• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Dealer Marketing Magazine

Dealer Marketing Magazine

Expert Automotive Knowledge At Your Fingertips

  • Expert Panel
  • Marketing
    • Advertising
    • Content Marketing
    • Direct Marketing
    • eCommerce
    • Internet Marketing
    • Lead Generation
    • Paid Search
    • SEO
    • Social Media
    • Websites
  • Customer Experience
    • AI
    • CRM
    • Customer Service
    • Loyalty and Retention
  • Dealership Business
    • Business Development
    • Dealership Security
    • Digital Retailing
    • Finance & Insurance
    • Fixed Ops
    • Inventory Management
    • Pre-Owned
    • Recruitment & Training
    • Sales Training
    • Technology Solutions
  • Podcasts
  • About Us

Chatbot – Friend or Foe

May 23, 2020 by Ilana Shabtay

What exactly is a chatbot? 

A chatbot is exactly what it sounds like: A robot that manages your conversations. The bot simulates a human-like interaction to give shoppers the information they are looking for. Bots are trained and then speak on your behalf, answering the most frequently asked questions while continuously learning your audience’s needs and interests. 

Who uses chatbots? 

Sephora, Spotify, and 1-800-flowers are just a few of the larger corporations that have chatbots on their website. Meaning, when you engage with their customer service, you’re most likely speaking with their AI-powered robot that can quickly answer your questions. According to Forbes, Sephora’s chatbot led to an 11% increase in makeover appointments when it started using a messenger chatbot. 

WebEngage writes that “over 54% of respondents in a recent study preferred engaging with a brand via a chatbot, and not an app. The potential for user engagement is absolutely massive, provided the chatbots are intelligent enough to hold up a meaningful conversation with multiple users.” Forbes also claims that the global chatbot market is expected to reach $1.25 billion by 2025, with an annual growth rate of nearly 25%. 

Benefits of chat

Why invest in a chatbot? Because virtual assistants work. They transform your website into a smoother and more efficient user experience. In fact, with the help of chatbots, businesses can reduce their customer service costs by up to 30% and save employees’ and customers’ valuable time and energy alike. These bots speed up response rates, and free employees from questions that are practically routine. 

With chatbots, you don’t need to rely on the limitations of humans– like sleep or coffee breaks. They can be active 24 hours, 7 days a week. Even if you’re experiencing high volume, the robot can provide the same level of service swiftly to each and every potential buyer. 

Shoppers today are also impatient and high maintenance. There’s no hiding it. On average, browsers will refuse to wait more than a mere 10 seconds for a response to their message. When a robot is managing your chat, there will be zero wait time, which will likely keep the shopper more engaged throughout, therefore prompting them to stay and eventually convert. 

Chatbots for automotive 

Luckily for dealers, some chatbots are actually built for automotive. Shoppers expect call centers, BDC teams, and sales reps to know details on all inventory, advanced features, lease offers, OEM offers, etc. You name it, customers want to know it. Instead of relying on human memory and monthly training with the team, chatbots automatically learn your new inventory and simultaneously incorporate this into their responses. A chatbot becomes your personal specialist on day one and can represent your dealership with no human errors. 

Tackling chat myths. 

Bots are stupid: Actually, bots are smarter than humans and have the ability to optimize in seconds. Every conversation that it has helps the bot learns your shoppers’ wants and needs. 

Bots say embarrassing things: Some chatbots are trained on how to respond to users based on their input. If they ever get confused or senses that the user is frustrated many times, it will try to get contact information. 

Bots don’t know everything: Correct, but neither do people. And many times, chatbots come in with a lot more information at their fingertips than a human could–i.e. the person’s previous browsing history, entire inventory, and all vehicle specials. 

So, friend or foe? 

Here’s the bottom line: the average consumer not only requests quick answers, but expects them. If dealers are ready for the next step forward, they’ll invest in chatbots in 2020. This is one step closer to relating to shoppers who are used to interacting with smart, efficient digital engagement in their everyday lives. Say goodbye to manual, slow chat times, and hello to the future of conversational marketing. 

  • About
  • Latest Posts
Ilana Shabtay

Ilana Shabtay

Director of Marketing at AutoLeadStar
Ilana is an expert in sales, digital marketing, and business development. She is constantly thinking about how to perfect conversion funnels to build brand awareness. As Director of Marketing, Ilana works to engage audiences and expand market share. She contributes thought leadership for tech companies in and out of the automotive industry including Dealer Refresh, Dealer Marketing, and for the DrivingSales community blog.
Ilana Shabtay

Latest posts by Ilana Shabtay

  • Mask-less Socialising: What This Means For Your Dealership - February 15, 2021
  • 5 Lessons From the InsideAuto Podcast as We Enter 2021 - January 5, 2021
  • Now Is Not the Time to Pause Marketing Spend - December 21, 2020

80

SHARES
Share on Facebook
Tweet
Follow us
Save
Share
Share
Share
Share
Share
Share
Share
Share
Custom
Custom
Custom
Custom
Custom

Filed Under: Blog, Customer Experience, Customer Service, Direct Marketing, Lead Generation, Marketing, Websites Tagged With: AI, automation, BDC, chatbots, customer service, dealer marketing, websites

Explore

advertising AI artificial intelligence auto dealer marketing auto dealership marketing automotive marketing big data CFPB compliance consumer behavior Cox Automotive CRM customer experience customer retention customer service data dealership business dealership websites digital marketing DMS f&i facebook finance and insurance google inventory management lead generation marketing millennials mobile mobile marketing NADA online reviews personalization pre-owned vehicles sales sales leads search engine optimization seo service department social media social media marketing technology training vendors video marketing

Primary Sidebar

Stay Informed

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Explore a topic

Upcoming Webinar: 11 March 2021

E-mail Newsletter

Join Our Vendor Community

Register Here

Share This

LINKEDIN

Recently Published

  • NEW PODCAST EPISODE: Let’s Chat It Up
  • Why Your Dealership Needs To Actually Use Your Blog
  • Answer These 4 Questions & Increase Sales
  • Digital Retail: 4 Steps for Setting Your Dealership up for Success
  • NEW PODCAST EPISODE: Experimarketing – The “Quantum5” Leap

Podcast: Inside Auto with Ilana Shabtay

Podcast: Carearing with Laurie Halter

TWITTER FEED

Tweets by Dealer_Mark_Mag

Footer

Quick Links

About Us
Weekly Newsletter Sign Up
Expert Panel
Industry Events
Join Our Vendor Community
Advertising

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Site Search

Copyright © 2021 · Dealer Marketing Magazine