Why Your Dealership Should Be Texting Customers & Prospects?

Are you still not convinced that text messaging is a powerful marketing tool? If not, consider this: 97 percent of all Americans own a mobile phone, and 81 percent of those people use their phones to text. That’s more than three-quarters of the population using texting as their primary mode of communication!

If that isn’t enough, text messaging has the greatest level of engagement compared to any other marketing technique.

As a business owner, it’s vital to capitalize on this trend by using text messaging to reach out to new car customers and prospects.

Here are four reasons your dealership should be texting customers and prospects today.

1. Highly Targeted and Cheap:

With SMS, you can send highly targeted messages to your audience. You can segment your list by different criteria like age, location, gender, interests, etc. It ensures that every customer or prospect receives a message that is relevant to them.

What’s more, SMS is an incredibly affordable marketing tool. The cost of sending an SMS is pennies compared to other marketing channels like paid ads. Bulk SMS providers offer affordable plans that make it easy for businesses to get started with SMS marketing.

2. Flexible and Personalized:

Customers don’t like interacting with robots and can tell when they’re being sent generic messages. SMS allows you to send personalized messages. You can include the recipient’s name in the message, which makes it seem like you’re sending a one-to-one message rather than a mass text blast.

You can also send different messages to different segments of your audience. For example, you could send a special offer to customers who haven’t been in for a service in a while or send appointment reminders to customers with upcoming car service appointments.

3. SMS is Fast and Convenient:

If we’re being honest, a spammed E-mail inbox is the equivalent of a digital trash can. On the other hand, SMS messages have a 98% open rate, which means that your message is almost guaranteed to be seen and read by the recipient. A study also found that text messages are read within five minutes of being received, while E-mails can take up to two hours to be read.

Moreover, customizing auto-generated messages to answer FAQs or send special offers can be done in minutes. It makes SMS an incredibly convenient way to stay in touch with customers.

4. What Does an Effective SMS Marketing Strategy Look Like?

An effective SMS marketing strategy should nurture relationships with customers and prospects throughout the sales funnel.

Below are a few examples of how SMS can be used at different stages of the customer journey:

Awareness:

• Use SMS to send out links to blog posts or helpful articles that prospects might find interesting
• Host a contest or giveaway and use SMS to promote it
• Send out SMS reminders for events or webinars that prospects have registered for

Consideration:

• Use SMS to send personalized recommendations for products or services based on what prospects have browsed on your website.
• Send out SMS coupons or discounts to encourage prospects to buy

Decision:

• Use SMS to send thank-you messages to customers after they’ve made a purchase
• Send out SMS surveys to get feedback from customers about their experience
• SMS is a great way to send out appointment reminders to customers

Final Thoughts:

If you’ve been using text messaging for dealership marketing and sales but not seeing the results you want, consider changing your strategy. You can switch to Singlethread’s text messaging tool!

Singlethread, serving Dallas, TX, solves your communication problems by sending texts on your behalf so that you can focus on other things. We automate your follow-up and send reminders for car service appointments, service visits, and more.

Get a free live demo today!

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