Sales increases in the automotive industry through WhatsApp

Digital messengers are revolutionizing the way car dealerships and workshops communicate with their customers. Find out why it's time to ditch analog communication methods and switch to digital channels and what benefits messengers like WhatsApp offer your business in this article.

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The positive customer experience comes first

The automotive industry in particular is keen to offer an all-round positive customer experience. After all, buying a car involves a major investment for the end customer, and they want to be well advised. It doesn't matter whether it's the purchase of a car or the maintenance of the vehicle.

Car dealerships, workshops and car rental agencies have long since discovered WhatsApp as an important communication channel for prospective and existing customers. After all, they want to reduce the hurdle of making contact and often communication via Messenger is the easy way, saving both sides a lot of time. However, using private WhatsApp accounts and the WhatsApp business app are not the ideal solution for companies. After all, these channels create communication silos and there is no transparency for additional employees as to what communication has taken place. Furthermore, WhatsApp Business can only be used on a mobile device and as soon as the battery is empty or the responsible employee is on vacation, customer inquiries are quickly lost. The private WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business are also not GDPR-compliant.

Car dealerships and workshops are often faced with the problem of having to process customer inquiries quickly and effectively in order to maintain customer satisfaction at a high level and, at the same time, to integrate limited human resources into daily business as effectively as possible. Most of the time, customer communication is still extremely time-consuming and ineffective via email and phone. Messenger apps like WhatsApp offer the ideal solution to solve this problem.

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WhatsApp API as a solution to the problems of the automotive industry

With WhatsApp, customers can contact you quickly and easily and make inquiries without having to put up with long waiting times on the phone or at the dealership. The advantage for your business: With the right WhatsApp API provider like Mateo, WhatsApp messages can be answered quickly with automatic replies and message templates, and a WhatsApp account can be used with diverse devices and users. The integrated contact management of modern messaging software lets you always keep track of your customers. This already seems to solve some problems in busy automotive stores. But in fact, WhatsApp is not only suitable for processing customer inquiries faster and saving personnel resources - with WhatsApp, car dealerships, workshops and other businesses in the automotive industry can directly increase their sales! We show you all the advantages that WhatsApp can offer in combination with a professional messaging tool like Mateo.
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Customer quote Autohaus Hertlein — Autohaus Hertlein uses WhatsApp with Mateo for customer communication and was able to noticeably increase not only customer satisfaction but also sales.

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Closer customer loyalty through personal user atmosphere

In contrast to e-mail, the user atmosphere of WhatsApp is very informal, as most users communicate with friends and family via WhatsApp. When companies are reachable via WhatsApp and send newsletters to customers, this creates a closeness to the customer that is simply not possible with e-mails. Emails are too distant and too impersonal and therefore not the right way to go as a communication channel, which is particularly important for customer loyalty. Long-term customer retention increases customer lifetime value and thus your bottom line.

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Videos, photos, files, voice memos, etc... - Share everything that matters with your customers

You certainly know it from private WhatsApp use:. Even with a WhatsApp company account, all kinds of files can be sent. Be it dozens of photos of new vehicles, the latest invoice or even a video with which customers can easily explain a complex technical problem to you. Through WhatsApp, you and your customers can share all the important files with each other. Without the typical email error messages of too large attachments.

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Automated dispatch of important customer information

With the WhatsApp API, automated sending of messages such as invoices, collection confirmations, appointments and other important customer information is possible. All functions are available for efficient and personal communication.

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Unlimited number of devices and users per account

With the WhatsApp API, there are no limits to the number of users and devices per account from a technical perspective. How many devices/users are actually possible differs depending on the API provider. With Mateo, there are few limits. We make sure that every one of your employees - be it on the shop floor, on the sales floor or in the office - gets access to WhatsApp, if that's what you want. With Mateo, it is also possible to connect multiple phone numbers to the WhatsApp API. Even your existing landline number!

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Increasing sales with WhatsApp newsletters: Utilizing upselling and cross-selling potentials

This is probably, and especially in terms of your sales, one of the most important arguments for WhatsApp in the automotive industry: The WhatsApp Newsletter

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Let's start with a little digression:

WhatsApp can also be used to send newsletters, similar to e-mails. However, as statistics show, e-mails are too distant and impersonal to function effectively as a marketing channel intended to influence consumers' primarily emotional buying behavior. Another advantage is that WhatsApp newsletters are guaranteed to reach recipients and are not sorted into the spam folder by the mail provider like many email newsletters. Your newsletter will get the attention it deserves between personal messages from friends and family members.

