Text message marketing for car dealerships

Use text message marketing to get more customers to your dealership. Whether you're selling new or used vehicles, SMS can help dealerships boost sales, improve customer communication, and outperform the competition. See how you can improve marketing reach and customer satisfaction with Textline’s SMS for car dealerships solution.
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The power of auto dealer texting

Forty-six percent of customers expect to hear from the dealership after their car purchase is finalized. Which raises the questions: are you following up and do you have the right communication tools for this outreach?

Unlock the full potential of texting for car dealerships. Auto dealer texting is a fantastic way to serve customers, follow up on car sales, and respond quickly to leads. You can incentivize sales, conduct polls and surveys, and target customers most likely to convert. Plus, with Textline you can also streamline your communication workflow and free up your sales advisers’ time. It’s doable because SMS is fast, convenient, and cost-effective.

To complete a sale, car salespeople must stay in contact with leads, from initial interest to the final signature. SMS for car dealerships is a top way to keep in touch with customers throughout the car sales process. Plus, it's preferred over email and telephone communications. Discover the power of car sales text messages today.

It's fast and facilitates rapid communication

SMS is a fast way to communicate with your customers and leads. Text communication, which is concise in nature, is faster than calling leads or typing out emails. Clients also prefer a quick text message over a lengthy phone conversation, and emails can get buried in busy inboxes. 

Additionally, the average text message is read within three minutes of receiving it. Use SMS text messaging to quickly follow up with leads and encourage them to choose your dealership.

It brings your dealership a competitive advantage

Use texting to stand out from your competitors in the auto dealer industry.

Your dealership could use SMS marketing to promote exclusive deals, update leads about your current car inventory, or alert customers about new test drive slots. SMS marketing campaigns perform seven times better than email marketing campaigns and links sent via text have higher click-through rates. Your dealership could also use SMS to follow up with leads quickly, ask customers to leave reviews, and more. Seize the advantage of SMS for car dealerships.

Stand out from the competition, harness the power of an innovative marketing technology, and communicate directly with your customers wherever they are. It's all possible with car dealership texting software.

It's cost-effective and cheaper than other marketing methods

Not only is SMS marketing a great way to reach customers in real time, it’s also cheaper than other forms of marketing. Plus, it offers an impressive ROI. Don't waste time and money on unopened email campaigns or unanswered cold calls. Text messaging marketing reaches your clients or leads directly on their mobile phones within minutes.

SMS marketing is scalable and can help your dealership meet revenue targets. That’s because SMS has a low cost-per-open rate, great click-through rate, and high conversion rate. 

Overall, auto dealerships that add text messaging into their marketing strategies often see higher conversion and customer retention rates than those that don’t use it. 

It's convenient and can be managed from anywhere

There’s no need for complicated and expensive hardware. You can send car sales text messages from Textline anywhere you have an internet connection. Enjoy messaging from a desktop, laptop, or tablet. Or download our mobile app and send text messages on the go. Create workflow automations or schedule automated messages to boost operational efficiencies. You can also schedule reminders, book appointments, send documentation, and follow up with customers automatically. With Textline, text message marketing and communication is easy and convenient.

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What you can do with our dealership texting software

Discover the functionality of our SMS for car dealerships software, and see how text messaging campaigns can level up your business. 

Send inventory updates

Use mass texting to send information about new vehicles to your SMS subscriber list. Make broadcasts when new cars are available or promote seasonal reductions.

Follow-up with leads

Prevent the important follow-up message from getting lost in an email inbox. Use SMS messaging to send follow ups to potential buyers, set up auto-replies when customers submit a contact form, or send personalized messages.

Remind customers about appointments

Got appointments or test drives booked? Looking to add sales calls or meetings? Use Textline to send appointment reminders and cut customer no-shows. Send notifications about upcoming meetings or important reminders related to their car purchase. Give potential customers the help they need to make a final decision.

Contact customers post-purchase

Nearly 50 percent of people expect to hear from their dealership after driving away with their car. This means the vehicle purchase is just the beginning of their customer relationship with you. Keep in touch with your customers post-purchase by using a car dealership SMS solution.

Communication is critical for client retention and creating repeat customers. Build long-lasting customer relationships and improve retention rates by creating a post-purchase SMS workflow. Send documents via SMS, ask for feedback, or send personalized thank you messages

Facilitate your marketing strategy 

Designed for efficiency, Textline's SMS marketing platform is convenient and intuitive. Use Automations to expedite campaign creation and outbound communication. With a simple-to-use interface, there's no complex training or onboarding process. Textline is ready to use out of the box.

