LOS ANGELES -

As part of its ongoing campaign to integrate third-party dealer services with its software, Auto Manager Inc. on Tuesday announced it has reached a deal with a leading live chat provider.

Auto Manager officials said the company will partner with Contact At Once, to offer chat to its WebManager Online Marketing clients, as AutoManager chief executive officer Kami Tafreshi predicted that live chat will prove to be “the most transformative dealer marketing technology of 2013.”

“Studies show that live chat gets at least 25 percent more online shoppers to jump that hurdle and contact the dealer,” Tafreshi said. “We’re excited to partner with the worldwide leaders in automotive chat and give our dealers low-cost access to a tool that can increase their leads measurably from day one.”

ContactAtOnce is in use across third-party online ads, social media and industry-leading online classifieds, and on many dealer websites, officials said, and on mobile devices, increasingly an important segment of dealer website traffic.

For sales teams, Tafreshi said, “It shows you which page the visitor is looking at on your site, which allows you to give vehicle-specific information to the customer right off the bat. You can trigger common phrases by pressing a button. And with the mobile app, you can answer chats from your smartphone or tablet.”

The live chat software can also facilitate “hand-offs” between chat representatives on other Contact At Once-enabled websites, the company said, such as online ad listings or social media sites and the dealer website.

Contact At Once chat will be available to WebManager clients as an optional upgrade starting in early March.
 

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