People

WhatsApp in car dealers’ customer dialogues?

  • By Phyron
  • Dec 15, 2022
  •  – 4 min read

Today, car buyers and other consumers demand fast, easy, friendly, and reliable information 24/7, wherever they are. To facilitate that, konversable, based in Glasgow, UK, has developed a smart solution combining the world’s most used messaging service WhatsApp with several other widely used technologies including automated video. We had a chat with Wes Beard, Co-Founder and Managing Director.

Hi Wes. Why WhatsApp?

With more than two billion(!) users, it’s the world’s most widely used messaging app, so it’s easily available to car dealers and others around the world. It’s simple to use, versatile and adaptable to various types and sizes of dealers. 

For these and other reasons it was the natural entry point for the konversable solution that we launched four years ago.

What does it do?

We are a chat technology business that specialises in industry specific chat solutions, including chatbots, live chat and messaging such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.  We also have a powerful unique feature called MediaFlo that allows for automated video journeys to be created from the client side, in addition to accepting video responses from the customer side. We can embed WhatsApp as a call-to-action within Phyron’s automated video solution, ensuring customers can immediately engage with a car dealer upon seeing a car they like. Video is the most efficient format, and customized video fits right into our service offering.

Consumers are often irritated by extended waiting times on the phone, with or without irritating elevator music, and many hang up within the first minute, maybe to call somebody else. This can result in lost sales and a negative customer experience.

What are the ultimate user benefits, as you see it?

You mean beyond avoiding lost sales and irritated customers? For some it’s getting more mileage out of their marketing budget by using tools such as WhatsApp to provide their teams (and customers!) with a more efficient use of limited time and resources to complete business. Far too often we see small and medium-sized dealers applying a broad brush approach to chat, with a default focus on web live chat.

The reality is that different customers prefer different ways to communicate with businesses, so it’s about offering as wide a variety of contact channels as possible in order to maximise those opportunities.

We also know from our MediaFlo technology just how important video is to increase engagement and trust within the digital consumer journey.  This is another reason we are huge fans of Phyron; because we know that providing video at scale is difficult, but when done well, can be extremely powerful in terms of maximizing customer experience and therefore sales opportunities.

How does it affect dealers’ everyday work?

The onboarding process is easy, as we do almost all the work for them. Normally two or three senior people only need an hour or so of remote training. Once they get started it’s rather a matter of saving time. And our support team is always there to help out if and when they are needed.

Who are using the solution now?

Our most successful categories in automotive right now are mid-sized franchised car dealers and car finance brokers. Before joining konversable I spent 14 years in the automotive sector, so I know there is a great match. My heart is still in that business, despite the fact we are also serving customers in areas like real estate, dental, legal and recruitment. 

Today our main customer base is in the UK and we are beginning to expand internationally with several new customers in the US this year. 

What are your plans for 2023?

In 2023 we expect continued growth and development both in the UK and overseas. We are planning to further improve our product with Salesforce integration (for the enterprise market) and include Instagram as a chat channel in our platform.

If you want to know more about it, simply check out our website.

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