Automotive text messaging for dealerships
Automotive text messaging is the customer texting the dealership's number about a vehicle, an appointment or a part, and someone at the dealership answering. Most dealership numbers cannot receive texts, so those messages are lost. Textstr text-enables the sales, service and parts numbers a dealership already advertises, delivers each text to the right department's email, and sends the reply back as a text.
How a dealership uses it
Three departments, one advertised number
Leads also export to your CRM in ADF format, including DealerSocket and One-Eighty.
What dealership texting looks like day to day
Sales
A shopper on a vehicle page taps Text Us, and the message arrives in the sales inbox with the vehicle and stock number already written in, along with the page they were looking at. A salesperson replies from email and the shopper gets a text.
Service
A customer texts the service number to ask if the car is ready. The advisor replies from email between write-ups. Photos of a worn part or a quote can be attached and arrive on the customer's phone.
Parts
A customer texts a part number or a photo. The parts counter answers from email with availability and a price.
Management
Any conversation can be copied to a manager's address, and every text is kept in the Textstr inbox with the page the customer was on when they sent it.
Why text messaging for automotive works differently
- One number per department, the same numbers already on the website and the signs
- Texts arrive as email, so advisors and salespeople use the tools they already have
- No app to install and no new login for staff
- The website Text Us button knows which vehicle or service page the customer is on
- Every conversation is recorded in one inbox with its source page
- Works on landlines, toll-free numbers and new local numbers
Car dealership text marketing and the rules
Dealerships text in reply to customers, not the other way round. The customer texts first, or submits their number and question through the website button after reading a consent line. The first reply confirms who they are texting and how to stop. In the United States, each dealership is registered with the carriers in its own name; Textstr files that registration from the details you give at signup. Canadian dealerships have no registration step.
Textstr does not send marketing blasts. It makes sure the texts customers are already sending reach the people who can answer them.
Text-enabling a dealership's numbers
Keep the numbers you advertise
The sales, service and parts numbers stay on your phone system for calls. Textstr adds texting to each one with a signed authorization. See landline texting for how that works, or toll-free texting for a national number.
Choose where each department's texts go
Sales texts to the sales team's addresses, service to the advisors, parts to the counter. Add or change addresses any time.
Put Text Us on the website
One line of code on the dealership site adds the Text Us button to every page. It reads the site's own fonts and colours so it looks built in, and on a vehicle page it pre-fills the vehicle so the customer sends in one tap.
OEM co-op
Dealers under some manufacturer programs have had Textstr approved for co-op reimbursement.
We are pleased to announce that Textstr is now eligible for co-op reimbursement.
Honda Canada has agreed to co-op 100% of the Textstr cost to our dealers.
Ask your OEM representative whether Textstr is on your program's approved list.
Frequently asked questions
Can customers text our existing sales and service numbers?
Yes, once each number is text-enabled. Calls stay on your phone system; Textstr adds texting to the number with your signed authorization.
Do salespeople and advisors need a new app?
No. Texts arrive as email and replies are sent from email. The Textstr inbox is there for history and for anyone who prefers it, but nobody has to use it.
How does the website know which vehicle a customer is asking about?
The Text Us button reads the vehicle details from the page the customer is on and writes the first line of the message for them, including the stock number.
Does it work for a dealer group with several stores?
Yes. Each store has its own numbers, its own departments and its own inboxes, and a group manager can be copied on any of them.
Is it available in Canada?
Yes. Canadian dealerships are live as soon as their numbers are text-enabled, with no carrier registration step.
More in this section