More consumers are moving towards using chat as their preferred way of communicating with businesses. According to a recent national survey, more than half of all Americans prefer to message rather than call a business, and six out of ten reported an increase in their business messaging.
To capitalize on these trends, dealers are posting their inventory to online and mobile markets which utilize chat messaging. OfferUp provides a number of digital tools to aid dealer and buyer engagements but a key driver of dealer success is how quickly they respond to chat leads.
Data gathered from the OfferUp dealer network demonstrates how you can use chat technology to help you keep more leads. Data shows that many dealers are underestimating the value of being responsive in chat. The Buyer/Dealer Median Response Time chart shows that lead quality deteriorates rapidly as the dealer response rate slows. Dealers who respond to leads within one minute enjoy high lead retention, however, dealers who take over an hour to respond lose 25% of their leads and the remaining leads’ response time drops drastically. Dealers that wait longer than 24 hours to respond will on average lose 77% of their leads.
Interestingly, dealers vastly overestimate how quickly they respond. Our sample response times chart to the right shows that most dealers believe they are answering inbound inquiries in about an hour, though in reality, it is between 6-8 hours. This will typically cost them 40-60% of their leads.
By signing up with the OfferUp Verified Dealer Program, dealers get access to a suite of tools to procure quality leads from OfferUp’s marketplace, which facilitates millions of car sales every year. Every dealer in the program gets a verified dealer profile and tools enabling them to:
List their vehicle inventory feed automatically from their DMS provider
Increase their visibility through advanced advertising solutions
Streamline communication with prospects including Click-to-Call, the Top Lead Indicator, and other dealer-exclusive features
Communicate with interested buyers quickly and easily using chat
These tools make it easier for you to post your inventory on our marketplace. And the data we gather from our marketplace makes it easier for you to find active buyers in your neighborhood.
We’ll show you two examples of how OfferUp Autos makes the local car selling experience easier for you.
Dealers today have several sources to generate leads, but often do not have data telling them if a potential buyer is a casual browser or a more engaged and serious buyer.
The Ready-to-Buy indicator identifies engaged buyers based on their shopping behavior.
It alerts dealers if an interested customer has been searching for cars in the price range and specifications of what they have on their lot. If a shopper searches for compact cars in the $10K price range, and their shopping behavior closely matches those of actual buyers, OfferUp’s algorithm will inform dealers whether their car and the buyer are a good fit. Dealers in the program can check out the feature by looking for the “active buyer” tag on messages in their sales inbox on the OfferUp app and website.
Chat makes it easier than ever to answer incoming inquiries quickly. More consumers are moving towards using chat as their preferred way of communicating with businesses. According to a recent national survey, more than half of all Americans prefer to message rather than call a business, and six out of ten reported an increase in their business messaging.
Data gathered from the OfferUp dealer network demonstrates how you can use chat technology to help you keep more leads. Data shows that many dealers are underestimating the value of being responsive in chat. Dealers who respond to leads within one minute enjoy high lead retention, however, dealers who take over an hour to respond lose 25% of their leads and the remaining leads’ response time drops drastically. Dealers that wait longer than 24 hours to respond will on average lose 77% of their leads.
What can you do about this? There are several key things dealers should implement to take advantage of their chat features:
Assign a dedicated chat leads manager to make sure inbound chats to your team are answered and assigned in a timely manner
Make good first impressions by being helpful and courteous when responding to inquiries.
Be upfront and set expectations if you don’t immediately have an answer to a question. Let the customer know that you will get back to them shortly.
Track your response rates and make improvements as necessary.
For more information on how to use real-time chat for your car shoppers, or to learn more about OfferUp's Verified Dealer Program visit: www.offerup.com/autos.