ATLANTA -

These days, it seems consumers want to begin discussing a potential purchase with dealership staff far before they make it into the physical store, according to recent analysis from automotive data company Polk.

In a recent study commissioned by website chat company Contact At Once, one in three users of auto website chat bought a vehicle after having an online conversation with a dealer.

During the study, Polk analyzed 10,000 Contact At Once chat transcripts in which consumers volunteered personally-identifiable information, the company shared, and included conversations originating from dealer, OEM and third-party advertising sites.

“For years, Contact At Once has observed auto dealers experience a 25-percent lift in customer contacts from their Web sites and advertising products when they start using live chat, but this is the first industry analysis that empirically proves chatters are buyers. It validates the many anecdotal reports we have received from dealers that chat does help them sell cars,” says Marc Hayes, Contact At Once founder and executive vice-president of strategy.

Through the study, Polk also found that consumers who started chats on third-party sites such were just as likely to purchase as those who initiated chats from dealership websites.

Results were derived by matching people who chatted to households with vehicle sales and registration data over a 60-day period.

And Polk’s results may come as no surprise to the industry, as other recent reports reiterate consumer in website chat features.

Auto Remarketing reported earlier this month on a recent global survey by Accenture which showed potential buyers are bouncing from site to site and turning to a variety of online and offline services to help them decide on which vehicle to purchase.

The survey of 13,000 drivers in 11 countries found that consumers believe the buying process would be simpler and quicker if the content on industry websites was customized to be more relevant to their specific vehicle-buying preferences.

Respondents also wanted the industry to adopt such online innovations as Web chat and mobile-enabled websites, which the firm insisted are used widely in other retailing sectors.

For more information on the Accenture survey, see the Auto Remarketing story here.