Unlike other industries that have completely shifted to digital sales models, the automotive sector still relies heavily on in-person purchases. However, that doesn’t mean digital doesn’t play an important role in automotive customer journeys. 

Quite the contrary — 95% of vehicle buyers rely on digital information sources prior to making a purchase. How can car dealerships and automotive lead generation agencies make the most of this consumer behavior to boost sales?

Both web and WhatsApp chatbots offer many benefits, from improved lead generation and qualification to faster response times. 

Keep reading to find out how automotive chatbots can simplify sales processes and improve customer satisfaction. 

Why Automotive Companies Need Chatbots

The automotive industry is currently facing economic challenges that slow down global car purchases. High interest rates, rising vehicle prices, and consumer debt have all contributed to a reduction in automotive sales, which are forecasted to grow by just 2.7% in 2025. 

To address this trend, automotive retailers and marketing agencies have been increasing their investment in digital advertising. In 2023, automotive digital ad spending increased by 11.7%. But online advertising alone isn’t the answer.

Despite the investment, almost 25% of automotive leads don’t hear back from car dealers within a 24-hour window, and 13.3% disappear before CRM entry. Missed follow-up opportunities and faulty sales journeys lead to automotive businesses losing up to 37% of online leads. At a cost per lead of 250$, the need for a different way to address sales that start online is clear. 

That’s where chatbots for the automotive industry come in. 

How Chatbots Simplify the Car Buying Journey

Whether you’re an automotive business or a lead generation agency working with one, chatbots will help you boost sales and drive customer engagement at all points of the buying journey. 

Website chatbots can engage with leads 24/7 and in real time, answer FAQs, recommend products, and offer personalized discounts to capture contact details. On automotive websites, this can be translated into showcasing vehicles based on customer preferences, answering questions about car specificities, and guiding leads through booking processes to book test drives or find the closest dealership in their area.

WhatsApp chatbots can take the conversation between leads and businesses on the go, further driving your automotive sales through improved lead generation and qualification. The messaging platform offers a way to connect with customers on an app they use in their day-to-day while also showing incredible results compared to other channels. For example, WhatsApp's open rate is around 98% whereas email marketing open rates are only around 20%. 

Put web and WhatsApp bots together and you’ll have a team of automotive chatbots that will surely boost your sales efforts. Thanks to their automation capabilities, chatbots can step in at any time and at all stages of the customer buying journey in the automotive industry, simplifying the whole process. 

Let’s break this down. 

Automotive Lead Generation

A chatbot for automotive lead generation is designed to identify leads, collect their contact information, and capture their interest in the vehicles you’re selling. As opposed to static forms or simple web pages, chatbots do this in a conversational way that offers a lot of advantages, including:

• Higher conversion rates: while the average conversion rate for a website is 3.3%, lead generation chatbots can offer over 40% conversion rate;
• Lower cost per lead, especially if we think about the 250$ per automotive lead already mentioned;
• And increased lead engagement. 

Website chatbots can, this way, convert casual browsers into (qualifided) leads, and do a better job of it than other lead generation strategies. 

Just take look at our client MeinAuto. MeinAuto.de is Germany’s top online car retailer. The platform simplifies the car buying process, by offering a selection of over 40 car brands and pairing customers with the model that best suits their needs. 

Before Landbot, the MeinAuto team noticed that users who required more guidance in their car purchase process were showing higher bounce rates on their homepage than those who were clear about the type of car they wanted. 

After implementing a Landbot website bot that guides leads through the car search process through a conversational experience, MeinAuto observed a notable 10% increase in leads generated for customers who interacted with the chatbot on the homepage.

In addition to increasing the number of leads, MeinAuto’s automotive chatbot also automatically hands over the captured contact information to the Sales team, who can then get in touch with the leads who require extra assistance to finalize their purchase. 

So, what about WhatsApp chatbots?

They’re just as useful for automotive lead generation as web bots. One thing you need to keep in mind is that using WhatsApp as part of your lead generation strategy requires users to double opt-in to your channel and consent to receive business communications. 

