ALBANY, N.Y. – August 14, 2017 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems today unveiled its new Texting engine built right into its dealership management system (DMS), allowing auto dealership personnel to quickly communicate with customers in a more effective way than with phone calls and email. Both sales and service employees can use the Texting engine for a variety of functions designed to deliver a better customer experience, sell more products and services, and reduce wasted time playing phone tag.

"Auto/Mate’s Texting is simpler and far less expensive than most tools currently available in the market," said Auto/Mate President and CEO Mike Esposito. "Texting allows dealers to meet customer expectations, have a written record of messages sent and received and improves customer perception of their brand."

Auto/Mate designed its Texting engine to be as familiar and easy to use as an every-day messaging application on a smartphone. When incoming texts are received from customers, dealership personnel receive an alert from the DMS. The Texting engine includes the ability to manage "do not text" records, create message templates and send welcome messages. 

According to the Global Mobile Messaging Consumer Report recently published by Twilio, nine out of 10 consumers want to use messaging to communicate with brands, and 66 percent of consumers prefer messaging over any other means of communication. The report also found that consumers are more likely to opt-in for notifications from a messaging app than any other type of app, making it more likely for messages to be received through that medium.

"The increased opt-in rates and use of messaging allows dealership personnel to communicate with a higher percentage of their customer base on a regular basis, which is critical for establishing and maintaining relationships," Esposito said.

In the sales department, texts can be sent to customers from within Auto/Mate's CRM. The Texting engine can be used by salespeople and BDC agents to follow up with leads, set and confirm appointments, follow up with customers after a test drive, and more.

In the service department, texts can be sent to customers directly from a Repair Order (RO) or appointment screen in the DMS. Advisors and BDC agents can use messaging to send service reminders, appointment reminders, service recommendation approvals, vehicle status updates and notifications that a vehicle is ready for pick up.

"Texting is practical in service because it creates a written record of customer approvals and communications that can be used to identify issues within the dealership, retrieve details of discussions, monitor advisors and resolve customer conflicts," Esposito said.

Additionally, using text messaging in the service department has proved to bring in more customers. The J.D. Power 2017 Customer Satisfaction Index Study revealed that 67 percent of customers who receive text message updates said they "definitely will" return to the dealership for paid service, versus just 55 percent of customers who were in contact only by phone. Despite this preference, only three percent of customers indicate they receive text message updates from their dealership.

"We have reached a point where dealerships must embrace and use texting, or they risk being perceived as behind the times," Esposito said. "Our Texting engine makes it easy and affordable for dealerships to implement texting, delivering a better customer experience in both sales and service."

For more information, visit www.automate.com or call 877-829-7020.

About Auto/Mate

Auto/Mate Dealership Systems is a leading provider of dealership management system (DMS) software to retail automotive dealerships, typically saving dealers thousands of dollars per month from their current provider. Our Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) is a user-friendly, feature-rich DMS in use by more than 1,350 auto dealers nationwide. Auto/Mate has received DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards every year from 2012 to 2016.

Auto/Mate’s employees have more than 1,200 years of combined experience working in franchised auto dealerships, the foundation of its “Designed By Car People, For Car People^TM” slogan. Auto/Mate is committed to winning its customers’ business each and every month with no long-term contracts and free software upgrades. For more information follow us on Twitter @AutoMateDMS and subscribe to our blog at www.automate.com/blog.