Create seasonal marketing campaigns, inform your previous customers of relevant industry developments, or share exclusive discounts. Communicate with your contacts via SMS to build relationships and facilitate marketing efforts.

Our features for car dealerships

Textline is a leading SMS marketing solution for car dealerships across the country. Discover our unique features that support car dealership needs. See for yourself how SMS could radically improve the customer experience at your dealership.

The key features of Textline’s auto dealer texting solution, and how they can change your business are outlined below. 

1. Two-way texting

With two-way texting, you can communicate one-on-one with customers in real time. This back-and-forth communication allows you to foster better customer service, improve communication, and build exceptional relationships. With native SMS texting you can be responsive to customers around the clock and no matter where they are. 

2. Automated texting

Discover the power of Textline’s automated texting service, and put your marketing on autopilot. Set SMS Automations for seasonal car discounts, remind customers of necessary actions, or reach them at critical moments in the buyer journey. Save your team time and focus on what matters most to your business.

3. Text surveys

Send surveys via text to collect valuable insights from your customers. Doing so will help you enhance customer service and internal operations.  

Using text surveys can help you identify customer needs and find ways to improve the car-buying experience.

4. Bulk SMS

With bulk auto dealer texting, you can send messages to thousands of your contacts at once. Don’t waste time manually typing the same message to each contact. Instead, type a single message and get it to contacts at scale. Use bulk texting to announce new vehicles, sales events, or other promotions. 

5. Create accounts for team members or dealership locations

We understand your business is not always straightforward. You may have multiple lots or sales teams spread across the country. With Textline, you can create unique departments and phone numbers for each salesperson, dealership, or location. Or, you could create one department for your entire organization. Textline was designed to meet your dealership’s communication needs.

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Why car dealers should add texting

100%

increase in conversion rate when texting is added to the mix with a qualified sales lead. — Velocify

98%

of text messages are opened. — SMS Comparison

90%

of leads prefer to be texted than called. — FranchiseHelp

Smooth phone number registration for car dealerships

Any business wanting to text customers must first register their phone number. This requirement, which took effect in 2023, was implemented by mobile carriers to combat mass spam texting. To properly register, businesses must provide information about their brand, texting use case, and opt-in information.

Although a new requirement, the process is stress-free with Textline. Our car dealership customers can properly register their phone numbers within our app. We have built-in forms that help users navigate the process and a support team available to answer questions. Plus, Textline submits the registration information on your behalf.

While waiting for your number to be approved, you can test features, craft SMS templates, and set up automations.

Dealership texting FAQs

Can your auto dealer texting campaigns target specific customer groups?

Yes! With Textline, auto dealers can segment contact lists based on various factors. Divide your contact list by location, price range, or the car brand a customer is interested in. For example, you could add a tag, or internal label, to identify customers as Mercedes clients or Toyota clients. Overall, Textline is customizable and your team can easily target campaigns to the right contacts.

Is SMS marketing legal in the car dealership industry?

Absolutely. At Textline, we help all users send SMS messages in line with regulatory requirements. Our expert team can help your business register with the Campaign Registry and stay compliant with state and federal regulations. We are an accredited auto dealer texting provider. Our solution includes the key features your dealership needs to stay compliant. 

Can I integrate Textline with other communication channels?

Textline integrates with several channels to make communication easier. Textline integrates with Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Pipedrive, and more. See our full list of integrations here.

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Why car dealerships should trust Textline

Textline allows me to reach out to hundreds of contacts in a very short time, and then manage those exchanges until a sale is closed. I use it on my desktop AND the app on my mobile phone, so it follows me everywhere. The bulk send feature (Announcements) is the key to my personal productivity each and every day. I could not do my job at the level I do without Textline.

—John M., Capterra

Made our business communication way more efficient allowing us to get more leads and business in less time.

—Lina L., Capterra

It was a benefit to our customers and to us. Use of the product was easy along with any training to get new users up and running. Whenever we needed customer service, they were super helpful and attentive. Definitely recommend Textline for your company.

—Travis B., Capterra
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Additional resources for car dealerships

Drive sales with integrated SMS

Incorporate Textline into your dealership's tech stack to send customers timely SMS updates about new models, maintenance reminders, and special offers. Use Textline’s Zapier integration to connect SMS to thousands of third-party apps.

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Improve your dealership’s communication with Textline

Textline’s SMS solution is a powerful communication tool for car dealerships. It allows you to reach customers on their mobile devices, which the average American spends more than four hours on per day. With SMS, you can reach more customers, speed up your sales cycle, and generate better client relationships. Start texting your customers today and see the benefits yourself.

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Still have questions? Text us: +1 415-849-4349 or contact us here.