New Artificial Intelligence Technology From AutoFerret Increases Lead Response Rate 270%

AutoFerret has just released the results of a pilot program testing new Artificial Intelligence technology on Auto Finance leads. AutoFerret partnered with BlueSky Marketing Group, a leading provider of Auto Finance leads, to do a pilot of the AutoFerret Virtual Agent (AVA) with a group of BlueSky’s auto dealers. AVA was used to validate leads, schedule phone appointments, and follow up with consumers, reengaging many that would have otherwise slipped through the cracks. The results of the pilot show that response rate increased 270% with AVA. When asked about the effectiveness of the new technology, Brian Hall, President of BlueSky Marketing Group, commented, “Over the last 20 years, we’ve implemented many other processes to help dealers convert more leads to sales but I’ve never seen anything produce results like this—AVA increased the response rate on these leads by over 200%.”

Dealerships participating in the pilot program reported that the increased response rate very quickly translated into increased sales. Salespeople working the leads noted that when they contacted consumers AVA had communicated with, the consumers were expecting their call. Tiffany, from Auto Pros in Pennsylvania said, “It’s like magic! AVA works every lead in a timely, professional manner and makes it easy for me to quickly identify my hot leads. Without a doubt, AVA helps me convert more leads to sales!”

One finding of the pilot program is that AVA technology increases efficiency in the sales department because it quickly ‘bubbles up’ the hot leads and identifies the ‘handraisers’ in the crowd. It also increases the lead conversion rate by reengaging consumers who would have otherwise been lost. Another interesting finding of the pilot program is that nearly 60% of consumers reengaged by AVA were still searching for a vehicle and waiting to hear from the dealer.

Participating Dealers reported that implementing the new technology was surprisingly simple, and has allowed sales staff to spend more time with their customers and less time leaving voice messages and sending emails. According to Jeremiah, from McCarthy Chevrolet in Kansas, “AVA has been great for our company!! She responds quickly and intelligently; it’s amazing the response she is able to get through emails and how quickly she sets up phone appointments for our sales department with virtually no maintenance.”

This new technology represents a major leap forward in Internet Marketing and is light years ahead of the typical autoresponders that most businesses have been using for the past decade. An average autoresponder simply sends an email to the consumer informing them that their contact information has been received. AVA is able to achieve such dramatic results because of the way that it interacts with consumers. AVA not only engages the consumer, but is able to interpret consumers’ responses and reply or choose the next action appropriately. This allows AVA to keep the consumer engaged, communicating back and forth through multiple emails. It also allows AVA to gather additional information from the consumer, such as cell phone number or exterior color preference, and to schedule a phone appointment for the salesperson.

While this pilot program involved Auto Finance leads, AutoFerret is also successfully applying AVA technology to new and used vehicle leads from multiple providers, including OEM leads, which has been met with a great degree of enthusiasm. The company is now in the process of extending AVA to other industries for nonautomotive leads.

AutoFerret, a subsidiary of Viverrae, LLC, develops web technologies with commercial applciation for social media. Recent developments include LeadFinder, a product that crawls social networks and other websites with usergenerated content, identifying consumerexpressed interests, such as someone who is shopping for a new car. AutoFerret has also developed widgets that allow auto dealers to place their inventory on Facebook, mySpace, and other websites using Google’s OpenSocial API. AutoFerret developed and licensed an automobile metasearch engine, which searches many other search engines, displaying the combined results in a single page; as well as, a classified ad posting service, which sends a listing to several different classifieds websites.