Xtime’s Two-way Text Messaging enables dealership staff to communicate with customers via text for more rapid response, as well as the ability to respond to questions or comments in real time. All text messages are logged into the Xtime platform for central access to conversation history, along with customer and vehicle profiles, service visit history, repair order (RO) information and recommended maintenance.

Text messages are a reliable and highly preferred method of communication—and often the only way to communicate quickly, privately and effectively. According to Mobile Marketing Watch, while email marketing averages around a 22% open rate, text messages see an outstanding 98% open rate. By reaching your customers in a format they prefer, you can communicate in real time to avoid missed opportunities to answer vital questions.

This exciting new feature will also allow service advisors to easily keep customers informed on the status of their appointments, additional recommended services and more while the car is onsite to reduce the volume of in-bound phone calls to the dealership. Additionally, Xtime’s Two-way Text Messaging can alleviate the voicemail “phone tag” that often results in a frustrated vehicle owner.

Two-Way Text Messaging is a feature enhancement of Check-In 7 and can also be added to your Scheduling 7 solution.

To learn more about this new enhancement, contact your Xtime representative.

• It’s free! Dealerships already using the Xtime’s scheduling platform can upgrade at no additional cost.
• New Xtime products and features such as Marketing 7, Two-Way Text Messaging, Status Boards, Check-In 7 and other forthcoming enhancements require 7 Series.
• New features already in 7 Series benefit service advisors, appointment-takers and other dealership personnel.
• The latest features and enhancements for the scheduling platform are already built into 7 Series.
• Previous versions (Xtime Classic) will no longer be enhanced—why miss out on upgrades as they are released?
• 7 Series was designed based on real feedback from users like you.
• Save administrative time with easy-to-view advisor schedules, visual dashboard analytics, daily and weekly business filters to monitor service lane activity and staff productivity and more.
• Reduce Internet browser updates and IT requests! Xtime 7 Series no longer uses Adobe Flash, thus eliminating the need for frequent downloads and software updates.

Moreover, Xtime’s 7 Series platform marks the beginning of all-new features and functionality to be released this year. Dealership employees are busy and change is hard—the rest is easy. Let Xtime show you how.

To get started, click on the “Use Scheduling 7!” orange button in the upper right corner of the screen in Xtime Classic. If you have questions, contact your Customer Care & Engagement representative.

Prior to Xtime, we used a handful of different solutions to manage our service drive. Xtime has been critical in solving a lot of problems for us. We’ve done a great job with service scheduling. Being able to make it easier for advisors to service our customers in a one-to-one fashion has been helpful. Xtime has also been a great provider of email marketing for us. And our consumers can now utilise technology to schedule appointments.

We’ve known about Xtime’s products in different capacities from individual dealerships, but it really wasn’t until the last year or so that we integrated the complete Xtime solution suite. From online scheduling to using [tablets] in the service drive to the full service suite including marketing, we now have a full range of solutions. Instead of using a bunch of vendors talking a bunch of different “languages,” We now have one solution platform that has been great for us and even better for our guests.

Our initial love affair with Xtime was always tied to Scheduling 7. A handful of our OEMs partnered with Xtime, so we rolled out the solutions at more stores once we realised that Xtime was the preferred provider. We have now rolled out the Xtime platform in all of our stores.

The tools that Xtime provides make it a lot easier to take care of guests. We’re using devices that they are comfortable with, so it feels more collaborative between car owners and service advisors rather than us just trying to sell them something. Xtime allows us to use technology as a communication piece that helps bridge that communication gap, build trust between us and our guests and create validity to what we’re doing with each customer. Today’s usage of tablets has grown, and when the consumer comes into the service drive, the service advisor feels more comfortable now with information gathering and sharing with the customer in a way that feels more transparent.

Our utilisation of tablets in the service drive is still fairly new at DGDG. When rolling out any new technology, it is important that the user—in this case, the service advisors—are comfortable with it. That process here at DGDG has been coming along very nicely. Our advisor teams feel comfortable with Xtime and we’ve had a positive response from our customer base as well.

We’ve also seen an uptick in CSI scores, so we know the results are giving us what we need, which is a better customer service experience. We know that utilising these solutions create validity, transparency and efficiency, and we know that with the results we’ve already seen, the benefit is going to continue to be incredible in years to come.

In the 17,000 dealerships across the U.S., some are still trying to figure out how technology factors into integrate into their day-to-day to business. The one thing we know is this: our goal is to take care of the guests. Whether the dealership is big or small, the guests are all the same in that they want a better experience.

When I think about any dealership that is hesitant to implement Xtime, I think about how the concept is straightforward: anytime you have a tool that can make the guests’ experiences better and help the service team, that’s the win-win. Technology can be hard to integrate, and dealerships have done things a certain way for a long time. But as we move forward, a key focus for automotive dealerships will be “efficiency” in all aspects of their businesses. We believe that different dealerships will have a competitive advantage and Xtime certainly fuels efficiency.