Automotive SMS Automation for Dealerships

The best first text goes out before a salesperson has read the lead. The best fifth text goes out on the day the plan says, to the customer who has not answered yet. Neither should depend on memory.

Many car buyers answer a text before they answer a call or an email, which is why the first text matters so much. Automotive SMS automation sends that text the moment a lead arrives, then keeps the conversation going on the days the plan says, and hands the thread to a person the second the customer answers.

In LeadLocate CRM, automated dealership text messages go out from the store's own texting numbers, land on the customer's thread in the two way texting inbox with a delivery status on every bubble, and sit beside the rep's own texts, calls and emails. RCS messaging with automatic SMS fallback carries the store's branding on phones that support it. When the customer replies, the reply is on the same thread, and the rep who owns the lead takes over from there.

A franchise BDC uses it to answer every internet lead within the minute. An independent or used car store with no BDC uses it so a lead at 11:00 PM still hears from a named salesperson. Buy here pay here stores text document reminders, RV and boat dealers keep long buying cycles warm, and brokers schedule texts to clients for the day a deal is ready.

Every automated text in LeadLocate starts from something real on the lead. These are the triggers and the tool that owns each.

Automated Templates are organized by source: Inbound Lead Automated Templates for buyer leads, Acquisitions Lead Automated Templates for owners selling a vehicle, and a Company Default used to set up new sources. Each also carries a first email and a first voicemail. Texting Chatbots cover keyword campaigns in depth.

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8:52 AM. A lead lands on the store's website source before anyone is at a desk. The source's Automated TEXT Messages template texts the shopper by name about the vehicle they asked about, with the assigned rep's name merged in. At 8:53 the rep's phone gets the New Lead Alert.

8:57 AM. The shopper replies with a question about a trade. The reply lands on the same thread, the rep's Text Reply Alert fires, and from that point the thread has a person in it.

10:30 AM. A customer confirms a 4:00 PM test drive and gets the confirmation text with the address and the rep's name.

1:15 PM. A rep finishes a call with a shopper who said try me Thursday. She clicks the clock on the lead's Text button, writes the text, picks Thursday at 10:00 AM under Send at and saves. It now sits in that customer's Scheduled texts tab.

All day. Follow Up Process text steps set to Auto Send go out on schedule for leads from earlier in the week, and the steps set as tasks land on each rep's Workspace with the manager's instructions. Five kinds of text, five triggers, and no spreadsheet.

The Messaging Automation window opens from the clock on a lead's Text button. It does one job: schedule a text for that customer. A time is required, so nothing in this window goes out by accident.

• Send at. Pick the date and time, or tap a quick time like Today or Tomorrow. Times are dealership local.
• The message. Write it exactly as the customer should read it, or start from a template. Merge fields fill in per customer at send time.
• A clear reminder. The window says the text goes out at the time above, and that to text now, the rep uses Send a Text.
• A quiet hours heads up. Set a text outside 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM and a note under Send at says customers usually get texts between those hours. The rep can still choose the time.

Once saved, the text appears in the lead's Scheduled texts tab, beside Timeline and System Log, with edit, Send now and cancel in place. The Voicemail Automation window does the same for a voicemail drop, and the LeadLocate app schedules texts from the phone, with the same list under each customer. When a rep sends several vehicles, each goes as its own text, in order, and every inventory text carries the rep's own inventory link.

Automated texting to consumers is where a store's texting practice gets tested, so the safe behavior is built in, not configured.

• STOP works on its own. A customer who replies STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END or QUIT is taken off the store's text campaign lists, added to the DNC Blacklist, and sent a confirmation. Replying START resubscribes them.
• HELP gets an answer. A HELP reply returns the store's help message with how to reach the store and how to opt out.
• Will not send. Anything scheduled to a customer on Do Not Call, or to a deleted customer, reads Will not send and never goes out.
• A live do not call lookup. The DNC Blacklist checks numbers against a live do not call lookup and blocks spam texts in both directions.
• Good numbers only. The Phone Validator marks each number with a validity dot on the lead, so a plan does not keep texting a landline.
• Plain reasons. If a text fails, the queue says why in plain words: the carrier refused it, the number is on Do Not Call, or the account was out of credits.

The rules the store still owns, consent at capture and how it is recorded, are covered on TCPA compliance for dealership texting.

Automotive SMS automation should do the remembering and leave the judgment to people. LeadLocate keeps a person in charge at every layer.

