Service: We Book More Here
Fixed Ops Landscape is Competitive
Fixed Operations is a huge part of an auto dealership’s business. Unfortunately, there are many businesses that have service offerings for auto dealers and, according to a study conducted by Google in July of 2013, there is a lack of differentiation among service providers. When asked about differentiation, interviewees said, “They are all basically the same. No one stands out as being good or bad.” and “I go to the place across the street, I don’t even remember what they’re called.” When asked what service chain comes to mind for service, only three service providers had more than a 2% response rate and those were Midas, Ford, and Jiffy Lube with 7%, 7%, and 10% response rate respectively.
Mobile and Reducing Defection
Google’s Road to Winning Drivers study also revealed some interesting things about customer preferences and repeat service business. They found that quality customer service is more important than price. In fact, 81% of drivers agree that quality service is more important than price. They also learned that 2 in 3 drivers are committed to a particular auto service provider, but even the committed drivers can be converted; “If my regular mechanic is busy, I’ll just go to a Jiffy Lube or Lukoil – whichever has less wait time,” said one interviewee reflective of the group’s attitude. Another reflective interviewee statement echoed his viewpoint, “For big jobs, I trust my family mechanic. For routine stuff it doesn’t really matter.” When you pair that revelation with the fact that 73% of interviewees would return to a service center they visited for preventative maintenance for future large repairs, dealers may have to make a concerted effort to win this business.
Mobile Service Scheduling
During the 2 years since this study was conducted, web-based and app-based service scheduling has given customers more options to schedule efficiently and adoption of these solutions is easily seen with year over year growth by scheduling companies like Xtime. According to Xtime’s CEO, Neal East, the three main reasons consumers do not service their vehicles with dealers are the lack of convenience, lack of trust, and lack of price availability. By using technologies like Xtime and dealership apps, customerss get an easy way to schedule from their smartphone and dealers have the ability to market to their service customers through the customer’s smartphone. Tools like these that allow customers to engage with a dealership’s service department from their smartphone quickly and easily with all of the necessary information are put into a good position to win service business, or so says customers with responses like, “It would be great to have a way to track my service myself – and be able to access it from anywhere.” or “I was on the side of the road and my regular mechanic was too far away – so I used my phone to search for a reputable place nearby – it was a good experience, I’ll probably go back to the new place.”
Service Marketing and Mobile Apps
Since Google stated only 2% of vehicle owners are reminded to service their vehicles because of digital reminders they receive from their service providers in 2013, many dealers have adjusted their strategies. This change was primarily driven by the worldwide move to digital. These dealers are providing digital reminders to service customers. Two such kinds of digital notifications are Push Notifications and Location Targeting messages, both of which provide service reminders digitally and are tied to an app experience should the customer want to learn more or schedule on the spot. Push Notifications are sent to individual app users and usually consist of deals or coupons that customers can take advantage of. Location Targeting provides coupons, deals, and reminders to customerss that visit competing service locations in their area. Dealers using this technology say it’s used to stay top-of-mind and provide incentives to customers that are about to shop with another provider. Customers have responded positively to efforts like this that provide a better experience, “If you go that extra mile… not only am I going to come back, but I’ll tell my peers as well.”