maintain a retention rate of approximately 90%.
Thanks everyone for your comments and feedback.
- Apr 28, 2009
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- Jerry
I had Ben give me a demo of AVA on Friday and I have to say I was quite impressed. I would not mind using her at Phone Ninjas for the leads we get. Get a demo and check it out. Really cutting edge technology.
- Oct 23, 2011
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- Kelly
So how I never saw this post I don't know-but I would count myself as an avid AVA fangirl. I have worked hard with the great team over there to get the most out of the tool. Verbiage, timing & integration - for the one person who complains of too much contact, there are no less than 5 it saves, even before reengagement campaigns.
Yes, it's a bit hard to say to the check signer, to quantify the impact past that AVA was able to get to a cars.com lead your ISM couldn't. But with a dogmatic presence the time better spent with active leads and responding to the specific needs is great. Where I have not the staff or time, I have found a way to use AVA to help bolster our digital efforts.
Even better, any time (though they are rare) that I have an issue, their team is the most responsive.
Sorry...I love a few tools I have here under the rock!!!
Yes, it's a bit hard to say to the check signer, to quantify the impact past that AVA was able to get to a cars.com lead your ISM couldn't. But with a dogmatic presence the time better spent with active leads and responding to the specific needs is great. Where I have not the staff or time, I have found a way to use AVA to help bolster our digital efforts.
Even better, any time (though they are rare) that I have an issue, their team is the most responsive.
Sorry...I love a few tools I have here under the rock!!!
