Millennials are emerging into the car buying market. That fact alone should make it very clear that text messaging is becoming an important component of mobile marketing and the lead process for car dealers, but there's more. Existing car shoppers who weren't texting very much the last time they were in the market are starting to embrace texting more every day.

Texting isn't just for young people. Even people in my generation are moving towards texting. I personally text much more often than I talk on the phone.

There is a growing percentage of dealers who are taking advantage of the text messaging trends when it comes to working their leads. That percentage is probably higher than normal here on DrivingSales. However, there is still a gap when it comes to using texting for marketing. Between texting rules and software nuances, trying to generate more leads through text messaging can be a challenge.

Thankfully, chat is filling much of the gap. Compared to phone calls, emails, and lead forms, website chat is by far the closest that a lead converter can come to replicating the texting experience. As we described in our blog post, chat mimics texting on dealer websites. It's not exactly the same, but a clear increase in the percentage of website visitors utilizing chat can be easily attributed to its similarities to the ever-popular text.

It's real time.

It's back and forth within a single mobile interface.

It doesn't require people to open their mouths and talk.

As the popularity of mobile continues to expand and the market becomes more saturated with people who like to text, having a properly positioned mobile chat interface can help dealers takea advantage of the evolution of communication.

Millennials are emerging into the car buying market. That fact alone should make it very clear that text messaging is becoming an important component of mobile marketing and the lead process for car dealers, but there's more. Existing car shoppers who weren't texting very much the last time they were in the market are starting to embrace texting more every day.

Texting isn't just for young people. Even people in my generation are moving towards texting. I personally text much more often than I talk on the phone.

There is a growing percentage of dealers who are taking advantage of the text messaging trends when it comes to working their leads. That percentage is probably higher than normal here on DrivingSales. However, there is still a gap when it comes to using texting for marketing. Between texting rules and software nuances, trying to generate more leads through text messaging can be a challenge.

Thankfully, chat is filling much of the gap. Compared to phone calls, emails, and lead forms, website chat is by far the closest that a lead converter can come to replicating the texting experience. As we described in our blog post, chat mimics texting on dealer websites. It's not exactly the same, but a clear increase in the percentage of website visitors utilizing chat can be easily attributed to its similarities to the ever-popular text.

It's real time.

It's back and forth within a single mobile interface.

It doesn't require people to open their mouths and talk.

As the popularity of mobile continues to expand and the market becomes more saturated with people who like to text, having a properly positioned mobile chat interface can help dealers takea advantage of the evolution of communication.

In our blog post about the two ways dealers can increase leads, I talked about the differences between driving more traffic as a strategy versus improving your websites ability to generate leads from the traffic it's already getting. This is on our blog and obviously I'm going to lean towards our own expertise when posting to my website, but here I'd like to point out the obvious: you don't have to choose one or the other.

Why can't we have both?

When I was a sales manager, I would hear about how this advertising campaign brought in weaker traffic or that campaign brought in too little traffic. We were always searching for the goose that would lay the golden egg - better foot traffic and more of it! Now that everything has gone digital, the old complaints are manifesting in the form of lead generation.

Driving more shoppers to your website can help you generate more leads and improving the way that website converts them can do the same. Let's look at the math to see which is better:

I can already hear the complaints.

"Jeff, your numbers are rigged."

"Jeff, you're oversimplifying it."

"Jeff, your figures are too high/low/sideways."

It's simple math to illustrate a point that everyone here already knows. If you increase traffic and improve lead conversion, you have the best chance of generating more leads, period.

Dealers shouldn't put all of their eggs into one basket when on the quest to drive more leads from their website. You don't have to settle for better lead generating tools or more website traffic. You can do both. That's the point.

It doesn't have to be complicated. I don't need a fancy chart to illustrate it. Focusing on one doesn't stop you from focusing on the other. Why not both?

In our blog post about the two ways dealers can increase leads, I talked about the differences between driving more traffic as a strategy versus improving your websites ability to generate leads from the traffic it's already getting. This is on our blog and obviously I'm going to lean towards our own expertise when posting to my website, but here I'd like to point out the obvious: you don't have to choose one or the other.

