| Text Ups is a text message lead capture solution used by hundreds of dealerships nationwide. When a shopper wants more information they simply text the stock number on the hang-tag. Within seconds of sending the text, the shopper receives an automatic text reply containing information about that specific vehicle. The dealership is then sent a Text Ups™ lead into their CRM containing the shopper’s mobile phone number and the vehicle they expressed interest in. Text Ups™ professionally prints and ships all hang tags to the dealer every week. The dealership just needs to hang the tags and wait for the leads to roll in. Text Ups™ is the smart way to leverage text message marketing by sending vehicle information to a shopper's mobile phone and low funnel leads to a dealer's CRM. |  click to enlarge |
Does Text Messaging work for Dealers?
- Thread starter WillMcG32
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- May 1, 2005
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- Jeff
Text Ups is a text message lead capture solution used by hundreds of dealerships nationwide.
When a shopper wants more information they simply text the stock number on the hang-tag. Within seconds of sending the text, the shopper receives an automatic text reply containing information about that specific vehicle. The dealership is then sent a Text Ups™ lead into their CRM containing the shopper’s mobile phone number and the vehicle they expressed interest in.
Text Ups™ professionally prints and ships all hang tags to the dealer every week. The dealership just needs to hang the tags and wait for the leads to roll in.
Text Ups™ is the smart way to leverage text message marketing by sending vehicle information to a shopper's mobile phone and low funnel leads to a dealer's CRM.
click to enlarge
John, I had initially moderated your post due to the heavy self promotion, while at the same time breaking the rules of the community. I encourage you (all vendors) to review our community rules, the do's and don't's. After some thinking, I've decided to allow it. For a few reasons...
The only people/services I see promoting keyword text campaigns, are the one's that sell the service and have something to gain from it. They love promoting and pointing out general statics around SMS and mobile phone usage.
For Example:
- SMS produces engagement rates 6 to 8 times higher than email
- 96% of smartphone users use SMS
- 98% of text messages are read, compared to 22% of emails, 29% of tweets and 12% of Facebook posts
- Text messages are read on average within 5 seconds
- 70% of people in the US would like to receive offers on their mobile phones
- By 2016, 80% of the US population will use mobile phones
Very much like the ones you promote in your own material. But let's agree, these stats have NOTHING to do with supporting performance around Keyword/Short Code text campaigns. Nothing. Just because 96% of smartphone users use SMS, in no way means the average consumer will engage in a short code text campaign - text "doesnotwork" to "66509" for a sales special.
Don't get me wrong, I've been a fan of the "concept". So much so that I've not only tried making it work Once, Twice, but over 4 times throughout the years. Each time was a miserable failure. I'm personally an avid text'r but I've never once engaged in a short code campaign (other than to intentionally go through the user experience).
I have yet to even see/read a convincing case study (industry related or not) that points to a rewarding return with Short Code text campaigns.
Has anyone else tried a short code text campaign lately with success?
Our dealerships were closed last Labor Day and at one of them(100 sales/month) we tried an in-house campaign to capture some of those Sunday-Monday shoppers. We created a nice flyer that we put in every car with a message to text the stock number to a number to save an extra $500 or something like that. The number went to a generic account in our CRM(iMagic) and we took it from there. We were able to gather like 5-6 leads from it. It's not exactly a case study, but it was a decent enough test that it's something I'm going to try again in the future on a grander scale.
I'm sure vendors offering this service have numerous reasons why their service is awesome, but if you have a capable CRM I don't know why you wouldn't do it yourself. Instead of "Text 'CARS' to 54321" why not "Text our Customer Care Manager Bill at 815-555-1234"
As far as texting to communicate with shoppers a lot of our salespeople love it and use it effectively, especially when confirming appointments. In the BDC we use it as well and it's a great tool (though I'll be honest, there's room for improvement). What's been exciting to see is how many of our less than tech savvy veterans on the floor use it and use it well.
I would add that while I'm not their biggest fan, iMagic does do texting very well.
I'm sure vendors offering this service have numerous reasons why their service is awesome, but if you have a capable CRM I don't know why you wouldn't do it yourself. Instead of "Text 'CARS' to 54321" why not "Text our Customer Care Manager Bill at 815-555-1234"
As far as texting to communicate with shoppers a lot of our salespeople love it and use it effectively, especially when confirming appointments. In the BDC we use it as well and it's a great tool (though I'll be honest, there's room for improvement). What's been exciting to see is how many of our less than tech savvy veterans on the floor use it and use it well.
I would add that while I'm not their biggest fan, iMagic does do texting very well.
- Mar 21, 2012
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- Ryan
We attempted a short code text campaign using Tatango recently however it did not have much success. Perhaps we did not put enough advertising into it, but I personally think it's because customers are not interested in this sort of text messaging and potentially being subjected to sms spam which is far more undesirable than email spam.
