Pinewood.AI has developed a WhatsApp integration to help dealers manage new leads within the Pinewood Automotive Intelligence Platform.
Dealer groups and OEMs can now manage customer conversations directly from WhatsApp, alongside traditional forms of communication like email and SMS, for a more unified view of customer communications.
Mike Browne, Head of Product at Pinewood.AI, said: “With 2 billion active users, WhatsApp is a channel that a majority of customers already use every day, so for the end-consumer this means a faster, more familiar, conversational experience with their local dealership.
“While for our dealer and OEM customers, the integration will translate into fewer missed leads, tighter tracking, and richer engagement. With our latest integration, we really are enabling dealers to meet their customers where they are; this is the epitome of conversational commerce.
“WhatsApp enjoys extremely high engagement, so we’re confident that enabling Pinewood.AI platform users the ability to move over to a modern messaging method will create less friction, leading to better bottom lines.”
UK pilots of the WhatsApp integration are planned to go live in the Pinewood.AI Lead Management tool later this month, with plans to extend it into Service and Parts areas of the platform in the future.
Customer conversations via WhatsApp will sit in the same system as other leads and workflows so Pinewood.AI users will benefit from consolidated tracking and analytics that catch all WhatsApp threads.
The integration will be tailored around each dealer or OEM’s workflow.
It puts a strong emphasis on dealer-specific metrics and data, including response times and lead conversion.
