With the current pandemic coming to an end (hopefully) and restrictions starting to ease, it’s time for your dealership to look at all the ways it has at its disposal to generate much-needed sales and service leads to get you going again. One of the most costs effective ways to do that is to install Live Chat on your website, but what kind works? Is it the most cost-effective? And is there a downside?

When we talk Live Chat, the statistics show that approximately 30% of Live Chat sales leads will convert to a sale if the conversation is handled correctly. So let’s look at 3 ways you could engage with Live Chat at your dealership. Self Managed, a hybrid model and fully Managed to make up the top 3 ways to utilise Live Chat so let’s look at these in a little more detail.

Self-managed – In house

One train of thought is that you’ll get better results if your Sales team can handle your live chat in-house as they’re surely more knowledgeable about your product than a chat agent who may handle multiple brands, right? In theory, you’d be right that they could handle those hard technical and price-driven questions accurately and quickly, but would they, or should they? 

In all the dealerships I have worked in and with, the 1st rule is to never talk about the price over the phone as there are many controlling factors in the final price. So why would you want your team to do it in chat? And if they’re not doing that, then why are they more knowledgeable than an Agent?

The other challenge with managing your chat in-house is having someone that is focussed on sitting at their desk all day and chatting as soon as someone comes online. This can also mean in peak times having 5 or 6 chats going at once, so how will they cope? And what will they do when someone walks in and they are in the middle of an online chat?

Lastly – Chat never sleeps, or at least it shouldn’t. So what, if anything, will you do after hours? Statistically, 40%* of Live Chat leads are created outside the typical 9 to 5 working day, how will your team capture those?

Hybrid model – You handle the 9 to 5 and switch to an agent after hours

A hybrid model can be a great way to make sure you can service your website 24/7 but still give your team the chance to close the leads throughout the working day. In this model, your Sales team would handle chat while they’re there and then the Chat Agent would take over after hours. Great idea, yes?

The theory behind this one is that once again, your sales team has a better understanding of your offerings and can effectively “close” the sale quicker than an agent, but how do they multitask? Who takes over at yard change, deliveries, and team meetings? 

Hybrid Model – Utilising customer service teams

Many people start to look at what other teams in their dealerships could effectively take chat that isn’t part of Sales. People like reception or the Customer Service teams that are in front of their computers anyway. 

Hiring additional staff to manage your live chat conversations looks great on the surface for all the reasons we’ve already mentioned, yet if we factor in that the average Dealership in Australia receives approx 95 chats per day it starts to get harder. Let’s consider 60% of those are during business hours (Approx. 57), and assume that your customer service agent can handle 2 chats at a time you would still need 2 additional staff members to manage chat in peak times 9 to 5. Then what happens after 5pm? 

Don’t forget that statistically, a customer will disappear off the chat if you don’t engage within 15 sec of them coming online, so this team has be at their computer at all times.

Fully managed Chat – Agents chat to your customers and pass on the leads

The last option for your chat is what’s called a fully managed chat solution. There are a few companies out there that offer this solution, but not all are equal. If you want the closest thing to you managing your own chat then you’ll need a company that is willing to bend to your language, your rules, and how you’d like that interaction to look. Some will use bots which will give your customers a very impersonal experience and some will simply script their responses the same for every dealer.

Where this comes unstuck is when you have your own language and customer journey that you’d like to promote. If you’re a Toyota Dealership that runs the “Disney experience” or a Ford or Volkswagen dealership that utilises X-Time and would like fewer leads and more form fills you’ll need a company that understands this and is willing to customise their thinking.

If you partner with the right Live Chat service provider you really can have your cake and eat it too, so to speak. They will be trained in your language and style. They will be knowledgeable about your product and they will also be dedicated 24/7 to creating a great customer experience across your digital platforms.

The bigger picture

If you think about the bigger picture chat can also take the lead on your Facebook page, Facebook Marketplace and Google my Business making your Customer engagements uniform across all digital platforms and really creating a safe space for your customers to start their journey to your dealership.

*Statistical data is based on all dealers across Australia utilising Live Chat Agent from January to June 2020

• Author Details

Author Details

Tracey Horey

CEO of Live Chat Agent

Tracey Horey is a 20 year veteran of the Automotive industry and has been writing Automotive content and helping Dealerships optimise their digital space for over 15 years. Her experience working with various sized dealerships and her passion for exploring and understanding new tools for the auto industry has given her an in depth understanding of the challenges all dealerships face in a changing landscape.

accounts@livechatagent.com.au

1800 332 428