We have however had tremendous success with the standard 2 way conversational text messaging! It has sort of naturally progressed from salespeople using their cell phones to using google voice and then to using our CRM's texting feature. But then of course the government had to go and change everything and as many know on October 16th the TCPA released the new text messaging guidelines.
Our legal department then determined that our CRM's texting feature was not fully compliant with the new guidelines. I'm sure our legal department was erring on the side of caution but we took the decision with stride and decided to develop an in-house cloud based web app system using Twilio's API. What's neat is it automatically sends out an opt-in text anytime a lead is filled out on our website and the customer checked a box agreeing to our mobile sms policy. Our sales reps and bdc reps can then text back and forth with the customer inside this program. The conversation appears much as it would on a cell phone with a threaded bubble view. All text messages are synchronized into our CRM's note section which makes the system almost seamless. It is also of course fully compliant with opt-outs and opt-ins and has all the fancy features of text message templates, scheduled text messages, workplan views of each salesperson's prospects, etc. Non website-lead customers can also opt-in at our dealership via a text messaging opt-in web form on their own device or on one of our store's ipads.
Although the government decided to switch things up a little bit, it has turned into a positive for us as we now have a system that is far easier to use and the results can clearly be seen through our increased appointment set and show rates. Customers seem to enjoy the experience and our employees have embraced it which is always key to any system's success.
If a refresher out there is not currently utilizing 2 way text messaging I highly encourage you to look into implementing it! Customers who don't answer the phone often reply instantly to a text message. People have phones in their pocket all day and it is far easier to reach someone via text than it is via email. You'll get great measurable results and sales from this type of text messaging but as Jeff mentioned above don't expect near the same from short code campaigns.
Here's a link to a great article that directly mentions texting and the legalities. Prior to reading the article, I was familiar with the Lithia litigation, and thought it was a lot of money. Read all the way to the bottom to see some settlement figures for other businesses, WOW!
I suspect what most dealers don't have are conscientious enough employees to implement a non negotiable process that keeps all involved out of hot water.
Can I Still Communicate with my Customer After the New FTC Rule? | Dealer Communications
I suspect what most dealers don't have are conscientious enough employees to implement a non negotiable process that keeps all involved out of hot water.
Can I Still Communicate with my Customer After the New FTC Rule? | Dealer Communications
Here's my two cents as a vendor without being self promoting. SMS is great for quick dialogue like confirming appointments etc., and can be great for lead generation if used properly. The problem with most companies selling SMS marketing in our industry is that they treat it like a coffee shop. Customers don't want to opt in and get pestered by a dealership every week about buying a car.
They also don't want to text in just to receive a link to the car they are already staring at right in front of them. Think like a consumer for a second.
SMS works for lead gen when there is a benefit to the shopper. Our dealers use calls to action via overlay on all of their 3rd party classifieds etc with a call to action promoting a special offer by text if the shopper texts their code to our number. When the buyer texts the code, they get a digital coupon that's trackable and a message letting them know that the dealer will call to verify receipt. From there phones start ringing automatically.
Does it work? Yes. Dealers who stock 2-300 new and used in West Michigan get an additional 40-50 opportunities each month in the winter and 80-120 on average in the summer.
this model works for consumers because it incentivized the customer for taking action.
it works for the dealer because the stage is properly set for them to call and make sure the customer got the coupon and "by the way, what were you looking at when you texted in?"...now it's a phone up.
Texting stock numbers etc adds unnecessary complexity for consumers and they don't need a link to your car if they're already on your lot or looking at it online. That all sounds niece and allows us as dealers to track which stock # etc but we have to give the buyer a benefit if we want them to engage and we have to make it easy for them .
What they need is a good reason to engage and if used properly, SMS is a good avenue.
Our method is a one-off text to get setup as well so there is no opt-in for marketing later on thus protecting from potential TCPA concerns in the future.
Jeff, I hope I provided enough info without being too self promoting so I will take it a step further and feel free to moderate anything that doesn't fit the guidelines.
What I explained above can be done by any dealer using many simple SMS companies found online if you want to do the work. The challenge is making sure the company you use isn't using some crummy SMTP to text protocol because those often don't deliver properly and lead to a poor consumer experience. If you want it done properly you will get better results by working with someone who knows what they're doing.
When I launched my company,KonigCo, I had spent 12 years in retail auto, then was a trainer for Cars.com and then launched Edmunds direct to dealer program. I saw dealer after dealer looking for a way to increase conversion without cannibalizing emails and phone ups. I created iCall AutoLeads with a model I hoped (at that time nobody had any dealer info just SMS stats like what we saw from someone else earlier so not really relevant to dealers)...so again, I hoped, it would work as planned since it was creating a consumer benefit and dealer benefit.
After tracking it with our dealers over nearly two years we have dealers from KIA to LEXUS getting great results. Happy to share those results with anyone who wants to reach out.
