Customer Story
Automated and conversational SMS help Dutton Group stay first in line for the sale
Overview
Challenge: Dutton Group needed to respond to sales enquiries faster, reach customers on their preferred channels and create more ongoing engagement in a highly competitive luxury vehicle market.
Solution: Sinch Engage integrated with Salesforce to support automated SMS workflows, sales notifications, a dedicated number and one-to-one conversational messaging throughout the customer journey.
Results: 100% SMS delivery, more timely lead follow-up, stronger customer engagement and a 7% average inbound messaging rate.
“With Sinch Engage (formerly MessageMedia), we can contact more customers more often and when it matters to them most.“
In luxury car sales, speed matters — but so does staying memorable long after the first enquiry. For Dutton Group, SMS became a way to do both: respond faster in the moment and keep customer relationships warm over time.
Dutton Group is Australia’s largest luxury car dealership, with a reputation built not only on prestige vehicles but on a high level of customer service. In a market where buyers often contact multiple dealerships at once, the business knew that response time could directly influence whether a sale was won or lost. Customers also had different preferences for how they wanted to communicate, which made flexibility just as important as speed.
The company had already been using SMS, but after switching to Sinch Engage (formerly MessageMedia), it saw an opportunity to do much more with the channel. With the Salesforce integration in place, Dutton could introduce automated SMS workflows for new enquiries while also giving its team the tools to manage one-to-one text conversations throughout the customer journey.
Responding fast when every lead
For a business selling high-value vehicles, the first response can shape the entire sales outcome. Dutton noted that car buyers often contact three to five dealerships, and that the first brand to respond will generally have the best shot at winning the business. Automated SMS helped the team acknowledge enquiries immediately, even outside business hours, and let customers know a salesperson would be in touch as soon as possible.
That mattered whether the sales team was handling one lead or one hundred. Automated workflows ensured every enquiry received timely follow-up, while message notifications in the Salesforce app helped salespeople respond quickly even when they were away from their desks. According to Head of Marketing Marcus George, some customers complete the entire car-buying process over text, making channel preference and timing critical to sales performance.
Building more personal customer relationships
But this story is not just about lead speed. Dutton also used SMS to make the customer experience feel more personal and ongoing. With a dedicated number customers could recognise, the sales team could continue one-to-one conversations throughout the buying journey and well after the sale had closed.
That gave Dutton a simple way to stay connected on purchase anniversaries, at upgrade moments and during other relationship-building touchpoints that matter in a premium automotive environment. Instead of treating SMS as a transactional notification channel, the business used it as a way to create continuity and make customer contact feel more tailored.
More timely conversations, stronger engagement
The results suggest the approach is working. Dutton reports a 100% SMS delivery rate and an average inbound messaging rate of 7%, giving the team confidence that messages are reaching customers and prompting replies. The company says the combination of automation and conversational messaging has helped speed up the sales process while also supporting the kind of personal attention that builds longer-term loyalty.