Why can't we have both?

When I was a sales manager, I would hear about how this advertising campaign brought in weaker traffic or that campaign brought in too little traffic. We were always searching for the goose that would lay the golden egg - better foot traffic and more of it! Now that everything has gone digital, the old complaints are manifesting in the form of lead generation.

Driving more shoppers to your website can help you generate more leads and improving the way that website converts them can do the same. Let's look at the math to see which is better:

I can already hear the complaints.

"Jeff, your numbers are rigged."

"Jeff, you're oversimplifying it."

"Jeff, your figures are too high/low/sideways."

It's simple math to illustrate a point that everyone here already knows. If you increase traffic and improve lead conversion, you have the best chance of generating more leads, period.

Dealers shouldn't put all of their eggs into one basket when on the quest to drive more leads from their website. You don't have to settle for better lead generating tools or more website traffic. You can do both. That's the point.

It doesn't have to be complicated. I don't need a fancy chart to illustrate it. Focusing on one doesn't stop you from focusing on the other. Why not both?

In the chat segment of the automotive industry, there's a question that comes up from time to time when I'm talking to dealers. We talk about leads as one of the primary focuses of our software and service options, so it's natural for savvy dealers to ask, "Is it really adding more leads or simply replacing leads that could be coming from other sources?"

The question is valid. Our experience clearly shows that dealers see an increase in overall leads when they integrate chat for their websites. It's in the nature and mentality of the modern car buyer that the explanation for this can be found.

We have a million different ways to communicate with each other and with businesses. It wasn't too long ago that the options were limited to phone, email, and form submissions, but today there are plenty of choices. With so many choices, people naturally tend to find a preference. For me, it's text. I love talking to people on the phone but I'm on the phone so often that I can miss calls. It's almost impossible to miss a text. I know I'm not alone.

For those who like to text, chat is usually the closest available option to for website visitors to contact a dealership with questions. It has the real-time benefits that forms and emails do not have while maintaining a degree of separation for those who aren't ready or willing to call the dealership directly. In other words, the website visitor has a perception of conversational control with chat that they don't get with phone while getting the instant answers they want that they can't always get with forms or emails.

Perhaps the most important reason that chat is effective for increasing rather than replacing leads on dealer websites is that it's simple. It's wide open. They can voice their questions and engage in a direct conversation in ways that forms cannot accomplish. The numbers clearly demonstrate this and it's becoming more pronounced. Compared to the early days of chat, the number of strong leads coming through to dealerships properly utilizing chat is steadily increasing.

Some swear by chat. Others are skeptical. You may be one of those who aren't certain about the effectness of chat. Perhaps you've had it on your website in the past. It's better today than ever before. Of course, the only way to know for sure is to put chat on your website and see how the numbers pan out.

There may have been a time in the past when chat replaced more than it increased leads, but those days are long behind us.

In the chat segment of the automotive industry, there's a question that comes up from time to time when I'm talking to dealers. We talk about leads as one of the primary focuses of our software and service options, so it's natural for savvy dealers to ask, "Is it really adding more leads or simply replacing leads that could be coming from other sources?"

The question is valid. Our experience clearly shows that dealers see an increase in overall leads when they integrate chat for their websites. It's in the nature and mentality of the modern car buyer that the explanation for this can be found.

We have a million different ways to communicate with each other and with businesses. It wasn't too long ago that the options were limited to phone, email, and form submissions, but today there are plenty of choices. With so many choices, people naturally tend to find a preference. For me, it's text. I love talking to people on the phone but I'm on the phone so often that I can miss calls. It's almost impossible to miss a text. I know I'm not alone.

For those who like to text, chat is usually the closest available option to for website visitors to contact a dealership with questions. It has the real-time benefits that forms and emails do not have while maintaining a degree of separation for those who aren't ready or willing to call the dealership directly. In other words, the website visitor has a perception of conversational control with chat that they don't get with phone while getting the instant answers they want that they can't always get with forms or emails.

