Effective SMS marketing for car dealerships
Send video text messages directly to your customer to increase engagement, get buyers on the lot, and sell more cars.
Sell more cars with video messaging
It’s time to enhance the car buying experience with video – stand out from your competition, bring more buyers into your dealership, and increase car sales.
What is Covideo?
Covideo is the go-to video platform for dealerships used to easily record, send and track personalized video messages – from the initial lead follow up to car walkarounds and the final vehicle-sold “thank you.”
Build trust from the start
Don’t send the same generic lead response that other dealerships are sending. Beat out the competition and make a good first impression by responding to internet leads with a video email or text introducing yourself and your dealership. Or, record car walkarounds offering customers a 360 ̊ video of a particular vehicle, highlighting special features, color and condition.
Keep buyers engaged
Eliminate no-shows by notifying your leads with personalized video email and let them know you’re looking forward to their upcoming appointment. Or, send a customized follow-up to “be-backs”, get them back in the door, and regain their business. Going the extra mile and providing excellent customer service builds customer confidence and your rapport.
Provide superior service
Eliminate the doubt surrounding service repairs. Use video to build trust and transparency with verified, recommended repairs. Offering excellent service will keep people coming back and generate customer referrals.
How do you go from phone call/email/text, to getting the buyer to ask for you by name when they come in the store? Covideo.
– Krista Morrison, Internet Sales Manager, Denny Menholt Group
SMS Marketing for Car Dealerships
SMS marketing for dealerships is a common sales tactic to engage interested car buyers and share promotions by sending text messages directly to consumers. While texting customers comes with certain restrictions – we recommend researching your state’s privacy and permission policy beforehand – the benefits strongly outweigh the cons. In this article we’ll cover:
- Advantages of automotive text message marketing
- Dealership texting software
- Best practices for a car dealer text
- Text message templates for car sales
Why is SMS marketing for car dealerships so effective?
Text message marketing for car dealerships is the action of sending promotional messages directly to your customer’s personal device. As you can imagine, this is marketing gold. Why?
- The average American checks their phone 96 times a day, this comes out to be every 10 minutes.
- 98% of text messages are opened – email open rates tend to be 10% for the automotive industry.
- 95% of text messages are read within 3 minutes of being sent.
These numbers alone show the power of SMS. Car sales reps should jump on the opportunity to communicate with their customers through text in order to increase engagement, improve customer experience and sell more cars.
When to send car dealer texts
If you’re looking to incorporate auto dealer text messaging into your sales strategy, there are a few common opportunities of when you would text car buyers. The beauty of SMS is it’s quick and convenient – making it great for casual back and forth dialogue with customers. Here are some common ways to text your customers at the dealership (if they’ve granted permission).
- Answer requests for information: If your customer has a quick question about a vehicle or wants to schedule an appointment, this is a great opportunity to send a car sales text. A quick response will show your team values customer service and decreases the chances of the customer reaching out to competitors if you respond promptly.
- Record and send videos: Most customers want to receive personalized car walkarounds of a specific vehicle they inquired about. If using a platform like Covideo, these videos can easily be recorded from your smartphone and texted out to customers. Car walkarounds give buyers a 360-degree view of vehicles and can see up close different features and conditions – from the convenience of their home.
- Follow Up: Check in with customers throughout the buying process or even after a vehicle is sold to see if the buyer is satisfied with their purchase. Or, a car sales follow up text can help accelerate the sales process and drive action from the buyer.
- Share promotions: If your dealership is running a sale or promotion, send out a dealership text message to notify your customers.
- Send reminders: Remind your customers about upcoming appointments for sales and service to improve show rates.
Covideo: A dealership texting software
Covideo is a dealership texting software that makes it easy for your team to record and text vehicle walkarounds from your phone. The beauty of Covideo’s SMS for automotive feature allows you to message buyers and customers from a unique, local number dedicated specifically to your dealership. This means your entire dealership will receive one unique phone number to send car sales messages such as videos, follow-up messages, and schedule test drives. So, regardless of who uses the SMS feature at your dealership, the same phone number will appear to all contacts. Some additional benefits of Covideo’s SMS feature include:
- Protect Privacy: Record and send video text messages from your personal device without using your personal phone number.
- Keep it Professional: Monitor team outreach and video statistics from your Covideo dashboard.
- Prevent Dropped Leads: Never miss out on leads or conversations, even if there’s staff turnover.
- Comply with Policy: Centralize dealership communication and adhere to messaging compliance policies.
Learn more about how to send car dealer texts with Covideo by scheduling a quick call with an automotive video expert on our team.
Car sales text message examples
For those who need some inspiration to get started, check a few car sales text message templates that we put together. Keep in mind that your texts should be clear, concise, and always offer the recipient the option to opt out. If you’re wanting to record and send video texts, download our ebook for some free car sales text scripts. The beauty of sending a video is your text message can be short and sweet, but then you can go into more detail in your video and share your message at full!
New car launch sms sample
The new 2021 Ford Explorer has finally arrived! Watch this video to see the style and features. Respond to this message with any questions or to schedule a test drive.
Car service sms template
Hi Kate, John from Covideo dealership here. It looks like you’re due for a 10,000 mile oil change and tire check. There are some appointments available next week – use the link below to schedule a time that works for you. Thanks!
Getting started with text message marketing for dealerships
The easiest way to get started texting your customers and sending video messages is by talking to an auto expert who can set you up with the Covideo platform, train your team, and come up with a video strategy for your dealership. Covideo is used by dealerships across the country to help stand out from the competition, while building trust and rapport with buyers. Talk to an auto expert today and start using video messages to engage your buyers and sell more cars.