Traditional marketing channels like email are increasingly saturated. Many consumers receive dozens of email newsletters every week and delete most of them unread. In technical jargon, this phenomenon is called channel fatigue. As a marketer, there are only two options left in such a case: Either emails can be further optimized in the hope that open rates will increase by 1 or 2%. Or it can be switched to a channel such as WhatsApp, where there is no competition yet. That the latter option is likely to be associated with greater success is suggested by statistics on newsletter open rates. While e-mail newsletters are only opened in 22% of cases for the reasons mentioned, the figure for WhatsApp is a full 98% (source: Gartner).

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The excellent open rate, combined with customer proximity on WhatsApp and the resulting significantly higher conversion rate, leads to significantly increased sales revenues. Various experience reports show that the switch from e-mail to WhatsApp newsletters can contribute significantly to the success of a company. How exactly your automotive company can also set up and use WhatsApp newsletters, we have described in our article"How to WhatsApp Newsletter". By the way: Mateo provides you with reliable evaluations and statistics on the behavior of newsletter recipients, which can be used to evaluate the success of your WhatsApp campaign.

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Now back to the ways you can benefit from WhatsApp newsletters

Especially in the automotive industry, there are almost unlimited opportunities to upsell and cross-sell with occasional newsletters to your existing customers. For example, you can remind your customers about the upcoming inspection, oil change, TÜV inspection or tire change, ideally directly with a few appointment suggestions. Send out regular updates on your new and used car inventories to customers you know are interested in buying. Or, when winter sets in, draw your customers' attention to your wide selection of antifreeze, snow chains and de-icer spray - perhaps even with a 10% discount code. You can also offer appropriate accessories (rims, seat covers, floor mats, software packages, ....) via WhatsApp to customers who have recently bought a car from you. With a little creativity, you can find countless ways to generate additional sales with WhatsApp newsletters and retain existing customers with useful reminders and discount promotions.

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Conclusion

The advantages of messenger apps like WhatsApp are obvious: By using these digital channels, communication between customers and the dealership can be made more efficient. Customers can, for example, quickly and easily make an appointment or obtain information about repairs and services. In turn, car dealerships and workshops can respond more quickly and effectively to inquiries and use their resources more efficiently. With WhatsApp newsletter marketing, you can exploit massive sales potential and bind customers to your company in the long term. It is therefore time to switch customer communication to messenger apps and improve the customer experience. Car dealerships and workshops that rely on digital communication channels have the chance to gain a significant competitive advantage. Find out how your business can benefit from using Messenger apps, too! Simply arrange a free consultation appointment.

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Implement customer communication and existing customer marketing via WhatsApp with Mateo

At Mateo, we are your messaging experts when it comes to customer communication. Dozens of companies in the automotive industry already use Mateo and are enthusiastic about it. Our customers particularly appreciate the following advantages of Mateo:

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Central user interface

In addition to WhatsApp Business API, Mateo bundles many other communication channels such as email, Instagram, SMS or Facebook Messenger in a central inbox. On the intuitive and clear user interface, you will find various helpful tools for particularly efficient customer communication. A web widget with the messaging channels you support is available for your customers for particularly easy contact.

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Custom Message Templates

Thanks to various message templates that can be created individually, the amount of paperwork is minimized and the efficiency of customer communication is increased. This means that personnel resources in the service area can be deployed elsewhere.

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With Mateo's WhatsApp API solution, newsletters can be sent in a GDPR-compliant manner. Due to the first-class open rate of 98% for WhatsApp messages, marketing can thus be carried out significantly better than via email or other channels.

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‍Morepositive Google reviews

With Mateo, you create an outstanding customer experience. Mateo can automatically request online reviews from your customers. The more reviews you have, the better you will be found on Google, for example. Reviews also create trust in your company.

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Privacy

Mateo's messaging tool is compatible with all German and European legally binding data protection requirements. If necessary, the software will be revised accordingly in the event of any changes to the law. For absolutely secure customer communication, all WhatsApp messages are encrypted end-to-end. All info on the GDPR when using WhatsApp can be read in this article.

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Scalability for all company sizes

The scalability of the messaging tool has been confirmed by the large number of companies already using Mateo with a high level of satisfaction. Whether customers have just a few employees or many hundreds, the software works smoothly and, depending on the package, with an unlimited number of end devices, users and phone numbers. The fact that Mateo significantly reduces the workload in the customer service area opens up new growth opportunities for many companies.

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Low cost provider for WhatsApp Business API

With an entry-level price of just 79 euros per month, Mateo is a cost-effective provider for WhatsApp Business API solutions on the German market. In combination with the integration of further communication channels and various helpful tools, Mateo offers good value for money. Mateo's personal customer support assists companies with every step of the integration, ensuring very low barriers to entry.

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How companies from the automotive industry can revolutionize their customer communication and increase sales with WhatsApp