Texting is starting to slowly become a major preferred method of communication, with one third of Americans preferring texting over voice calls. Car dealerships can utilize automated text messaging to communicate with their customers in real time. These programmed communications allow the service department to reduce manual communication efforts and increase productivity in other areas.
Automated texting happens instantly so there are never any delays in getting important information to your customers. Using calculated, timely messages reduces the demand on your service team so they can focus on other tasks needed to keep operations fully functional. If the service team is busy handling other matters, the customer still experiences convenient and immediate communication. Dealerships can schedule texts to go out at critical times like: when a shuttle ride is scheduled, when a shuttle ride is about to arrive, appointment reminders, and more.
Calling every customer to notify them of service updates is time consuming and inefficient.. The longer each phone call lasts, the less time your service department has to work on other tasks. The more customers that need to be called, the more agents are required to call and handle customer requests. Automated text messages eliminate the need for manual calls and streamline communication. In today’s sales culture that is increasingly adopting a touch-and-go mentality, human interaction is not necessary and often unwanted for processes that can now be streamlined.
If a customer does not answer the first call, the service team needs to leave a message and follow up with a second and third call. Again, this reduces productivity and takes time away from other tasks. Automated text messaging eliminates this. With 90% of people opening a text message within three minutes, texting improves customer communications, ensuring that notifications are successfully and privately delivered .
In an ideal world, a service agent would be able to manage communications with multiple customers. While multitasking is possible, it can actually derail efficiency. For example, if a service representative is on the phone with a customer and trying to write an email to another, they will probably get distracted trying to process and relay information at the same time. Thankfully, multitasking is now possible without ever having to pick up the phone This allows the service agent to focus on in-person communications for a better customer experience for the people at the dealership.
With automated text messages, your service team no longer manually monitors and sends service reminders. Car dealership software can trigger automated texts at regular intervals for routine maintenance. Customers are more likely to schedule maintenance in advance, which makes service center scheduling and volume management easier. With better service appointment management, there is balanced scheduling for both repair orders and your shuttle rides.
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