CarGurus has announced the integration of WhatsApp to its online used car marketplace, allowing dealers to ineract with customers via the social media app.

CarGurus said that much like the existing managed text/chat functionality, the WhatsApp integration would provide a fully managed communication program where specialists answer questions on behalf of dealers and deliver lead information directly to a CRM system or specified inbox.

Wendy Harris, vice president of European sales at CarGurus, said: “The integration of WhatsApp to the CarGurus platform demonstrates our commitment to continually develop tools that deliver improved ROI for our dealer partners.

“It is especially impactful as it delivers a better consumer experience for car buyers, who benefit from faster response times and the convenience and familiarity of communicating via WhatsApp’s popular messaging service.”

In May, CarGurus hailed online reputation management is a key ‘area of opportunity’ for car dealers during Covid-19 lockdown as its research revealed that half of consumers choose a dealer based on online reviews.

CarGurus’ also says the integration of WhatsApp has the added benefit of freeing up dealers’ time to respond to emails, answer phone calls or manage walk-in customers. Dealers are provided with a full transcript of conversations.

Concerns about personal finances topped the list of Covid-19 challenges for dealership staff in a new CarGurus survey, with 41% of respondents saying they were struggling financially.

WhatsApp has been popular amongst car buyers on CarGurus, with WhatsApp lead volumes for UK paying dealers growing at 10% week-on-week according to CarGurus.

The WhatsApp feature is available now at no additional cost to all paying CarGurus dealers in the UK.

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