WhatsApp and Sinch Engage lead to 5% more car sales in just two months for instamotion

Personal contact makes all the difference when buying a used car – but more and more consumers want to buy their cars online. instamotion, an online used car platform, tries to create a personal touch through messaging, and finds that WhatsApp offers the perfect combination of higher conversions and reduced workload. 

By the time a car buyer gets to the dealership, they’ve typically already done research online and know exactly which model they want. The same is true for used cars – customers are well informed before they buy. What customers want most is a fast and convenient purchasing process. 

This is exactly what online used car platform instamotion offers. Interested buyers can purchase certified used cars with a warranty in just four steps. 

Even with such a straightforward process, customers have questions about financing, vehicle details, or delivery. instamotion’s service team is there to help, available by phone to help buyers. 

But the customer service team wasn’t always able to reach people by phone, which meant many inquiries fell through the cracks. To combat this challenge, instamotion introduced WhatsApp as a customer service channel. 

WhatsApp offers instamotion’s customer service plenty of advantages. 

For one, WhatsApp has a broad reach: 82% of Germans use WhatsApp regularly. This means the instamotion team can easily reach their contacts through WhatsApp, and no one needs to download a new app, because over 90% of Germans already have the app installed on their smartphones. 

WhatsApp communication has another advantage: Even if customers can’t respond to instamotion’s messages right away, they can see them later in their WhatsApp chats, and can reply when it’s convenient for them. The asynchronous communication style makes it easier for instamotion to reach interested buyers. 

To leverage these strengths and comply with GDPR, instamotion uses Sinch Engage, which provides a unified inbox to manage WhatsApp messages at scale. The web-based solution with servers in Europe also has 100% data protection. 

instamotion uses WhatsApp when customer service can’t reach contacts by phone. The response shows that customers want to be contacted via WhatsApp: Of about 1,900 WhatsApp messages sent, the team received a 19% response rate. 

From these WhatsApp chats, instamotion was able to convert more leads. The conversion rate from inquiry to purchase improved by 116%. And in just the first two months of using WhatsApp, instamotion recorded 5% more sales. 

Another benefit is that because customers agreed to WhatsApp communication, instamotion can also send them personalized WhatsApp newsletters. This has proven particularly successful in reactivating leads. 

With WhatsApp, instamotion can do more than boost conversions – they can also build lasting customer relationships through timely, personalized communication.