ContactAtOnce! Dealer Chat Service Deployed on Cox AutoTrader’s CarShopSmart.com

Today we issued a press release announcing that ContactAtOnce! has been deployed on Cox AutoTrader’s recently introduced web2.0 automotive website CarShopSmart.com. It is a sister site to AutoMart.com and incorporates some great new features that place it at the intersection of social media and automotive.

In all likelihood CarShopSmart.com is a harbinger of what we will see on all online classified websites soon. As such, we are truly honored to be a part of it.

By incorporating the Contact At Once! car dealer live chat service, Cox AutoTrader makes it possible for car shoppers to see when a dealership’s sales people are available to answer questions and to connect with them instantly, even from work.

Why is “even from work” an important point? Because that’s where the majority of online car shopping takes place, and car shoppers are less and less likely to fill out lead forms these days – they much prefer a live conversation with a sales person, discreetly conducted (unlike phone calls) so that co-workers and bosses don’t know that they are shopping instead of working.

New JDPower Study: Record-High Levels of New-Vehicle Buyers Turn to the Internet

JDPower just published the results of their 2008 New Autoshopper.com Study. There were several interesting findings:

• Seventy five percent (75%) of new-vehicle buyers in 2008 are using the Internet during their shopping process, compared with seventy percent (70%) in 2007. This is the largest year-over-year increase in online shopping since 2001.

The total amount of time shoppers spend online researching automotive information has also increased—up 12 percent to more than six and a half hours.

Arianne Walker, director of marketing/media research at J.D. Power and Associates, provided my favorite quote - ““The challenge for automotive manufacturers and dealers alike is discovering how best to get involved in online conversations taking place among consumers in order to shift sales to their advantage”.

Getting involved in the online conversations is something we at ContactAtOnce! know a little about!

Part of Arianne’s point was about consumer generated content and dealer ratings and the “conversations” that take place on sites that offer them, but for manufacturers and dealers alike there is no conversation that impacts sales as powerfully as a conversation between a shopper and a dealership’s sales person. Sparking such conversations during the 6.5 hours that a typical shopper spends online reasearching their purchase is what we’re all about. The lessons we’ve learned can be boiled down to the following:

• Present a strong visual queue with a call-to-action. Let shoppers know when you have a sales person available to answer their questions – they will apprecaite it and reward you by iniitating more conversations. Collary – don’t be a stalker. What I mean by that is don’t use over-aggressive pup-ups “pushing” shoppers into chat conversations. Today’s shopper wants to know someone’s available to answer their questions, should they have any, but they want the feel of control that comes from initiating the conversation themselves. In summary, entice the shopper but don’t stalk them.
• Offer a variety of communication channels not limited to request-a-quote lead forms and phone numbers. Shoppers are increasingly reluctant to use request-a-quote lead forms. Industry-wide the number a lead form submissions has dropped like a rock in the past few years. The phone is still a great commucation channel, but the vast majority of consumers do their car shopping while at work where they often cannot call or be called – they need a more discreet way to communicate with dealers such as instant messaging (aka “chat”). Other shoppers, especially the technology savvy, might prefer the convenience of click-to-call or video call. The point is that conversations can be had over any number of channels and shoppers are more likely to iniitate conversations where they can use their channel of choice.
• Track everything. Conversations are discreet events that represent the fruits of marketing labor. Being able to track and analyze conversations across various channels is the best way to know what marketing efforts and to constantly improve results.

Current users of ContactAtOnce! know these things because they leverage our technology every day to increase sales by increasing the number of conversations that internet shoppers initiate with their dealership.

Study: Dealer Survival Plans Include Focus On Lead Conversion

A study commissioned by Autobytel and published this week included some interesting information including who/what dealers blame for the downturn and my favorite section highlighting survival plans. Here’s an excerpt:

“So, how are dealers adapting to this downturn? According to the study, an overwhelming number are ramping up their follow-up and lead-conversion processes and paying more attention to Internet marketing. More specifically, 77 percent of dealers claimed they have put more focus on lead-conversion and follow-up strategy and 69 percent are spending more on Internet marketing. When asked what will be the most important tactic in overcoming the sluggish economic climate, 50 percent of dealers said improving lead-conversion and follow-up methods.”