Perhaps the most important reason that chat is effective for increasing rather than replacing leads on dealer websites is that it's simple. It's wide open. They can voice their questions and engage in a direct conversation in ways that forms cannot accomplish. The numbers clearly demonstrate this and it's becoming more pronounced. Compared to the early days of chat, the number of strong leads coming through to dealerships properly utilizing chat is steadily increasing.

Some swear by chat. Others are skeptical. You may be one of those who aren't certain about the effectness of chat. Perhaps you've had it on your website in the past. It's better today than ever before. Of course, the only way to know for sure is to put chat on your website and see how the numbers pan out.

There may have been a time in the past when chat replaced more than it increased leads, but those days are long behind us.

The internet has changed our world. The concept of "business hours" has been turned on its head. People are buying things online at 2 in the morning. They're researching vehicles after the kids are in bed. They're planning out how to drop off their vehicle in your service department and still get to work on time at 4am.

When they have questions, are you there for them? Chances are that you do not have a receptionist there to answer questions by phone overnight. A contact form or email simply won't fulfill all of their needs in the timely manner they expect. This is where 24-hour chat comes into play.

In the example above, we described the person who wants to know about your service department and how she'll get to work. This isn't a hypothetical. It actually happens. We see chats all the time inquiring about hours and transportation. If you're not there to answer their questions, you're missing out on potential business. She can't wait until 7am to decide where to drop off her car if she has to be at work at 8am. Answering her questions at 4am when she's inquiring is the key to getting that business secured.

Many people like to do the majority of their web surfing at night when there are no distractions or responsibilities. Those who do not have 24-hour chat miss those opportunities when people are surfing their website late at night or early in the morning and they have questions that they need answered.

There's a reason that many companies do not offer 24-hour chat. It's not easy to maintain a properly trained chat operator staff that can be there at all hours of the day or night, so they talk about how "real" buyers only inquire during business hours. We've seen that the exact opposite is true, that people who are researching during off hours are often easier to convert into a lead than someone who is researching during the day.

When your customers come knocking at your virtual door, are you making your dealership available to answer their questions?

The internet has changed our world. The concept of "business hours" has been turned on its head. People are buying things online at 2 in the morning. They're researching vehicles after the kids are in bed. They're planning out how to drop off their vehicle in your service department and still get to work on time at 4am.

When they have questions, are you there for them? Chances are that you do not have a receptionist there to answer questions by phone overnight. A contact form or email simply won't fulfill all of their needs in the timely manner they expect. This is where 24-hour chat comes into play.

In the example above, we described the person who wants to know about your service department and how she'll get to work. This isn't a hypothetical. It actually happens. We see chats all the time inquiring about hours and transportation. If you're not there to answer their questions, you're missing out on potential business. She can't wait until 7am to decide where to drop off her car if she has to be at work at 8am. Answering her questions at 4am when she's inquiring is the key to getting that business secured.

Many people like to do the majority of their web surfing at night when there are no distractions or responsibilities. Those who do not have 24-hour chat miss those opportunities when people are surfing their website late at night or early in the morning and they have questions that they need answered.

There's a reason that many companies do not offer 24-hour chat. It's not easy to maintain a properly trained chat operator staff that can be there at all hours of the day or night, so they talk about how "real" buyers only inquire during business hours. We've seen that the exact opposite is true, that people who are researching during off hours are often easier to convert into a lead than someone who is researching during the day.

When your customers come knocking at your virtual door, are you making your dealership available to answer their questions?

There are three rules when it comes to properly A/B testing the various components of your website and the tools that drive it. We use them and we know there are a handful of other vendors who use them as well, but you don't have to be a vendor to take advantage of them. Dealers can do this type of testing as well.

This should not be confused with multi-variant testing, a technique often used in PPC and landing page optimiztion that gives multiple variations of a page to see which converts best. With component A/B testing, you're looking for micro-improvements rather than finalist selection.

Here are the rules for basic A/B testing. There are others, but if you make sure to follow these, you'll have the best chance of success:

1. Make One Change at a Time

One of the most common mistakes made to both widgets and entire web pages is the concept that "it doesn't work, so let's change it." With that perspective, it's appealing to make several changes. This is the wrong approach.

