Automated dealership lead response

What to check before you decide

Lawful comes next. Automated texts need prior express written consent on record.

Keep the exact wording the customer saw and a time stamp. Honor a STOP reply across every channel at once.

If the first reply comes from software, check whether your state requires saying so.

Then recorded. Every message, in both directions, should appear on the customer record in the CRM, with the source of the lead.

A manager should be able to read the thread. If a salesperson takes over, the history must be there.

Ask where the automation stops. It should hand off to a person when the customer asks for one, asks about price, financing or a trade, or sounds upset.

It should not invent a price, a payment or an availability. Test it with trick questions.

Set a rule for after hours. The automated reply can answer at night, but a person should follow up first thing in the morning, and the system should show which leads are still waiting.

Measure results by appointments set and kept, not messages sent. Compare lead sources and hours, and review the transcripts weekly.

Review the system's work every morning for the first month, reading the overnight leads, the replies sent and the ones that were not answered, then adjust templates, routing and quiet hours, because automated response improves quickly when someone pays attention and decays quietly when nobody does, and a customer who receives a wrong or tone-deaf message rarely tells you before moving on.