Lead conversion is what ContactAtOnce! is all about. We help thousands of dealers convert more of their website visitors every day. By moving more site visitors into live conversations with sales people, ContactAtOnce! helps dealers sell more units and in so doing maximize the return on investments they’ve made to get those visitors to their site in the first place.

The current downturn has helped dealers see ContactAtOnce! as more than a consumer-friendly website feature and more fully appreciate the value of improved lead conversion.

The full length AutoRemarketing article about the study can be found here.

ContactAtOnce!™ Announces License Agreement with Freedom Communications

Today we announced (Click for the full release) that Freedom Interactive has licensed the ContactAtOnce! presence-aware IM/chat and click-to-call services. Freedom is an impressive company that owns and operates web sites coast to coast. Their web sites are associated with various Freedom Communications media properties including over 100 newspapers and magazines, such as The Orange County Register in Orange County, Calif., and The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo., as well as eight leading broadcast television stations.

Freedom is the latest of some 35+ providers of automotive websites who have licensed ContactAtOnce! with the goal of moving more site visitors into live conversations with dealerships – the holy grail of online automotive marketing.

ALERT! - Lead Notification

Last week JDPower & Associates released a report concerning online vehicle buying services. The excerpt below contained some very interesting statistics that caught my attention.

The study also finds that the average number of online lead providers that dealers subscribe to has increased steadily in recent years—from 5.6 in 2006 to 6.8 in 2008. In addition, approximately one-half (53%) of dealers report subscribing to a lead notification program, which instantaneously alerts dealers to an incoming lead via cell phone voice or text messages. Dealers who subscribe to lead notification programs tend to have high levels of satisfaction with the services. Approximately two-thirds of subscribing dealers “completely agree” that lead notification programs work well and believe that they are worth participating in.

“As both new- and used-vehicle sales decline, it is now more important than ever for dealers to cast as wide a net as possible toward the limited supply of vehicle shoppers, which is one reason why dealers are increasing their use of online lead providers in the hopes of generating more traffic and sales for their dealerships,” said Osborn. “Also, dealers use vehicle lead notification systems to try to differentiate themselves from their competitors through faster lead response times. In this highly competitive industry, creating even a slight edge over other dealers is critical during a period of slow sales.”

Regarding lead notification programs, the 53% number seemed quite high to me. I suppose it’s possible that many dealers claimed to have such programs simply because they buy leads from Dealix or Autobytel, both of whom provide lead notification as a built-in feature. Taking those dealers out of the equation, and focusing on only those dealers that have deployed a lead notification system of their own, I suspect the number is closer to 10% based on our experience.
As our current customers already know, lead notification is an important part of the ContactAtOnce! service today, capable of helping dealers reduce form lead and phone lead response times from hours to minutes. Look for us to announce an expanded lead notification feature set in the near future. If you are a dealer and you haven’t yet invested in a lead notification system, what are you waiting for?

ContactAtOnce!™ Announces License Agreement with PowerSports Network

Today we announced that PowerSports Network (PSN) will integrate our IM/Chat solution with their website platform which is used by 3,000+ motorcycle, boat and RV dealers. This is an exciting opportunity for us as a company – a chance to bring the same strong ROI we’ve delivered in the automotive sector to an entirely new sector. PSN is a clear market leader and we’re honored to be working with them.

Automotive Internet Traffic Update

Yago Paramo, head of Paramo Group Inc. (one of our business partners), writes a monthly e-newsletter that is chock full of good stuff (including some comedy!) for automotive internet sales managers. Yago’s business serves only the state of Washington, but if you work around auto retail I suggest subscribing regardless of where you are located geographically.

In this month’s edition Yago has an article entitled “Internet Traffic: Where Are We?”. In it he posits “you can almost spot an upward trend in traffic on every single one of [the third party automotive websites] however the number of leads actually is dropping down. Why is that?”

Read the full article, then ask yourself what investments you’ve made to ensure that the visitors being channeled from 3rd party sties to your dealership’s website don’t remain invisible. As Yago points out, visitgors are less and less likely to fill out a form or call you, so what are you doing to capture them?

Check out our new product tour that includes downloadable dealer testimonials – there you will find some suggestions for how you should be answering this key question.