Texting Chatbots That Text Back for Car Dealers

A keyword on a windshield sign, a reply the second the customer texts it, and a lead in the CRM before they walk in the door. That is what a texting chatbot does at a dealership.

A texting chatbot in LeadLocate CRM is a keyword campaign: the store chooses a trigger keyword and a reply, and when a customer texts that keyword to the store's tracking number, the bot replies at once, adds the customer as a subscriber to that campaign, records them as a lead, and texts the rep or manager who asked to be notified. Bots that text back, in the CRM's own words. No app for the customer to install, no form to fill out, and no salesperson required to be awake.

The value is in the word instantly. A customer who texts TRUCKS to a number on a banner is at peak interest for about ninety seconds. A chatbot answers inside that window with the offer, the link or the hours, and it hands the store a lead with a phone number that has already proven it works. The missed call text-back software page covers the neighboring idea, an automatic text to a caller the store could not answer, built from the same tools. This page is the chatbot itself.

The used car manager printed the campaign's sign on Friday, a full page layout that reads Text TRUCKS to the store's number, and taped it in the window of every pickup on the front line. Saturday at 11:20 a couple walks the lot before anyone reaches them, reads the sign on a crew cab, and texts TRUCKS. Within seconds the reply arrives: a short note that they are subscribed, the weekend pricing on trucks, and a link to the store's inventory page. At the same moment the manager's cell buzzes with a text from the CRM: a new subscriber interested in the TRUCKS campaign, with the customer's number.

He walks out, introduces himself by name and asks which truck they were looking at. The lead is already in the CRM with the campaign as its source, so when he opens the LeadLocate mobile app in the lot the customer's thread is there, and the vehicle button drops the crew cab into it with photos and a price before they have finished the walkaround. By Monday the campaign page shows eleven subscribers from the weekend, and each one is a lead a rep can call, a thread a rep can text, and a name on the recipient list for the next bulk send.

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Open the dock, click Marketing Tools, then Texting Chatbots. The page is Chatbot Campaigns. Under Add new TEXT Chatbot Campaign there are four fields: Campaign Name, Trigger Keyword, Reply, and Notify Me with a cell number. Save it and the campaign appears under Active Chatbot Campaigns with its keyword, its subscriber count and the date it was created. Each campaign has Edit, View and Delete, and View opens the subscribers.

Two links beside each campaign print the sign for it, a Full-page layout and a Half-page Layout, so the keyword goes on a windshield, a service counter or a mailer without anyone opening a design tool. Import from CSV loads an existing list of subscribers into a campaign, which is how a store brings a list from a previous vendor over. A Software Setup help section on the same page walks a new user through the first campaign. On the phone, the subscriber's lead and thread are in the LeadLocate mobile app like any other lead.

The customer texts the keyword and receives two things: the store's reply, and a short confirmation that they are now subscribed to the campaign by name, with the word to text to unsubscribe and the word to text for help. That confirmation is deliberate. It tells the customer what they just joined and how to leave, in the first message, which is what a reasonable person expects and what the rules ask for. A customer who texts the same keyword twice is told they are already subscribed rather than being added twice.

The store sees a new subscriber under the campaign, a new lead in the lead inbox with the campaign as its source, a text to the Notify Me number, and, for the rep the lead is assigned to, a New Lead Alert on their phone, since campaign signups fire the same alert as any other new lead. The customer's number is on a thread in the two way texting inbox from that first message, so the follow up is a reply, not a cold call.

Keyword texting has been sold to dealerships for years as a standalone service: a short code the store rents, a monthly fee per keyword, a web dashboard nobody logs into, and a subscriber list that lives with the vendor. The customer who texts the keyword gets an autoreply and then, usually, nothing, because the lead never made it to a salesperson's screen. When the store cancels, the list goes with the vendor.

