If your dealership is looking for an effective way to reach customers, SMS marketing is a tool you need to consider. SMS marketing, also known as text message marketing, is a powerful way to communicate directly with customers in a timely and personal way.
E-mail marketing is a cost sink. Most businesses continue to use e-mail as their de facto method of communicating with customers, despite e-mail marketing’s dreadful 4.2% click-through rate. The thought process is that everyone has e-mail, and since there isn’t anything better, it’s fine to spend one’s finite marketing budget on that couple of percentage points of responses. Those days are now behind us. SMS (Short Message Service) marketing gives you a better and far more reliable way to engage customers.
SMS vs E-Mail Marketing
SMS marketing is the practice of texting marketing materials to customers. Before we even get into the hard data, which supports SMS as being a far more effective strategy, anecdotal experience will tell the tale. Are you more likely to look at a text or an e-mail? How about members of your family? If your family is anything like mine, the likelihood of preferring text to e-mail (or any other form of communication) only goes up the younger a person gets.
The click-through rate for SMS is far higher than that of e-mail, sitting at 19.3% (Text Republic). Already, any dollar you put into SMS marketing goes almost five times further than the same dollar spent on email. The only concern would be opting in, but even there the numbers look good. According to Attentive Mobile Consumer Report, 91% of customers would opt-in for text messages from brands.
Text messages have a much higher open rate than e-mails. While e-mails are opened 20% of the time, recipients open 98% of text messages (MarketerHire). Customers see texts as inherently more trustworthy than e-mails. By leveraging the trustworthy nature of texts, you’re engaging your customers in a personal way more likely to foster brand loyalty. Add all of that to the simple fact that SMS marketing is cheaper than email campaigns and you’re looking at a vast improvement in ROI.
…any dollar you put into SMS marketing goes almost five times further than the same dollar spent on e-mail.
Nearly 60% of marketers who use SMS marketing said it overwhelmingly increased revenue, while 96% said it helped drive revenue. For small businesses with limited marketing budgets, SMS marketing cannot be ignored. Research suggests firms can generate up to $71 for every dollar spent on SMS marketing (Attentive Mobile).
Ways Dealerships Can Leverage SMS Marketing
Timely communication: Text messages are a perfect way to send time-sensitive promotions or inventory updates. SMS marketing allows you to send out messages instantly, ensuring that customers receive the information they need in a quick and convenient format. If you have a special promotion on a certain model of car, you can send out a text message to customers who have expressed interest in that model, letting them know about the promotion and encouraging them to come in for a test drive.
Targeted messages: SMS marketing can be used to send targeted messages to specific groups of customers. You could send messages to customers who have recently visited your dealership or who have expressed interest in a particular model. Doing so makes the messages more relevant and increases the likelihood that customers will respond.
Appointment reminders: Your dealership can use SMS marketing to send appointment reminders to customers, reducing the likelihood of no-shows and missed opportunities. By sending a text message reminder a day or two before the appointment, you can ensure that customers show up on time and prepared for their appointment.
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Loop: The Dealership SMS Solution
Loop, the SMS solution from DealerOn, helps you increase shopper engagement with SMS marketing. Loop sends shoppers text messages with offers allowing you to leverage this cost-effective arena to produce concrete revenue gains.
Loop can be used to entice your customers to send leads and re-engage in meaningful ways across your various points of contact, from website, to social media. Loop also allows shoppers to easily share in stock vehicles with family and friends, download coupons or loyalty offers directly to Google or Apple Wallet, or even request a price drop alert on a favorite vehicle.
Loop Alerts
With Loop Alerts, car shoppers can set up a wide array of notifications based on inventory or prices. Your customers can receive text or email notifications every time a vehicle has a drop in price or a vehicle meeting their specifications or falls within a price range appears in your inventory. Loop Alerts keep shoppers actively engaged with your store, a vital advantage in a competitive marketplace.
Loop e-Wallet Coupons
Customers can quickly store service coupons and offers in their phone’s e-Wallet (Apple Wallet on iOS or Google Pay on Android). With the help of geolocation services, customers with these coupons on their phones will receive lock-screen notifications reminding them as they approach your store’s physical location.
Loop Send-By-Text
Loop helps your customers do some of your marketing for you with Send-By-Text. Shoppers can send information about a vehicle to friends or family who are in the car buying process themselves. Loop’s family of features, which includes Send-By-Text, focus on generating meaningful re-engagement opportunities. Loop puts your store at the top of the minds of prospective car buyers.
Florida Dealerships and the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act
The Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (“FTSA” or the “Act”), was signed into law on July 1st, 2021 and comes with strict regulations for businesses utilizing SMS services. The FTSA imposes strict opt-in requirements, removed previously available exceptions, and prescribes numerous meticulous measures while exacting heavy penalties for marketers who fail to comply.
One example of these measures is that telephone numbers that are utilized for texting must be able to be called back and ring to the sender. This means that when a consumer opts to receive an SMS text on a dealer website, the consumer must be able to use the number from the text message to call the dealer that owns the website.
In light of these regulations, DealerOn is unable to offer SMS services to dealerships located in Florida.
DealerOn Puts the Power of SMS Marketing in Your Hands
SMS marketing is an effective and affordable way to engage your customer base. Loop from DealerOn provides all of your SMS needs and more, putting your store at the top of mind for car shoppers actively looking to buy. Schedule your free demo today. You’ll wonder how you got along without us.
