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How AI Text Messaging Automation Helps Buy Here, Pay Here Dealerships

Simone Somekh

March 20, 2024

Buy Here, Pay Here dealerships, like any business handling customer payments, face challenges in communicating with borrowers. These businesses need to regularly and effectively remind customers about upcoming payments. However, limited staff and resources mean they can’t make unlimited calls or send countless reminders; so, ensuring payments keep flowing can be tricky.

Automated text messaging with Conversational AI is emerging as an ideal solution to these challenges. The adoption of a new, efficient communication channel for customers can significantly boost BHPH collection operations.

Powered by Generative AI, text message automation enables two-way, multi-turn, intelligent conversations between lenders and borrowers. Buy Here, Pay Here businesses are now adopting this technology to communicate with consumers effectively and affordably, helping them make payments on time.

In this article, we explore the potential of Conversational AI-powered text message automation in transforming the Buy Here, Pay Here industry, not only in terms of customer communication but also operational efficiency.

Why Conversational AI and Why Text Messaging?

Conversational AI is transforming collections into a more adaptive and efficient operation for dealerships. Buy Here, Pay Here dealerships have been using Voice AI to automate outbound collection calls, yielding impressive results. Now, industry leaders are extending additional self-service channels to consumers, including text messaging automation with AI.

  • Text messages have a remarkably high open rate of 80-99%.
  • About 90% of text messages are opened within 3 minutes of receipt.
  • Click-through rates with SMS can vary significantly but typically lie between 15-30%.

Conversational AI facilitates two-way, intelligent conversations with customers, answering questions and providing context-based information. Whether used for automating phone calls or text messages, Generative AI allows auto finance companies to optimize their recovery strategy.

Text message automation is great because it helps businesses stay in touch with customers regularly. Instead of playing phone tag or feeling annoyed by lots of calls, customers can chat whenever they want, in a way that’s easy for them.

AI-powered Text Messaging Turbocharges Outbound Outreach

How can you effectively incorporate AI-powered text messaging capabilities into your collection strategy?

A dealer wants to be able to reach all of its active customers frequently and effectively. While maintaining a dedicated staff is crucial, you can only afford so many live agents and they can only handle so many calls. Automation with artificial intelligence is essential to scale the number of calls or outreach via other channels such as text messaging.

Additionally, it’s important to diversify your communication efforts, so adding channels such as SMS alongside phone calls can greatly increase your chances of reaching all customers.

To adopt Conversational AI, there is no need to have dedicated IT staff on board. The solution can be deployed in as fast as 24 hours, so you can initiate your campaign as soon as tomorrow.

When applied to text message automation, Conversational AI enables auto finance companies to:

  • Reach borrowers on their smartphones, allowing them to reply at their convenience
  • Achieve scalability by handling as many conversations as needed
  • Send frequent reminders at every step of the collection cycle to maximize payments
  • Facilitate two-way, intelligent conversations with borrowers
  • Reduce the load on live agents for routine communication and outreach

Thanks to the scalable nature of AI automation, you can contact your customers as frequently as you want, empowering your team of live agents to handle more complex and revenue-generating tasks and perform their jobs more efficiently.

Additionally, offering self-service alternatives to live interactions will positively impact the customer experience (CX).


If you’re interested in learning more about how Conversational AI can enhance your collections strategy, use the chat tool below to schedule an appointment with one of our experts!


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