• Auto Send per step. Each Follow Up Process step either goes out on its own or becomes a task for the rep. The default processes ship with every step as a task.
• Queued in plain view. Auto Send texts are queued the moment a process starts, so they are visible on the lead days before they go and can be edited, sent now or cancelled.
• The team queue. The Scheduled Messages slide-out, the clock in the Messaging header, lists every text, email and voicemail drop waiting to go out. Search it, narrow it by status, source or time, open any message, and stop a whole sequence with one click.
• Whole Team View. Managers see everyone's queue. Reps see their own messages and those on customers assigned to them. A manager's edit keeps the author's signature and shows who changed it.
• Drafts, never surprise sends. The AI writing assistant drafts a text for the rep to send, and a Design Studio ad opens the composer with the ad attached when a rep picks Text it to a lead.

A good text at the wrong hour is a bad text. These are the timing rules built into LeadLocate.

• Every scheduled time is dealership local, and a time already in the past is refused with a note to pick a later one.
• Day based process steps land at a set time of day, 9:00 AM in the defaults, which your manager can change step by step.
• Scheduling a text or voicemail drop outside 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM shows a heads up before it is saved.
• AI voicemail drops wait for store hours before they go.
• When a rep snoozes or reschedules a process task on the Workspace, its queued text moves with it.
• A message still waiting ten minutes past its time shows as Behind, so a manager sees it before the customer notices.

Automated Templates and the nine default Follow Up Processes come with every account, so a new store has a first text on lead arrival and a working plan on day one.

What we need from your store

• Your lead sources and the first text each should send.
• Your lead statuses and your current follow up rule.
• Any keywords you advertise, with the reply for each.
• Your store hours and your existing do not call list, if you keep one.

What our team does

Our team sets up your texting numbers, imports your existing blacklist, connects your lead sources, and walks your manager through Automated Templates, Follow Up Processes and the Scheduled Messages slide-out on a training call. Training is part of every plan: the video library, Live Training and Schedule Training from the top bar.

What your manager does

1. Write the first text for each source in Automated Templates.
2. Add text templates to the process steps that should send on their own, and leave the rest as tasks.
3. Send yourself a test lead and watch the first text, the alert and the queue.

Text is one channel of the plan. Automotive follow-up automation runs the multi step plans that mix calls, texts and email, and automotive email automation covers the email side, so a customer who ignores three emails can still be reached by text.

SMS automation is part of the LeadLocate CRM subscription on every plan, including CRM Only. Each plan includes a login to start and more users are an add-on. Usage credits cover bulk texting, bulk email, phone and email validation and voicemail deliveries. Plans, add-ons and credits are on the pricing page, month to month.

What triggers an automated text in LeadLocate CRM?

A lead arriving on a source, an appointment confirmation, a status change or appointment event in a Follow Up Process, a keyword a customer texts to a chatbot, and a date and time a rep picks in the Messaging Automation window. Each text lands on the customer's thread with a delivery status.

How do I schedule a text for one customer?

Click the clock on the lead's Text button to open the Messaging Automation window, write the text or pick a template, choose a time under Send at, and save. It waits in the lead's Scheduled texts tab, where you can edit it, send it now or cancel it.

What happens when a customer replies STOP?

The number is taken off the store's text campaign lists, added to the DNC Blacklist and sent a confirmation, and anything scheduled to that customer reads Will not send. A START reply resubscribes them.

Can a manager see and cancel texts before they go out?

Yes. With Whole Team View a manager sees every queued text across the team in the Scheduled Messages slide-out and can edit, send now or cancel any one, or stop a whole sequence. Reps see their own and those on their customers.

Will automated texts go out at night?

Only if you schedule them that way. Process steps land at a set time of day, 9:00 AM in the defaults, and a text scheduled outside 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM shows a heads up before it is saved.

Do automated texts come from the store's number?

Yes. They go out on the store's texting numbers, the same ones the customer already has, so replies come back to the same thread in the CRM.

Is SMS automation an add-on?

No. It is part of the CRM on every plan. More users beyond the included login are an add-on, and bulk texting and the other high volume tools use usage credits, all listed on the pricing page.

Watch the pre-recorded demo to see a lead get its first text, a reply land on the thread and a scheduled text wait in the queue, then compare plans.

Prefer to talk right now? Call or text 844-376-2274.