FordDirect routing more customer calls over the Internet to dealers
Ford Motor Co.’s FordDirect.com is expanding a new web-based service that helps its participating dealers use Internet marketing technology to identify and act on hot sales leads. The service, which uses Voice Over Internet Protocol to route calls to dealers, is now being fully rolled out to more Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealers.
FordDirect, a joint-venture Internet marketing cooperative Ford Motor operates in conjunction with about 3,900 Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealers, in January rolled out new Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP, technology that helps dealers react faster to customers looking for available new-car inventory and price quotes.
The new technology utilizes the web and FordDirect’s database marketing technology to essentially generate faster call-tracking for dealers and identify publicly available information on the customers generating the calls.
For instance, if a customer on FordDirect’s vehicle locator page finds a vehicle with her preferred options and wants to locate and contact a dealer, she can click on a special link which displays information on the nearest Ford dealers in her ZIP code a toll-free telephone number.
Once the call is placed, Ford uses VOIP technology to instantly route the call over the Internet to the dealer’s information management system, which logs the call and gives the Internet sales rep an advance notice that an incoming lead is arriving.
Because the process is web-enabled and linked to various FordDirect marketing databases, the program also gives the sales rep advance information such as the name of the person calling, address and phone number.
The new system is now being rolled out to more Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealers who use FordDirect’s Call Track-10 program to identify incoming sales calls in real time, measure the effectiveness of the quality and quantity of Internet-generated phone leads, more easily route sales calls to various internal departments and log the calls for future training exercises.
"Call Track-10 is designed to generate additional phone referrals and assist dealers in managing inbound call data," says FordDirect President Steve St. Andre. "We are empowering our dealers to take control of their advertising campaigns and track each and every call they receive at the dealership."
St. Andre says the toll-free phone numbers are exposed to as many as 3.5 million Internet car shoppers each month who visit FordDirect.com.
FordDirect also gives its dealers 10 national toll-free numbers tied to the Track-10 program that they can use in their print and TV/radio sales campaigns. Based on the number of phone calls from customers who notice the toll-free calls in a TV or Sunday display ad and contact a dealer for a showroom visit, dealers can better track their offline advertising return on investment, St. Andre says.
Dealers pay $499 per month for the new VOIP service, according to FordDirect.
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