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Lots of great observations here.  Craig's dialed in!



Plus, I agree with Jon B, our industry is highly focused (i.e. narrow user intent) and chat automation should be very doo-able.




Here's a deep dive into classifying chat questions: https://www.dealerrefresh.com/dealership-chat-used-or-abused/


In this study, top chat classifications on a dealer's website:

  1. Credit Questions
  2. Trade-in Questions
  3. Search Help Needed
  4. Purchase Intent
  5. Miscellaneous


If this was a betting game, on classified sites, I'd bet the order would look like:

  1. Search Help Needed (higher in funnel & because all our websites suck)
  2. Credit Questions  (desire to shop by payment & Gumbys)
  3. Purchase Intent (shopper wants to know availability to ensure a productive dealer visit)
  4. Trade-in Questions (deeper in the funnel questions)
  5. Miscellaneous (includes "what paperwork do I need to bring?)


Regardless of the order, "Purchase Intent" is a 911 chat. It has the highest ROI. If I were DI/Cars, I'd put a lot of thought into making this chat fly into the stores.