📩 Hiver: Streamlining Email Management

Whether it's handling inquiries, booking service appointments, or following up with potential buyers, we all know that car dealerships still rely heavily on email communication.

Managing these interactions efficiently can be a challenge when multiple team members need access to shared inboxes. But not with Hiver. This AI-driven help-desk solution is built directly into Gmail or Outlook, and offers a practical approach to managing shared email accounts, automating routine tasks, and improving collaboration among teams.

Let’s look into some of Hiver’s key features, its potential applications for dealerships, and some considerations for anyone thinking about trying it out.

What Can Hiver Do?

Shared Inboxes:
Hiver’s primary feature is its ability to manage shared inboxes—such as support@ or sales@—directly within Gmail or Outlook. This ensures all customer emails are visible to the relevant teams, improving response times and collaboration. You can easily delegate tasks and track who’s handling what, ensuring no inquiries fall through the cracks.

Email Assignment & Delegation:
Emails can be assigned as tasks to specific team members with just a few clicks, ensuring accountability and clear ownership. For dealerships, this is particularly useful in managing inquiries from potential buyers or service appointments. You can assign customer requests to sales reps or service advisors and track the progress in real-time.

AI Summarizer:
Long email threads can be overwhelming, especially when multiple departments are involved in resolving a customer issue.

Hiver’s AI Summarizer condenses lengthy email chains into quick, easy-to-read summaries, highlighting key points like decisions, tasks, and follow-ups.

This feature saves time and ensures team members stay on top of ongoing conversations without having to read through every message.

AI-Powered Assistance with Harvey:
Hiver’s AI bot, Harvey, is designed to improve inbox management and reduce manual workload. Harvey automatically filters low-priority or redundant emails—like auto-replies and promotional messages—keeping the team focused on high-value inquiries.

In addition to filtering, Harvey can also analyze incoming emails and recommend appropriate responses, offering pre-filled templates based on the email's content or tagging the necessary party for follow-up.

This is especially helpful for dealerships dealing with repetitive queries about inventory, financing options, or appointment scheduling. Over time, Harvey learns from user interactions to improve its suggestions and filtering accuracy.

Analytics and Reporting:
Hiver offers built-in analytics tools that help dealerships track key performance metrics, such as response times, resolution times, and customer satisfaction ratings.

Managers can use these insights to identify bottlenecks, monitor individual and team performance, and optimize workflows. This can be particularly valuable for BDC managers aiming to improve lead response efficiency.

Automated Workflows:
Automation in Hiver allows dealerships to streamline email processes by setting rules for common tasks.

For example, incoming inquiries about vehicle availability can be automatically assigned to the sales team, while service-related emails are routed to the service department.

Collaboration Tools:
Hiver includes collaboration features like internal notes, where team members can leave comments on email threads without the customer seeing them.

This is useful for dealerships when multiple departments need to collaborate on a single issue, such as resolving a service complaint or finalizing a large fleet sale.

Mobile Access:
With dedicated apps for iOS and Android, Hiver ensures that dealership staff can stay connected and responsive, even when away from their desks.

Third-Party Integrations:
Hiver integrates with popular business tools like Slack, Asana, and Salesforce, making it easier for dealerships to connect their customer support operations with other internal systems.

Limitations to Consider

Platform Compatibility:
Hiver works seamlessly with Gmail and Outlook, making it ideal for teams already using these email platforms.

However, if your dealership primarily uses a different email service, you may encounter compatibility issues or need to swap to a supported platform.

AI Accuracy:
Hiver’s AI-driven features, such as the AI Summarizer and Harvey, are useful for handling straightforward customer interactions and repetitive tasks.

But for highly nuanced or sensitive conversations—such as complex financing inquiries or high-stakes negotiations—human review is often still necessary to ensure accuracy and empathy in communication.

Cost for Large Teams:
Hiver’s per-user pricing can become significant as dealerships scale, especially those with large teams or multiple locations. But, the time saved by streamlining communication and automating repetitive tasks may justify the price.

Customization Limits:
Hiver enables workflow automation and task assignments, but its customization options for highly specific dealership workflows may be too limited. In such cases, some manual processes or supplementary tools might be required.

Data Security:
Since Hiver operates within Gmail and Outlook, it relies on these platforms' underlying security. While Hiver adds robust measures like encryption, dealerships must stay vigilant about adhering to data protection regulations, particularly when handling sensitive customer information.

Let us know in the comments—have you given Hiver a whirl? If so, what were some of the pros and cons that you experienced?