A press release sent out from Dearborn, Michigan yesterday announces a new service from FordDirect, an advertising venture conducted by the Ford Motor Company and its dealers, that will allow customers to get better information about local offers at Ford dealerships just by texting on their mobile phone. The new texting service is delivered in conjunction with HipCricket, a Seattle based company with offices all over the country that has provided new media ad services to a wide variety of clients. This new collaborative campaign is aimed at smart shoppers who understand that getting current information on local deals is one of the best ways to buy a desired vehicle for less.
For a long time, we’ve been talking about the importance of knowing exact pricing and financing details for what’s on a local lot. Readers who study the overall market context and national factory direct offers can use this knowledge at the dealership, but because factors like dealer invoice affect transaction prices and financing details so much, local research means a lot more. With this super-easy connectivity through smart phone platforms, Ford is simply making its best deals available to the customers to need them the most. This seems like something that could classically be called a win-win: Ford is already citing a conversion rate above 10%, and the convenience of receiving sale details through a mobile phone is easy to imagine. Customers can even target their queries to a certain vehicle model: in the press release, Ford gives the example of someone watching a television commercial about a Ford Fusion, where just the word “fusion” in a text can produce deal information. For anyone looking for traditional or alternative energy versions of the Ford Fusion, any of Ford’s lineup of award-winning SUVs and crossovers, or other parts of the Ford product line, bargains are now only a few finger-taps away. Use this sort of deal-finding service, along with good research on how to get the lowest interest rates for financing, and you could get your next car for a whole lot less.