You can learn a lot more about pages and widgets by testing one change at a time. If you know that a page is not converting and your hypothesis is that there are potentially three things wrong with the page, don't change all three. If you do and the results improve, you won't know which change made the most difference. Even worse, one of the changes could be very positive but one or two of the others could be negative, so you might have a winning change you could apply elsewhere that you ignore because the other two changes confused the numbers.

2. Collect Enough Data

It's easy to get impatient. Proper A/B tests take time. You have to make sure you have a complete set of data before making any decisions.

Unfortunately, it's challenging to know when you have enough data. In our own data analysis model, we collect data for years. We make some changes after a short period of time, perhaps a couple of months worth of data, while other changes could take a longer period to get a good data set.

If you're testing widget placement, for example, you might see immediate results improve just by moving it from the bottom to the top of the page. Don't jump just because the data looks good anecdotally. Let it work its way through and continue to test for at least a month or two, depending on the volume of traffic that gets to see the widget.

3. Never Stop Testing

This is the key to long-term success. You should have tests running on most components of your digital marketing at all times. In our world, a little plus a little plus a little can equal a lot. We always test because that's what it takes to improve our product. You should do the same.

It may seem tedious, but the results can be tremendous. For example, we've seen dealers test their pricing model to see whether round number prices ($24,888) work better than odd prices ($24, 827). You can test different variations of wording on contact forms. You can test whether it's better to say "hi" or "hello" in chat (yes, that's something that we've done and the results were pretty awesome).

The image above is a sampling of our chat operator images. We've seen a clear difference in lead conversion based strictly on the faces used in the chat console. Can you guess which of these was the best (by 7.94%) and which was the worst?

Take a guess and comment below.

There are three rules when it comes to properly A/B testing the various components of your website and the tools that drive it. We use them and we know there are a handful of other vendors who use them as well, but you don't have to be a vendor to take advantage of them. Dealers can do this type of testing as well.

This should not be confused with multi-variant testing, a technique often used in PPC and landing page optimiztion that gives multiple variations of a page to see which converts best. With component A/B testing, you're looking for micro-improvements rather than finalist selection.

Here are the rules for basic A/B testing. There are others, but if you make sure to follow these, you'll have the best chance of success:

1. Make One Change at a Time

One of the most common mistakes made to both widgets and entire web pages is the concept that "it doesn't work, so let's change it." With that perspective, it's appealing to make several changes. This is the wrong approach.

You can learn a lot more about pages and widgets by testing one change at a time. If you know that a page is not converting and your hypothesis is that there are potentially three things wrong with the page, don't change all three. If you do and the results improve, you won't know which change made the most difference. Even worse, one of the changes could be very positive but one or two of the others could be negative, so you might have a winning change you could apply elsewhere that you ignore because the other two changes confused the numbers.

2. Collect Enough Data

It's easy to get impatient. Proper A/B tests take time. You have to make sure you have a complete set of data before making any decisions.

Unfortunately, it's challenging to know when you have enough data. In our own data analysis model, we collect data for years. We make some changes after a short period of time, perhaps a couple of months worth of data, while other changes could take a longer period to get a good data set.

If you're testing widget placement, for example, you might see immediate results improve just by moving it from the bottom to the top of the page. Don't jump just because the data looks good anecdotally. Let it work its way through and continue to test for at least a month or two, depending on the volume of traffic that gets to see the widget.

3. Never Stop Testing

This is the key to long-term success. You should have tests running on most components of your digital marketing at all times. In our world, a little plus a little plus a little can equal a lot. We always test because that's what it takes to improve our product. You should do the same.

It may seem tedious, but the results can be tremendous. For example, we've seen dealers test their pricing model to see whether round number prices ($24,888) work better than odd prices ($24, 827). You can test different variations of wording on contact forms. You can test whether it's better to say "hi" or "hello" in chat (yes, that's something that we've done and the results were pretty awesome).

The image above is a sampling of our chat operator images. We've seen a clear difference in lead conversion based strictly on the faces used in the chat console. Can you guess which of these was the best (by 7.94%) and which was the worst?

Take a guess and comment below.