Edmunds.com is streamlining car shopping with an update to its mobile application that lets consumers use a smartphone?s native texting platform to send a message directly to a dealership representative.

Besides providing an option to text questions to a live sales associate instead of communicating by phone or e-mail, the update also provides users with instant vehicle video and picture messages from the dealer?s lot. The feature points to the growth of place messaging, which allows people to interact with businesses through text just as they do with friends and family.

?It?s time for all businesses to think about the customer service angle of texting,? said Jeannine Fallon, executive director of corporate communications for Edmunds, Santa Monica, CA. ?In a world where at least 90 percent of people text at least once a day, texting is a whole new customer service channel that presents great opportunities.?

Unlike other place messaging solutions that only work in concert with apps such as Snapchat and WhatsApp, Edmunds? CarCode system uses the phone?s native texting platform. That means all smartphones are capable of messaging dealers without relying on any other apps.

The feature, which strives to seamlessly connect customers with thousands of dealers nationwide, is a direct response to the 34 percent of car shoppers who told Edmunds in a survey they would prefer text messaging with dealers instead of communicating by phone or e-mail. 

Users can opt out of a conversation at any time simply by typing ?STOP.?

Edmunds? app also allows shoppers to browse and identify inventory in their area, to get upfront price guarantees on cars in stock through Edmunds Price Promise, and to crunch numbers on an easy-to-use monthly payment calculator. 

Using the app, customers also can text directly with Edmunds Live Help, home to a roster of car buying specialists who will answer such questions as whether a shopper is getting a good deal or what sort of options are available on specific models. 

Edmunds dealers have seen a 19 percent increase in leads after implementing the CarCode platform on their Web sites. Twenty-nine percent of those text-based conversations have resulted in the customer calling the dealer, leading to a better conversion of sales.

Through March, Edmunds has found that the sales close rate on text message exchanges was 20 percent better than on email leads, and 40 percent of text message sales converted in two days as opposed to 32 percent of email lead sales.

Response time for text exchanges that result in a sale was six times faster, according to the Edmunds study, and conversations were 20 percent longer for text exchanges that close.

More than 3,100 dealerships are using the CarCode plug-in on their Web sites.

Car shopping texting is in step with the overall growth of messaging. More than six billion text messages are sent in the United States per day, according to Forrester Research?s Mobile Media Application Spending Forecast, 2012-2017.

Relative to email messages, text messages typically have a higher open and response rate. Ninety-eight percent of SMS messages sent are opened and 83 percent are opened within three minutes, according to Techipedia.

Texting also leads to higher conversions. Sending three or more purposeful text messages after contact has been made with a prospect can increase conversion rates by 328 percent, Velocify reported. 

Historically one of the biggest challenges for car shoppers is that when they have reached out to dealers via email or electronic lead, they fail to hear back quickly enough, or at all.

Automakers know that some dealers lose business because of lack of responsiveness.

?Our loved ones typically respond quickly when we send them a text message, no matter what they are in the middle of and without concern for how busy they are,? Ms. Fallon said. 

?It is clear that consumers also appreciate the same level of responsiveness from businesses with whom they intend to transact.?