ATLANTA, Nov. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In an ongoing analysis of messaging conversations between consumers and automotive retailers, Contact At Once!, a LivePerson Company (Nasdaq: LPSN), said today that among the top 10 topics consumers are inquiring about, nine are purchase- and ownership-focused subjects, such as vehicle availability and pricing or financing versus general questions about subjects like hours of operation.

Denise Chudy, general manager of LivePerson's automotive division Contact At Once! (CAO!), will share these and other findings during her keynote address at today's Automotive Analytics and Attribution Summit (AAAS) in West Palm Beach. Chudy says this helps dealers understand shopper and owner intent and it also helps dispel inaccurate assumptions that consumers use messaging for more general questions, not buyer-specific inquiries.

"We have looked at data across multiple automotive marketplaces and messaging apps like Facebook Marketplace, Google My Business, and Apple Business Chat, and the data is consistent," says Chudy.  "Auto shoppers are engaging in messaging and giving strong buying signals."

LivePerson's automotive analytics show the top consumer-to-dealership inquiries include vehicle availability, appointment scheduling, searches for specific used vehicles, pricing, trade-ins, specific stock, service inquiries, promotions, and financing. 

Thirteen percent of auto shoppers in the CAO! analysis of Google My Business messaging were inquiring about parts or service. Chudy believes this points to the value of offering messaging options to consumers across the life of their relationship with the dealership. "It's important that we recognize how messaging in the service department helps drive efficiencies, increase the value of repair orders, and improve customer satisfaction scores," adds Chudy. "It's also vital to understand that the service department can be a strong source of new car leads when consumers have a good experience." 

According to the September 2018 Cox Automotive Service Industry Study, 74 percent of customers who visited the dealership in the last 12 months for service are likely to return to purchase their next vehicle, compared to only 35 percent of customers who did not visit for service.

Chudy will address the AAAS audience Monday with a discussion about the new wave of conversational commerce opportunities for auto dealerships driven by the rapid adoption of messaging as a communications channel between consumers and businesses. "In 2016, very few consumers turned to messaging to get business done," Chudy says. "Today, millions of messaging conversations happen and consumers like the results, so our industry needs a path forward to connect with consumers in the messaging channels they already favor."

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ABOUT CONTACT AT ONCE!
Contact At Once!, a LivePerson Company, helps create satisfying connections and build relationships between auto shoppers and dealers by making it easier for consumers to ask questions and get information in the micro-moments when they shop — whether on a brand or retailer site, via online advertising, on social media, and more. Contact At Once! is the industry's leading provider of messaging platforms with over 16,000 businesses using our solutions to build relationships with online, mobile shoppers. For more information, visit www.contactatonce.com.

ABOUT LIVEPERSON, INC.
LivePerson makes life easier by transforming how people communicate with brands. Our 18,000 customers, including leading brands like Citibank, HSBC, Orange, and The Home Depot, use our conversational commerce solutions to orchestrate humans and AI, at scale, and create a convenient, deeply personal relationship — a conversational relationship — with their millions of consumers. For more information about LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN), please visit www.liveperson.com.

MEDIA CONTACT
Allison Franzese
LivePerson
afranzese@liveperson.com
212-609-4224

SOURCE LivePerson, Inc.