Text Us message conversion from Website and VDP?

[Jeff Kershner]

Maybe @kevinfrye will chime in, I see he has it on a few of his websites now.

To the group - remember, we are referring to the consumer using the Test Us feature on your website to make the first initial contact text.

 

[Rob McCartney]

Thanks @Jeff Kershner . I have found this site to be a big help in my new position, even though we are considerably smaller than most.

 

[Chris Leslie]

I had one of our sites using Carcode for about a year and I just removed all their scripts about 2 weeks ago and moved that site back to Tawk.to which i've been using for over 2 years now.

Text is great once communication has been established. But trying to start there is another story.

 

[Brian Yanaga]

@Chris Leslie I can't agree more. Getting people to start using text is a hump because (in my experience) the consumer thinks they'll be bombarded with marketing texts and faceless scripts; and the dealership doesn't want to have leads go to personal phones or lost somewhere. However, once the gateway is open, it's people's preferred way to communicate.

 

[Alexander Lau]

The more I see obtrusive (cumbersome) chat, video chat and text mechanisms jammed into sites, the more I think they are a bad idea on a user experience (UX) level. Yes, of course, a site requires having components like this for conversion purposes, but wow do I see them being misused.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

The more I see obtrusive (cumbersome) chat, video chat and text mechanisms jammed into sites, the more I think they are a bad idea on a user experience (UX) level. Yes, of course, a site requires having components like this for conversion purposes, but wow do I see them being misused.

Not to go off topic here since we really need to keep the discussion around the effectiveness of the Text Us feature BUT.... some VDP's remind me of a Christmas Tree.

 

[Rob McCartney]

That hurts my eyes... That is way over done. I'm not looking to get that crazy. Just debating on doing live chat or text. I thought text would be easier as I would be the only one available for both Text or Chat. With text I could easily respond anywhere at any time. I would assume with chat I would have to login to some back end tool in order to see who is looking for help and be able to reply.

 

[ed.brooks]

That hurts my eyes... That is way over done. I'm not looking to get that crazy. Just debating on doing live chat or text. I thought text would be easier as I would be the only one available for both Text or Chat. With text I could easily respond anywhere at any time. I would assume with chat I would have to login to some back end tool in order to see who is looking for help and be able to reply.

For what it's worth, CarMax doesn't appear to have jumped on the text bandwagon. Not even the chat bandwagon...

Here's a look at their VDP in 2014

And today

 

[Steve Stauning]

IMHO, all Carmax wants is a store visit. They apparently do much better in person than they do over the phone, email or chat. Using recent data that 61% of buyers make zero contact with a dealer before arriving, it appears Carmax wants their share of this group and less back-and-forth prior to arrival with the 39%...

 

[Jeff Kershner]

IMHO, all Carmax wants is a store visit. They apparently do much better in person than they do over the phone, email or chat. Using recent data that 61% of buyers make zero contact with a dealer before arriving, it appears Carmax wants their share of this group and less back-and-forth prior to arrival with the 39%...

How about that!!

@Ed Brooks thanks for posting the comparison and @Stauning thanks for summing it up.

Dealers have been beat over the head with the term "Lead Conversion" so much so, they have forgotten about everything else. If you ask just about any dealer "If you could improve ONE thing about your dealer website, what would it be?", I bet 90% would respond with "More Leads", as in online form fill leads.

Less is more.