Impel on June 6 launched WhatsApp as a communication channel for Impel AI, further enhancing the company’s omnichannel capabilities.
In addition to webchat, email, and SMS texting, auto retailers using Impel’s AI platform can now deliver personalized experiences and engage in humanlike conversations with consumers who prefer WhatsApp as their primary channel of communication.
With the addition of WhatsApp, global automotive retailers using Impel AI are able to engage with more consumers in their communication channel of choice, according to Impel officials. This integration with WhatsApp supports all Impel AI capabilities, including seamless CRM integration, appointment setting, automated handling of inventory, trade-in, and financing questions, pre-qualification of leads, and more.
Impel’s Daly Comments
Devin Daly, CEO and Co-Founder of Impel stated that AI is quickly becoming indispensable to automotive retailers and OEMs looking to deliver a consistently exceptional customer experience at scale efficiently.
“A critical driver of dealership success is the ability to communicate with shoppers and customers in their channel of choice,” Daly said in a press statement announcing the launch. “Doing so significantly enhances the customer experience, creating more opportunities for dealers to build customer loyalty and optimize lifetime value.”
The company’s Automotive Optimization Layer, brand safeguards, and data integrations protect against poor outcomes and AI “hallucinations”, while optimizing dealer and OEM business results. Impel’s automated platform increases staff productivity by freeing up sales and service personnel to focus on higher-value customer relationship-building activities.
Platform Made Dealers
Unlike generalized Large Language Models (LLMs), Impel’s verticalized AI platform was designed specifically for automotive retailing.
The new integration comes as messaging apps have become a significant part of many consumers’ lives. WhatsApp has solidified its position as one of the premier consumer messaging solutions around the world with 2 billion monthly active users as of April 2024 – a figure that represents approximately 25% of the global population.
WhatsApp continues to grow in the United States and is emerging as a primary communications channel for many consumers, reaching 43% penetration this year. More than half (59%) of WhatsApp users in the U.S. open the app daily.
WhatsApp’s Global Use
Noatbaly, WhatsApp is the dominant form of message-based communication across Europe, holding penetration rates well above 70% and as high as 97% in many countries, including the UK, Italy, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Austria. and in the UK, that figure is nearly 90%. Impel’s worldwide presence in 53 countries uniquely positions the company to effectively leverage WhatsApp’s global scale with dealers and consumers alike.
Daly noted as the de facto standard for enterprise-grade automotive AI, adding WhatsApp was a natural extension of our omnichannel capabilities.
“By pairing Impel’s generative conversational AI technology with WhatsApp messaging, we’re enabling dealers to deliver compelling experiences throughout the customer journey across more channels than ever before,” he said. “We’re excited to continue realizing our vision of a unified AI platform that seamlessly powers all channels and touchpoints throughout the automotive retail ecosystem.”
