WHY CHAT IS IMPORTANT AND HOW YOU CAN GET THE MOST OUT OF IT
In the last few years, live chat has grown to become a staple part of many stores’ overall marketing strategies and yet in some quarters it’s still not widely understood. In an exclusive article for Canadian auto dealer, Dennis Galbraith, renowned auto retailing expert and Chief Marketing Officer for Dealer E-Process, which provides websites, chat services, and an integrated suite of digital marketing products to dealers across North America, tackles some of the most frequently asked questions about chat and looks at some of the steps dealers can take to really reap the benefits from using it.
Over the past five years, I’ve talked to dealers at more than 50 conferences and Performance Groups about chat. During that time, the most frequently asked questions have not changed, although a few of the answers have adjusted to shopper behaviour and new technology. As a result I thought it would be good to put together an article that highlights frequently asked questions about chat. For the most part, I’m going to group chat and texting together in my answers as “chat,” except where the answers would be different.
Q: Do I really need to offer chat to my customers?
A: The answer not only remains “Yes,” the answer is even more definitive today. There are only four ways shoppers transition from the technological touch-points they engage with online to their first human contact with someone at the store, whether it be by phone, email, chat/texting, and/or walking in. By now, most stores have experienced a few situations where they sold the vehicle before the customer even came into the store, if they ever did come in. However, it is virtually impossible to sell a car to a consumer until they take one of these four steps. If you leave chat out of the mix, you will experience fewer contacts with the store than would otherwise have been the case. Most of the shoppers who prefer to chat with the store will not opt to phone or email if the chat option is taken away. This has been proven in studies over and over again.
Q: What time of day is most important for chat coverage?
A: In most markets, the time of day when chat volume is highest has historically been weekday afternoons. Often, shoppers are at work or somewhere else where they want information but cannot risk being overheard on the phone. In these cases, the absence of chat leaves your customer stuck with the option of providing their email address and hoping they get a response or moving on to an alternative store. With your competition just one or two clicks away, this is a poor position to be in. The increased use of mobile phones for auto shopping may increase the variations on when and where chats occur. However, the workplace is often a fixed location with few options on how to get away with shopping on company time.
Q: Where do shoppers chat from?
A: With an increasing number of car shoppers using the Internet on their mobile phones, a practice known as showrooming has skyrocketed. Shoppers are using the Internet while shopping for cars in the store. Dealers may find shoppers chatting or texting with store B while they are in store A. Consumers may even answer-shop within the store. The shopper may be chatting with one person between verbal exchanges with another. For many old-time sales people, this feels like the customer throwing the salesperson’s keys to the deal up on the roof. It takes some getting used to, but conversations can happen from anywhere. Not having chat only means a portion of those conversations are going to happen with another store.
Q: Should I handle chat internally or use a service to turn my chats into leads (managed chat)?
A: There are several considerations here. First, how is your store doing handling phone calls? If you are monitoring calls and happy with what you hear, then you might be able to add chat to the volume of communications coming directly into the store. If, like many dealerships, you want to throw up every time you listen to how your phone calls are being handled, then get that fixed before you add chats to the mix. Secondly, many chats are a waste of time. The anonymity of chat can attract a lot of junk messages that you don’t want your best lead handlers spending time with. On the other hand, every chat needs to be responded to immediately. This screening is a key argument for managed chat. There are additional arguments to be made for managed chat. Managed chat is popular for off hours. Many stores are surprised at the quantity and quality of the chats they would otherwise be missing while the store is closed. One of the most compelling arguments for managed chat is service. Chats related to service are often quickly dismissed or handled poorly when answered by someone focused on sales. Top managed chat services train their staff to handle sales, service, and finance related inquiries. No one will ever know your store and your products better than the people working in it, and more and more store employees are becoming comfortable communicating with text. However, having the capability without the capacity is not enough for a green light on bringing chat into the store. For many dealerships, handling chat internally is a long-term goal, and managed chat is the first step.
Q: Are there other alternatives to managed chat and handling chats in-house?
A: Fortunately, there are services available that will handle your chats for you when you don’t have coverage and allow you to take it in-house when you do. Having a jump-in feature (such as that offered by Dealer E-Process) allows the store to peek in on the chat and jump in at any time. This helps remove the pressure of answering every chat while giving the experts in the store the ability to jump into the most promising chats while they are still in progress.
Q: How should I be monitoring chat?
A: The most important thing is to monitor the chats themselves. Find out why the short chats are short. Maybe it wasn’t much of an opportunity to begin with, or maybe it was a squandered opportunity. Even more importantly, look for things that have gone well. If you use managed chat, show your team the good chats and the good things that came from them. Get them to buy into the value of the leads coming from chat and they will close them at a higher rate. If you’re handling chat in-house, identify the chats leading to in-store opportunities and sales. Find the things that went right in those chats and make a positive example of them.
