Introducing Whisp Drive: Enterprise-Proven Lead Capture Built for Automotive Whisp Drive didn’t start with an idea about how to build a better automotive lead form. It started with technology that had already proven it could change the way businesses capture and engage customers. Before Whisp Drive entered automotive, the underlying Whisp technology was deployed in the timeshare industry with major brands including Wyndham and Hilton. This was an ideal environment to prove the technology.
These companies operate at enormous scale, generating hundreds of thousands of leads for a product where a single sale can be worth $35,000 or more. The results got our attention. Instead of asking customers to manually enter their information into a traditional form, Whisp created a much lower-friction way for customers to connect with a business using something they already have in their hand: their mobile phone. The technology didn’t just generate leads. It created leads with verified mobile numbers and gave sales teams an opportunity to engage customers while their interest was still fresh.
After seeing the results at enterprise scale, we started asking a bigger question: If this works so well for a $35,000 timeshare purchase, where else could it make an impact? We realized we weren’t looking at a timeshare lead-generation tool. We were looking at a better way to capture leads. Automotive Was a Natural Fit Few industries spend more money generating website traffic than automotive. Dealerships invest heavily in search, inventory advertising, third-party marketplaces, social media, OEM programs and countless other sources designed to get shoppers onto their websites. Then, after spending all that money getting someone there, we often ask the customer to do something that hasn’t changed much in decades: Fill out a form. Enter your name. Enter your email. Enter your phone number. Submit. Then wait. Meanwhile, almost every other part of the digital economy has been moving in the opposite direction. Amazon made one-click purchasing normal. Apple Pay eliminated the need to repeatedly enter payment information. Uber removed much of the friction from ordering transportation. Consumers have been trained to expect digital experiences that are fast and easy. We believed automotive lead capture should work the same way. That became the foundation for Whisp Drive.
From Website Visitor to Verified Lead Whisp Drive gives dealerships an alternative to relying exclusively on traditional website forms. A shopper can interact with a Whisp Drive enhanced call to action and use their mobile device to connect with the dealership. The process verifies the customer’s mobile number rather than depending entirely on information manually typed into a form. That creates two advantages we believe are incredibly important. First, the dealership receives a lead with an accurate mobile number. Second, the customer’s phone is in their hand when the lead is created. That second part shouldn’t be overlooked. The customer was just looking at a vehicle. Their interest exists right now. The dealership has an opportunity to start a conversation while that interest is still fresh instead of trying to recreate it hours or days later. Bringing Enterprise Technology to the Dealership The idea behind Whisp Drive is actually pretty simple. Dealerships don’t necessarily need another source of website traffic.
They need to do a better job converting the traffic they already have into real customers they can actually reach. That’s what attracted us to automotive in the first place. We had already seen the underlying technology perform at enterprise scale. Now we had an opportunity to apply it to an industry where dealerships spend enormous amounts of money attracting shoppers but still rely heavily on an outdated method of turning those shoppers into leads. Since bringing Whisp Drive into automotive, the results have continued to reinforce what we believed from the beginning. Reducing friction matters. Accurate contact information matters. Speed matters. And making it easier for a customer to raise their hand matters. Over the coming weeks, we’ll use this blog to share some of the data we’re seeing from dealerships using Whisp Drive, what we’ve learned about consumer behavior, and why we believe the traditional automotive website form is ready for an alternative. Welcome to Whisp Drive.