SMS is like any other call to action in the sense that it must offer a benefit for the consumer that's worth taking action.
Thats my two cents....well, more like $2
They also don't want to text in just to receive a link to the car they are already staring at right in front of them. Think like a consumer for a second.
SMS works for lead gen when there is a benefit to the shopper. Our dealers use calls to action via overlay on all of their 3rd party classifieds etc with a call to action promoting a special offer by text if the shopper texts their code to our number. When the buyer texts the code, they get a digital coupon that's trackable and a message letting them know that the dealer will call to verify receipt. From there phones start ringing automatically.
Does it work? Yes. Dealers who stock 2-300 new and used in West Michigan get an additional 40-50 opportunities each month in the winter and 80-120 on average in the summer.
this model works for consumers because it incentivized the customer for taking action.
it works for the dealer because the stage is properly set for them to call and make sure the customer got the coupon and "by the way, what were you looking at when you texted in?"...now it's a phone up.
Texting stock numbers etc adds unnecessary complexity for consumers and they don't need a link to your car if they're already on your lot or looking at it online. That all sounds niece and allows us as dealers to track which stock # etc but we have to give the buyer a benefit if we want them to engage and we have to make it easy for them .
What they need is a good reason to engage and if used properly, SMS is a good avenue.
Our method is a one-off text to get setup as well so there is no opt-in for marketing later on thus protecting from potential TCPA concerns in the future.
Jeff, I hope I provided enough info without being too self promoting so I will take it a step further and feel free to moderate anything that doesn't fit the guidelines.
What I explained above can be done by any dealer using many simple SMS companies found online if you want to do the work. The challenge is making sure the company you use isn't using some crummy SMTP to text protocol because those often don't deliver properly and lead to a poor consumer experience. If you want it done properly you will get better results by working with someone who knows what they're doing.
When I launched my company,KonigCo, I had spent 12 years in retail auto, then was a trainer for Cars.com and then launched Edmunds direct to dealer program. I saw dealer after dealer looking for a way to increase conversion without cannibalizing emails and phone ups. I created iCall AutoLeads with a model I hoped (at that time nobody had any dealer info just SMS stats like what we saw from someone else earlier so not really relevant to dealers)...so again, I hoped, it would work as planned since it was creating a consumer benefit and dealer benefit.
After tracking it with our dealers over nearly two years we have dealers from KIA to LEXUS getting great results. Happy to share those results with anyone who wants to reach out.
SMS is like any other call to action in the sense that it must offer a benefit for the consumer that's worth taking action.
Thats my two cents....well, more like $2
Last edited:
- Dec 30, 2009
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- Yago
Matt,
Could you post a 6 month lead trail for a couple dealers using your system with the cost of the system?
Also, what is unique about your system that you think makes it work VS some of the things the other guys tried here (including the 5 times Kershner failed).
Could you post a 6 month lead trail for a couple dealers using your system with the cost of the system?
Also, what is unique about your system that you think makes it work VS some of the things the other guys tried here (including the 5 times Kershner failed).
- Apr 1, 2012
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- Cody
I have one dealer that uses text messaging on their website. They've had awesome success with it on their Under $10,000 cars. People basically just text for that last bit of info, and walk in. They get a few sales from it each month, but there is no way to tell if the person would have contacted the dealer anyway. They were obviously interested enough in the car to message the dealer, so they probably would have come in anyway. They keep using it because it was included in the website, and costs them nothing extra.
Text message lead capture is very effective especially on large lots and in states where Sunday sales are prohibited.
I think marketing via mass text messages is passé. And obnoxious..
However...on our mobile site (Used Lexus, Toyota, Honda, Subaru, CADILLAC Car Dealer Serving Salt Lake City | Prestman Auto Used Car Dealership) I added a "Text Us Now" link as our primary menu item. When clients are browsing on a mobile device, they are more apt to text for info rather than email or call. I have the HTML behind the contact button connecting to my sales manager's cell phone; as a result he gets the extra leads on a regular basis. He will text clients back up to 11pm at night, so make sure you have someone accepting these leads who is able to respond at all times of the night (most of our web traffic is after 10pm). But the flipside is the person selected for this texting privilege will get extra leads on a regular basis.
However...on our mobile site (Used Lexus, Toyota, Honda, Subaru, CADILLAC Car Dealer Serving Salt Lake City | Prestman Auto Used Car Dealership) I added a "Text Us Now" link as our primary menu item. When clients are browsing on a mobile device, they are more apt to text for info rather than email or call. I have the HTML behind the contact button connecting to my sales manager's cell phone; as a result he gets the extra leads on a regular basis. He will text clients back up to 11pm at night, so make sure you have someone accepting these leads who is able to respond at all times of the night (most of our web traffic is after 10pm). But the flipside is the person selected for this texting privilege will get extra leads on a regular basis.
