RV Dealer News asked Ben Leighton, Content Marketing Specialist with Kenect, to walk us through the Kenect system of customer relations management.
This special feature article could open your eyes to a new and very effective way to stay in touch with your digital-focused clients…
How Kenect Works:
An Introduction to the Texting Platform
Over the past two years, businesses have seen a shift in the way customers communicate with employees, and these changes don’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
Throughout the Pandemic, business owners have had to react to meet the needs of customers. One of the biggest changes we have seen in the last 18 months is through the use of texting.
Kenect helps businesses with this, by building simple texting tools that are easy-to-use. Thousands of companies across North America use our platform to text their customers, generate online reviews, gather leads from their websites, video chat, and collect payments.
The texting platform is set up like an email inbox on your computer or phone. We connect it through your existing business phone line, so you don’t have to give out your personal information.
This will allow you to see who is texting you, who you have responded to, and assign employees to each customer.
As the company continues to grow, we have collected data showing just how effective this platform can be for businesses, and why more customers are using it.
It all boils down to simplicity and convenience. We are seeing that customers are not answering their phones as much anymore. Around 78% of clients in the U.S. say receiving a text message is the fastest way to reach them for important information. Also, 95% of all text messages are opened within three minutes.
Customers want to be able to get things done fast and get what they want. Nearly 70% of customers say they would pay more for something if the buying process was convenient.
As a result, remote payments are becoming more common. In fact, some businesses do all their bill collection via text.
According to our data, businesses who have adopted a new text-to-pay platform have seen a nearly four-fold increase in growth year over year. Dealers who were doing around $4,000 a year per location are now seeing upwards of $15,000.
Businesses are relying on text-to-pay for more than just sales. Some dealers are running 80% of their service/parts and payments through text-to-pay.
It’s what customers want. Dealers are seeing the change and want to meet the customer where they are most comfortable. If they don’t want to come into the shop to pay, then send them a text with a link to make a payment right on their phone or computer.
Credit cards are not going away, but the way customers are using those cards is certainly changing.
Customers are also using texting for more than just payments. Data from dealers who use Kenect’s texting platform show a 55% increase in text messaging per dealer year over year. This started even before the pandemic.
Leads are also driving this text-to-pay trend. With more people opting to do business out of the comfort of their homes, more people are also using texting to get ahold of dealerships. Kenect offers dealers a button that we add to dealer websites, where customers can just click on it and get more information.
The data we collected shows that 75% of customers would rather text a dealership about a lead, then give them a call.
During the pandemic, RV dealerships saw a huge spike in leads and sales. Recent data shows dealers are getting an average of 55 monthly leads since March of 2020. The lead numbers change with the season, and that’s where response times become critical.
On Average, 73% of dealer leads got some sort of response. That is a good number, but it could be a lot better.
In comparison, RV dealers respond to leads 77% of the time. However, the biggest problem continues to be after-hours leads. One of the best ways to keep leads is to make sure they always get a response.
You can add a widget onto your website. Kenect has added thousands of these buttons to business websites. This way, when a customer asks for information, they can just click on the widget, it goes into the Kenect system, and dealers can respond to it anywhere, at any time.
You can also set up an auto-response, so that customers feel like you want their business, and will get back to them when you can.
These are just a few of the many solutions Kenect is offering dealerships through texting. If you haven’t already, make sure your business is finding ways to change some of the most basic practices, offering more ways for the customer to reach you, to keep them from going somewhere else.
About the Author:
Ben Leighton is a Content Marketing Specialist with Kenect. He previously worked in the journalism industry for over a decade, creating multimedia content on various platforms. You can find Ben on Linkedin and Twitter.
About Kenect:
Kenect helps businesses connect with their customers. We build simple texting tools that are elegant and easy-to-use. Thousands of companies across North America use our platform to text their customers, generate online reviews, gather leads from their websites, video chat, and collect payments.
Based in the Silicon Slopes of Utah, the Kenect team is committed helping businesses improve their customer experience and customer communication.
To learn more about Kenect, visit kenect.com or text them at (888) 972-7422.
