Facebook recently announced version 2.2. of its Messenger app—complete with some business-friendly features that auto dealerships will want to take note of. Among the changes, Facebook Messenger now offers a customer chat plugin, which lets businesses integrate Messenger into their own websites.

Improving Customer Communications

The aim of these new features is to enable business to maintain clear, fluid, and flexible communications with their customers—turning the business website into a true customer service hub.

A recent article from ZDNet lists some of the features this upgraded Messenger introduces. “As customers move across platforms, the plugin ensures their conversation history with a brand is maintained,” the article says. “The plugin also supports Messenger capabilities like payments, natural language processing (NLP) and rich media.”

And that’s just for starters. The new Messenger also boasts a media template, allowing businesses to share images and videos more directly and interactively. Businesses sharing images, GIFs, or video content can insert Call to Action buttons, as well.

Additionally, a feedback feature has been added to Messenger, letting businesses see exactly how customers rate this interactive experience—a good way to bring accountability to the customer service team.

Key Considerations for Dealerships

These are all features with broad applicability to businesses everywhere—but is there anything that makes this new Facebook Messenger particularly useful for auto dealerships?

We think the answer to that question is a definite yes—and for a couple of reasons. For one, it’s a natural complement to dealership CRM platforms. The ability to cross-reference CRM entries with Facebook chats could prove invaluable. What’s more, there is potential for highly targeted advertising—specifically, retargeting ads to customers who have already engaged with the dealership on Messenger.

In short, it’s another way for your auto dealership to personalize its services and pair them to individual customers—and in an era where user experience makes all the difference for consumers, these added personalization options shouldn’t be ignored.

Get Started with Facebook Marketing

Facebook Messenger is just one of the digital marketing tools auto dealerships should be using to provide a cleaner, more individualized customer journey for their buyers. Of course, it’s important to take advantage of these tools within the context of a holistic marketing campaign—and that’s something Get My Auto can offer.

Get My Auto provides data-driven, goal-oriented marketing services to independent auto dealerships throughout California—and we’d love to help you take advantage of the latest marketing technologies. Reach out to Get My Auto today for a consultation.