The automotive aftermarket industry is working to improve transparency and instill trust in customers through innovative solutions like RepairPal and AutoVitals. These technologies empower repair shop owners, service advisors, and technicians to build strong relationships with their customers based on trust and honesty. This helps to overcome any misconceptions and misinformation about the industry, and allows customers to have a positive experience when it comes to their auto repairs. When customers trust a repair shop, they tend to spend more money with you, become loyal customers, and are more likely to recommend you to friends or through search engine reviews. A 20% increase in ARO can be expected as a result!
Here are five ways to use AutoVitals in tandem with RepairPal to provide end-to-end transparency to your customers, encouraging them to become lifelong customers and trust your shop for their big-ticket repairs.
1. Ensure Your Shop Appears Where Drivers are Searching
80% of consumers conduct a Google search before making a purchase decision. This means that your shop must have an effective online presence to attract more customers. Moreover, 53% of searchers click on the first unpaid result when looking for a local business. In order to attract more new customers, your Google My Business needs to have up-to-date information, and you must appear in the first few search results for your zip code. Building and managing an effective website can be overwhelming, so look for a website and digital marketing provider that provides search engine optimization (SEO) and digital marketing support.
Schedule a free website audit with AutoVitals.
Additionally, your shop should appear on a third-party auto repair shop network site like RepairPal. Six million drivers visit repairpal.com each month looking for a certified auto repair shop to perform their mid-to-major repair. Appearing on RepairPal’s local search results is a huge opportunity for your shop to establish its credibility with drivers and gain new customers looking for high-ticket repairs.
2. Establish Trust Through Third Party Verification
One of the easiest ways to gain consumer trust is to join a network of other trusted auto repair shops to indicate to drivers that you value quality and transparent service. RepairPal is the largest trusted auto repair network for high quality and fair prices. Consumers visit repairpal.com to find trusted repair shops and use their Fair Price Estimator to ensure estimates are within their budget. There are no surprise costs to the consumer and they will find out exactly how much that repair will cost and what add-ons can be expected. RepairPal offers a more accurate way to find pricing for auto repairs by taking into account the driver's zip code, make and model, as well as local labor rates. This ensures that the price quoted is fair for both the driver and the repair shop, instead of relying on generic quotes from Google.
3. Implement Digital Vehicle Inspections
Once a customer decides to visit your shop, wow them with a transparent and easy-to-understand inspection process. In today’s world, consumers want to buy, not be sold and are accustomed to doing their own research on your service advisor’s recommendations. Digital vehicle inspections show your customers what needs attention on their vehicle with pictures of the condition, educational videos, and notes so customers feel empowered to make an informed decision about their vehicle. These educational materials give credibility to your Service Advisor and make it easier than ever to sell 60% more work.
When selecting a DVI provider, make sure you choose a solution that integrates with your shop management system. This allows repair order data to flow seamlessly from your digital inspections back to your shop management system (SMS). This can save about ten minutes of data entry per RO. After you have narrowed down your selections to providers with a two-way integration with your SMS, you should check to see which providers offer free training. A good digital vehicle inspection provider will be an active partner in your shop’s success, rather than just selling you a piece of software.
In addition to integrations and training, you should select a provider that offers two-way texting at no additional cost. Two-way texting enables your shop to receive inbound approvals and questions from your customer and track all communication in an easy-to-use database. Plus, make sure your inspection provider has educational videos and canned notes to support your service advisor. These educational materials should attach automatically to inspection recommendations to provide clarity about why it is important that your customer approves recommended repairs for their vehicle's health and safety.
Schedule a demonstration to learn the key DVI best practices.
4. Provide Exceptional Service
It’s no secret that to attract and retain customers, you need to offer exceptional auto repair services in addition to digital marketing, SEO optimization, digital vehicle inspections, and more. Make sure that your entire shop team is keeping the customer experience at the top of their mind from the time the customer schedules an appointment to when they pick up their vehicle. Additionally, remind your service advisors to set expectations about your shop’s courtesy inspection and approval process.
5. Follow Up with Your Customers
No matter how great your customer service is or how fair your prices are, you need to exit schedule and follow up with your customers after their visit to keep your shop top of mind. An easy way to do this is to implement an auto shop customer retention management (CRM) software like AutoVitals to automate customer follow-up. Your CRM software should send automatic service reminders to customers that are due for service and allow you to easily initiate lost customer marketing campaigns.
About RepairPal
Established in 2007, RepairPal connects consumers with certified trustworthy mechanics throughout the US. Large trusted companies including USAA, CarMax, Consumer Reports and International Bancard send their members and customers to RepairPal Certified shops, knowing they will get high-quality repairs at a fair price. More information is available at www.repairpal.com.
About AutoVitals
AutoVitals is the leading provider of integrated software solutions for managing automotive shop workflow, internet marketing, and motorist engagement. The company’s shop success solutions automate every touchpoint of the vehicle repair transaction with motorists and enable efficient shop management. AutoVitals’ platform includes digital inspections, automated service reminders, consumer engagement, repair status updates, POS integration, educational videos, sales-to-technician communication, and real-time integration to repair data/POS. Learn more at www.autovitals.com.