ATLANTA, GA – January 6, 2010 – Contact At Once!, LLC, (contactatonce.com) the leading provider of dealer live chat software and other internet marketing tools that move online lookers into live conversations with dealerships, announced today that the ContactAtOnce! dealer live chat service powered its two millionth live chat conversation. The company also released statistics and trend data showing dramatic industry-wide growth in the use of dealer live chat for online automotive marketing.
“The two millionth consumer-to-dealer live chat conversation took place on December 30th,” said Marc Hayes, Contact At Once!, LLC founder and executive vice president. “It was a happy coincidence that the conversation led to a sale for one of our dealer customers, Ken Garff Nissan in Orem, Utah.”
ContactAtOnce! shared the celebration by providing a commemorative plaque to the dealership that took part in the landmark live chat conversation.
“The popularity of text-based communication has exploded, including SMS text messaging on mobile phones, Twitter, and instant messaging services such as Google, AOL, Yahoo!, MSN and Facebook, so it naturally follows that many consumers prefer text–based communication while car shopping,” said Hayes. “As the leading provider of dealer live chat software, with over 6,000 dealers using the
ContactAtOnce! dealer live chat service every day, we have made it easy for dealers and other automotive website providers to capitalize on this trend, as evidenced by the dramatic growth in chat conversations depicted in this graph.”
The inclusion of dealer live chat in online automotive marketing of all types is a significant industry trend. In the past year, major automotive sites such as Cars.com, CarsDirect.com, and CarSoup.com have added chat features to advertising packages, while thousands of dealers have added chat features to their own websites, landing pages and eNewsletters. Chat technology isn’t new, but
ContactAtOnce! has taken the it to a new level for the automotive industry by making it easy for dealer sales personnel to use, personalizing it for consumers with real images of dealership staff, and eliminating the need for expensive, less effective external call centers through “presence aware” smart technology that knows when dealership personnel are ready and able to chat. By enabling integration with aggregator sites like Cars.com, the ContactAtOnce! dealer live chat service multiplies the number of potential customers connecting with dealers via live chat.
Despite nearly 200% growth in the number of automotive live chat conversations during 2009, Hayes estimates that less than 20% of auto dealers currently use live chat. That will likely change in 2010 though. “We expect the vast majority of dealers will be chat-enabled before the end of this year, compelled by the business benefits, easy-to-use technology, and widespread support by major automotive sites.”
About Dealer Live Chat Provider Contact At Once!, LLC:
Contact At Once!, LLC is the leading provider of dealer live chat and internet marketing tools for automotive sales,
apartment leasing, and other industries where consumers conduct research online before visiting a dealership or
office. The ContactAtOnce! service typically moves at least 25% more website visitors into live conversations with
sales people by utilizing a suite of technologies such as presence, IM/chat, VoIP telephony, video chat and text
messaging, resulting in increased revenue and a better return on marketing expenditures. ContactAtOnce! is the only solution with features specifically for vertical search websites and over 35 such sites, along with thousands of
merchant businesses, are using it today. Find out more at www.contactatonce.com.
