IP GEO Tagging Incoming Chats?

[merritt]

I guess I'm failing to see what the hubbub is all about. I'm reading about a chat company that is "revolutionizing" the industry with their new IP Geo service that can tell you (i'm guessing) on a map where your customer is located.

Now, don't get me wrong. I think this is "cool" but this is something that should be looked at for your overall site stats and not just one lead generator. Reasons for that are quite obvious for pinpointing ads/ppc/etc. to the markets that do and don't visit your site.

The question here is regarding the individual level, how will this help you sell the car? Are you going to jump out at their mailbox when they pull out of the driveway? Pour the half & half at the Starbucks for them? I'm just not understanding the hoopla over this feature.

What we see as revolutionizing chat leads is having full inventory integration inside the chat software for staff or outside managed chat agents to be able to instantly access. Considering (on average) 79% of the incoming chats fall into the Sales bucket, being able to take the customer's first experience from them dipping their big toe in the water further with real customer service about the inventory is what's paramount... not some dot on a map.

 

[CAORYAN]

I actually like the mailbox idea....just kidding!

 

[Shereef]

Guys

Geo IP info is just a small piece of the puzzle, but an important one. The more accurate your info is the better you can use the data to your dealerships benefit. There are lots of sources for Geo IP data, some are computer generated and some are updated by real humans . The accuracy of your data is what counts.

Most advanced chat software allows you to co browse with the site visitor, so you are looking at the same inventory page they are and can easily correspond intelligently. Having the inventory integrated is no doubt easier than accessing it from the website, but not a must have feature. Your ability to intelligently engage with the site visitor and how you handle the chat is what makes the biggest difference. The better the software is at your disposal, the better chance you have of effectively managing each chat visitors experience on your site.

 

[merritt]

Guys
Geo IP info is just a small piece of the puzzle, but an important one. The more accurate your info is the better you can use the data to your dealerships benefit. There are lots of sources for Geo IP data, some are computer generated and some are updated by real humans . The accuracy of your data is what counts.

Agreed. But I pointed out the overall aspect of the website and not needing that exact stat down to one lead source. How does having this report help you sell the car? That's what I was asking about.

Most advanced chat software allows you to co browse with the site visitor, so you are looking at the same inventory page they are and can easily correspond intelligently.

Of course. But I would hardly call that an advanced feature these days considering the code is on every page. Co-browsing is something that we do as well as having full inventory integration. Knowing what pages the customer is on and getting those back to the dealer in the reports should be a basic function for proper software. Our reports also show where they entered the site from (google, bing, search string, organic, etc.), all the info while there, and ultimately attach those vehicles for the CRM.

Having the inventory integrated is no doubt easier than accessing it from the website, but not a must have feature. Your ability to intelligently engage with the site visitor and how you handle the chat is what makes the biggest difference. The better the software is at your disposal, the better chance you have of effectively managing each chat visitors experience on your site.

Agreed on the better the software part equating to a better customer experience while on the site, so I wouldn't down play the inventory integration at all. Again, since most chats are about the inventory, having that integration allows the chat agent to locate & push vehicles (inventory, carfax, etc.) to the customer. It creates a much better experience.

Example:
Customer: "Do you guys have any SUVs that have Navigation?"
Chatter: "Sure, It looks like we have a few. View this list (link)"

I can't even begin to tell you about how chat operators aren't able really navigate a customer's inventory. We've done the tests and other than some basic web navigation, they only beat us up for lead.

We're seeing that having that live inventory feed into the software gives the end user a much better experience in locating and finding inventory. Being able to send the end user to dynamic inventory pages on top of addressing their needs is what gives them the better overall experience and not the feeling they just left their phone number on an answering machine. Also, having that inventory attached to the ADF file that goes back to the dealership's CRM along with all the other reporting makes the silver platter the leads are delivered on that much sweeter for the sales person.

Shereef, Before really getting off topic.. I know you guys have a great product, but I am still failing to see the importance of a single lead generator giving these GEO analytics. How does that help them sell cars if they know the person was at Starbucks on Main Street when they initiated chat? Since we know that it's only a certain percentage of the website visitors that engage in chat, shouldn't that be left as an overall website stat for the bigger picture?

 

[john.quinn]

I can see a progressive company sending a $5 Starbucks gift card to someone who was perhaps chatting from a Starbucks.

Or, integration with a company like Hook Logic can make for some incredibly targeted "Hooks."

Better yet... Imagine a CRM system that would take this data and place clients into Verticle Categories, i.e., "Outdoors Lovers," "Do-It-Yourselfers," "Coffee Lovers," etc. Imagine targeted marketing efforts with the availability of that type of data.

Could be some neat stuff.

 

[CAORYAN]

In my opinion this is whats wrong with how we pitch chat to auto dealers. As vendors we need to use our data to help dealers not ignore it and focus on features that will get them to sign up and never use them. Geo Ip stuff is cool but never 100% accurate. Not going to help you sell more cars! If you are making marketing decisions based on IP you have major flaws in your marketing campaign and decision making. If you use Google analytics you have this data and aren't dependent on a chat provider for the data. Same goes for website analytics. And....yes we have these features but don't see the importance of them if you use google analytics. We aren't announcing ground breaking features here. All we are doing is tying it in with our product.

Not a shot at anyone but we need to focus on why we add a pre-prompt to chat asking for information before the consumer starts a chat. If form leads are dropping in conversion why would we add a form on a chat prior to starting a conversation? Our data shows that we see 50% - 70% of people who click a call to action for chat will leave before starting a chat if asked for info. If we are really trying to be smart about our business we will deliver the most chats to the dealer and allow them to figure out what to do with them. But for "free chat" and "outsourced chat" it isn't conducive because it cost them more money to answer more chats. However, that is where you see the "pre-prompt" used.

Don't get me wrong, I love my competition and I consider many people who work at other chat companies a friend. This is not a shot at any chat provider but a wake up call. Lets focus on what is going to produce for the dealer. Co browsing is very cool and probably has it's purpose in E-Commerce style websites but for dealers it isn't a good idea to focus an employee on 97% of consumers who aren't going to speak with you. Again, lets sell whats important and we all have it. Higher conversion, production, and efficiency. If we continue to sell things that don't work to help the dealer we won't see the adoption from dealers we all want in 2012.

IP is not important, and not a "Game Changer". It is a tool to help but can't be counted on 100% and looses integrity because you don't know if it is correct or not.

I still like the mailbox idea If you can make that work I think you can build a business on it. You may want to work a deal out with starbucks and sweet and low. If you could just provide the both of them to the shopper I think you have something.

 

[merritt]

Looking at the stats, a lot of traffic derives from people searching vehicles from work. Pointing that back out to the customer could really scare them off... especially if that's an activity that frowned upon.

But again... I would look at total site analytics for any major decisions.