Inside the CRM the keyword rides on the store's own tracking number, the subscriber is a lead the moment they text, the rep is notified the same second, and the list is the store's, in its CRM, forever. There is no per keyword fee and no separate bill; Texting Chatbots are part of every plan on the pricing page. The honest cost of the old way was never the fee. It was the customer standing at a truck who texted a sign and got a robot instead of a salesperson.

A customer who texts a keyword to a number printed on a sign has initiated the conversation, and that first message is the store's record of it. The CRM keeps that inbound text on the customer's thread with its timestamp, sends the subscription confirmation with the unsubscribe and help words, and honors the opt out automatically: a customer who texts a stop word is removed from the campaign, added to the two way blacklist, and told which campaigns they left. No user and no automation texts that number again. The DNC Blacklist page runs a live do not call lookup on numbers and blocks inbound spam in both directions, so a keyword campaign does not become a door for junk.

The keyword reply itself should be honest about what the campaign is and how often it will message, and that is the store's call to make when it writes the Reply field. The TCPA compliance for dealership texting page is the plain language guide. What the platform contributes is that consent, confirmation and opt out are all applied by the system and stored with the lead, not remembered by a rep.

Nothing to install. Open Marketing Tools, click Texting Chatbots, fill in a campaign name, a keyword, a reply and the number to notify, and save. Print the sign from the layout link. The first subscriber can text within the hour. If a store wants a keyword that routes to a specific rep, a reply with a vehicle attached, or a chatbot that hands off to a multi step follow up, those are available on request, and our team puts them in production for your dealership. If we are ever briefly unreachable, the subscriber lists and leads already captured are in the CRM and the tracking numbers are yours; the campaign resumes replying when the system is back.

One thing to be clear about. A texting chatbot here answers a keyword with the reply the store wrote; it is not a conversational agent that negotiates on the store's behalf. Jax, the AI assistant inside the CRM, helps the rep write, and the free live chat widget for dealer sites is a separate product on the live chat for car dealers page. The chatbot's job is to answer instantly and hand a live lead to a person, which is the part that sells cars.

A chatbot builds an audience. Two neighbors put it to work. Bulk Texting sends the next event, the next special or the next arrival to the campaign's subscribers as a list, so the sign on the windshield keeps paying after the weekend. Text Automation puts the campaign's new leads on the same follow up process as any other lead, with the automated text on lead receipt and the steps by lead type, so a subscriber who did not buy Saturday hears from the store again on schedule.

Design Studio prints the sign, the referral card and the business card that carry the keyword, and trackable short links in the reply tell the store how many subscribers opened the inventory page. The rest of the toolset is on the all features page.

What is a texting chatbot in LeadLocate?

A keyword campaign that texts back. The store sets a trigger keyword and a reply under Marketing Tools, Texting Chatbots. When a customer texts the keyword to the store's number, the bot replies instantly, subscribes them to the campaign, creates the lead and texts the Notify Me number.

Does the customer become a lead?

Yes. A campaign signup is recorded as a new lead with the campaign as its source, fires the New Lead Alert to the assigned rep, and opens a thread in the texting inbox from the customer's first message.

How do customers find the keyword?

However the store prints it. Each campaign has a Full-page layout and a Half-page Layout link that prints the sign, and Design Studio produces cards and print pieces that carry the same keyword and number.

Can a subscriber opt out?

Yes. The subscription confirmation tells them the word to text to unsubscribe. A stop word removes them from the campaign, adds the number to the two way blacklist, and confirms which campaigns they left. No user or automation texts that number again.

Is the chatbot an AI that talks to customers?

No. It answers a keyword with the reply the store wrote and hands the lead to a person. Jax is the AI assistant that helps the rep inside the CRM, and the live chat widget for dealer websites is a separate product.

What does it cost?

Texting Chatbots are part of LeadLocate CRM on every plan, including CRM Only from $199 a month, with no per keyword fee. Plans are on the pricing page.

Instant replies, a subscriber list that is yours, and a rep notified the same second, on every plan. See a chatbot campaign in the pre-recorded demo or start month to month.

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