In the perfect world, all dealerships should manage their chat in-house. It's of similar or more importance as staffing someone to answer your phone. Dealers would almost never consider outsourcing this function, yet virtually all dealers outsource chat.
In the realistic world, most dealerships don't have the right people to promptly answer chats during business hours, let alone 24/7. This is why I prefer a hybrid approach that many chat providers offer. With Gubagoo RESQ we're able to be notified of incoming chats and takeover if we're able to, if not the fully managed service handles.
Managed chat services are typically better at capturing lead info (and often frustrating customers). Self-managed chat sometimes results in lower lead volume but higher closing rates and a better customer experience.
I agree with this 100%. We have been managing our chat for about a year and a half now exactly like this. We have a full in-house chat service from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days per week. After hours Gubagoo takes over. If we do miss a chat during business hours Gubagoo also takes over in 30 seconds.
As Ryan said, we get fewer leads, but they convert higher. We choose not to run the risk of running of the customer by prioritizing lead generation by requesting customer information immediately. We have found that as long as we demonstrate a willingness to address the guests question they don't hesitate to provide us their information. Customers are legitimately surprised when they get a real person in the dealership and someone who can answer their questions.
It is also pointless to us to get a lead on a customer who wants a diesel truck, but the one they inquired about is a gas. What's the point? We're going to waste our reps time and annoy the guest with contact attempt after contact attempt on a truck they don't want.
We count a "conversion" on chat very simply: "Did we answer the customer's question." We feel doing that quickly and on the customer's time is worth the $500 per month alone. We sell an average of 8 chats per month as well. We were only averaging about 4 when it was managed externally.
It is definitely something you have to commit to managing and make sure that you set the expectations for your staff. Both with how they talk with the guest and making sure they miss as few as possible. One of my favorite things about it to is the same as listening to inbound phone calls and the fact that you can also learn how salespeople talk to guests on the lot.
I should also note that we don't have a BDC that manages the chat. Our salespeople handle all internet leads and chats too. It's the very best way to provide the guest with someone who can really answer their questions quickly and accurately.
We also have a banner on the main page that talks about how we manager our own chats and it links to a page that explains our managed chat in more detail. An example of that can be found
here.
Lastly, most of our CTA's are linked directly to a chat. We pretty much eliminated standard lead forms except for giving the guest an opportunity to use that if they prefer not to use the chat.
I could really go on about this forever. Very passionate about it. Ultimately, it comes down to your priority as a dealer. If the priority is getting more leads and getting customer info then let someone else manage your chat. If your priority is a better customer experience you should handle chats on your own. I think if your priority is the former rather than the latter my feeling would be that your are falling behind in this new world we are living in. I think it's just another way that dealers can evolve and meet the next expectations that guests have. Evolution is how we have always stayed ahead of threats in this business.