From the marketing side of things, yes, text marketing can be effective when done properly, but should only be done occasionally and you want to be sure to have a 100% verified opt-in list of people who want to receive text marketing from your dealership. If you do not, then you're just asking for trouble.
On the service side of things, 2-way text communication is an incredibly effective way for dealers to communicate with their service customers, get authorization for repairs fast and improve the overall service department productivity. In a recent survey of our dealers, we found on average, 36% of service customers wish to communicate via text rather than a phone call. Its not always easy for customers to take a call, but they can easily respond to a text message from their advisor.
On another note, many dealers are using our text solution internally as well to communicate between their parts and service department for special ordered parts, etc.
Finally, I do not recommend texting from a cell phone for two reasons. First, when you send a text to a customer, by working for the dealership, you are representing the dealership and if you should mess up and send the wrong message to the wrong customer, the dealership is liable. Second, you want to use a system that stores all text communication indefinitely in the event of a customer dispute or audit. Its also handy if you need to go back and print out the text history when a customer authorizes a repair via text so it can be attached to the RO.
