Car sales, in general, are looking healthy in 2022. After the pandemic caused an inevitable slide in car sales starting in 2020, but the market has now picked up. It has not only stabilized, but it is also showing good signs of growth.
Part of the reason for this is the rise of eCommerce. Of course, generally speaking, eCommerce has been used for retailers who market clothing, electrical goods, and even groceries. Now though, car dealers are looking into the possibilities of selling cars online.
Live chat technology has been adopted. The live chat software market was valued at $755 million in 2020 but is expected to grow to $1.7 billion over the next decade. Allied Market Research reports that there is an expected growth of a CAGR of 8.8% from 2021 up to 2030.
This type of software is common on many websites today, but how do car dealers use it, and can it increase sales?
How can car dealers use live chat to sell vehicles?
Some chat systems are treated suspiciously by visitors to websites due to the feeling that there isn’t a real person behind the chat interface. Indeed, chatbots are rife on the internet, and while they can serve some purpose, they are unlikely to help sell cars.
Buying a car is generally seen as a large investment. They are one of the larger purchases that someone will make, and buyers tend to seek out advice and take their time before making a purchase.
A real-live chat service such as the one from the Visitor Chat site will offer operators who are knowledgeable in the automotive industry. Instead of having questions answered by a chatbot, an interested buyer can speak to a real person who understands the industry at any time of the day and night.
Why use live chat in a car dealership?
As mentioned, live chat can provide a 24/7 service. This means that someone who is looking at a used car dealer in reno no longer needs to waste time traveling to a dealership to ask questions.
This doesn’t mean that the dealership is cut out of the loop though. At any time in a conversation, the chat operator can hand over the line of communication to a dealer’s internal staff to finalize a sale.
The ease of access to information can help to improve customer satisfaction levels. This in turn can help to generate repeat business for a dealership. It saves time for both the dealer and the potential buyer.
Here are some other reasons for using live chat in eCommerce car retail
Helps to increase sales
Consumers today are more knowledgeable about the products they are purchasing. Traditionally, it would be standard for someone to visit a dealer and perhaps be hit with the hard sell. Now though, consumers can find out what they need to know online.
Most people would prefer to completely avoid the sales pitch and they head straight online to make their purchase. Live chat offers a way to get some extra questions answered, and make a purchase.
Book test drives
Live chat can be used to book a test drive without the need to visit the dealers. The car can be booked for a suitable time and delivered to a person’s workplace or home.
Order car to be delivered or picked up at dealers
After a test drive has been carried out and a purchase has been made, the live chat can be used to once again order the car to be delivered. Alternatively, the buyer may wish to visit the dealership for the final handover of the keys, and this can be done through live chat.
Saves time in general
It isn’t unusual for someone to have many questions about such a large purchase. Live chat means that the consumer can return to ask as many questions as they need without physically traveling anywhere.
And, with integration through Messenger, SMS, and other platforms, access is free and easy for the consumer.
Will 2022 see more car dealers using live chat?
One of the more effortless ways to sell a used car is to do so online, so it makes sense that professional car dealers would investigate the possibility of doing the same. It can seem odd that such an expensive purchase would be made online, but the dealer’s web portal can make such a transaction simple and painless.
For instance, once a buyer has checked out the specs on the car, they can move on to live chat to ask further questions, book a test drive, etc.
Then, once satisfied, they can apply for credit online through the dealer’s site, and get an automatic response. If everything is good, the purchase can be made then and there, and the delivery date booked.
For the car dealership, there will be fewer overheads as everything is carried out online. Fewer man-hours are needed, as no time-wasting forms are filled in at the dealers. While 95% of buyers still make car purchases at a dealer’s, that 5% will continue to grow.
Embracing live chat will help to snare a share of the current 5% of eCommerce car buyers, and help a dealer to grow in a way that wouldn’t have been considered not so long ago.
Summary
The automotive digital retail industry was worth $14.6 billion in 2019. This was dwarfed by the general automotive market which surpassed $2 trillion in the same year. Nevertheless, the eCommerce sector of automotive sales is gaining traction now.
Consumers have shown that they prefer to make purchases online in many cases. The only concern is being able to still reach someone knowledgeable to answer queries and receive some support. Live chat can help a car dealer continue with high levels of customer support without standards dropping.
To make this work though, the dealer needs to choose a live chat service that has operators who know the industry. The consumer needs to feel that they are talking to someone associated with the dealers and not a random person who is not invested, or even worse, a chatbot.