You can use different entry points to ask prospective customers for their phone numbers and generate a lead for your business. These include:

• Sign-up forms;
• Landing pages;
• Website bots;
• Email marketing campaigns;
• Social media;
• Click-to-WhatsApp ads;
• And more.

You can even offer a WhatsApp entry point at your physical car dealership by including a QR code customers can scan to opt-in. 

Whichever strategy you choose, it’s important to make clear to customers what the benefit of receiving your WhatsApp communications is. For example, you can send them exclusive discounts on WhatsApp, have them stay up to date on your vehicle catalog, or simply use the channel to qualify the lead after it’s generated and move customers along their car-buying journey.

Automotive Lead Qualification & Nurturing

Once you’ve completed the first step—generating leads for your automotive business—it’s time to qualify those leads to ensure they meet your sales criteria (e.g., location, budget, etc.). Getting leads to share key information about what they’re looking for is crucial to match each lead with the right product and drive more sales. 

Similarly to lead generation, chatbots also offer a number of benefits in lead qualification. Through interactive conversations with leads, chatbots are able to automatically produce a comprehensive lead score. They can also react to the lead score instantly, whether by matching leads with the most suitable products or connecting them with a sales agent should they need further assistance. 

We’ve already seen how website chatbots achieve this. Looking back at MeinAuto’s example, their bot doesn’t simply collect basic lead information. Through a series of questions about their car preferences, the chatbot engages high-quality leads and hands over that valuable information to the Sales team, who then contact the prospective customer to help them close the deal. 

Let’s look at another example of a Landbot client who does lead qualification & nurturing on WhatsApp. 

‍Top Ventas Coches is a Spanish automotive agency that matches car buyers with brands and dealerships based on the type of vehicle customers are looking for. Although the agency was generating high lead volumes, dealerships struggled to engage with leads due to poor quality and low contactability. That all changed once they implemented a WhatsApp chatbot to automate lead qualification. 

After capturing leads’ attention through social media ads that drive traffic to their website, Top Ventas Coches has leads submitting their contact information via a form. 

After that, leads receive an outreach message on WhatsApp to start engaging with the chatbot. Through a series of questions, leads are automatically qualified and then matched with the best local dealerships, with whom they can book their car-buying appointments. 

Thanks to a Landbot-powered WhatsApp automotive chatbot, Top Ventas Coches achieved an impressive 90% open rate on WhatsApp, which resulted in a 20% increase in dealership bookings. 

Additionally, WhatsApp chatbots can be used for lead nurturing efforts. Since leads have already opted in, even if that first contact doesn’t result in a purchase, you can send them regular updates of new offers that match their search criteria, or special discounts. The goal is to keep your automotive business at the top of their minds so that when customers are finally ready to buy, yours is the first option they’ll think of. 

Wrap-Up: Chatbots Are the Future of Automotive Sales

Lost leads, high costs, and disconnected buyers don’t have to define your automotive sales processes. At a time when global car sales are not growing as much as desired, web and WhatsApp chatbots offer a powerful way to generate, qualify, and nurture leads, which, ultimately, improves customer engagement and boosts sales. 

Are you ready to start exploring Landbot’s web and WhatsApp solutions? 

Check out our guides on how to create website chatbots and WhatsApp chatbots, and create your Landbot account or request a demo below to launch your chatbot building journey!

FAQs

‍Can chatbots handle complex customer queries that require human input?

‍AI-powered chatbots can learn enough information to handle complex queries. If a customer request exceeds the chatbot’s capabilities, it can automatically transfer the conversation to a live agent via integrations with other platforms or custom APIs. Additionally, chatbots can pre-qualify leads and collect relevant information before handing them off, ensuring a smooth and efficient process.

‍Are chatbots capable of supporting multiple languages?

‍Chatbot-building platforms like Landbot support multiple languages. Businesses can create multi-language chatbot flows by using language detection, separate conversation paths, or API integrations with translation services, allowing chatbots to engage customers in their preferred language.

‍How do chatbots integrate with CRM systems?

‍Chatbots integrate with CRM systems via native integrations with popular platforms such as Salesforce and Hubspot, webhooks, or API connections. Integrating chatbots with your CRM is key to ensuring your sales team receives real-time information about potential customers.