Providing a great vehicle repair is only half the battle won. 72% of motorists feel anxiety when visiting a workshop. If your workshop doesn’t provide a warm and welcoming customer experience you could lose customers to the competition.
Here are a few was your workshop can improve customer service and maximise customer retention.
Make it easy for your customers
At the end of the day if your booking process is complicated, customers won't return. Many workshops require customers to call or email, to book a service or repair. The problem with this is it's outdated and requires the customer to do all the heavy work.
People are busier than ever and so is your repair store. You don’t have time to input data and chase customers. The most efficient booking process is having a simple booking form available on your Workshop website. The benefit of having a booking form on your website is your customers can book their service when it suits them and they no longer need to call or email to get their car booked in for a service.
Schedule return appointments with customers
For the large part many people only visit their mechanic once a year, obviously this can fluctuate depending on individual circumstances. With that being said many customers get their car serviced at the same time every year. A great way to minimise the risk of past customers going to a competitor is by scheduling return appointments.
Once you have finished a job for a customer send them a calendar appointment for the same time 12 months time. The benefit of this is your customers can save the booking in their calendar and receive notifications as the date approaches.
Send SMS and Email reminders in the days leading up to the booking
Let’s face it, we all tend to forget things from time to time. A good way to help provide the best customer service is by sending an SMS or Email reminder to your customers in the days leading up to their booking.
One of the benefits of using a workshop management software like Workshop Mate is you can automate customer SMS and Email reminders. You can choose to send reminders a day in advance, 2 days in advance or any time you choose. Studies show that 97% of SMS are opened within 15 minutes – making it the best way to get in touch with customers.
Provide Advice to your customers
Most of us aren’t experts when it comes to car maintenance. Educating your customers on what they can do better to keep their car in the best shape, is a great way of reducing their anxiety.
Many customers want to know why certain things need to be fixed on or why something happened, often workshops don’t provide a detailed response to customers.
As you know customers don’t see what you do. Once you find a fault take a photo, upload it to a customers booking and explain to them the issue after completion.
Give the car a quick wash
It may not seem like much but providing a quick wash of the car can go along way in retaining a customer. Put yourself in the customers shoes, imagine showing up to the repair store only to find the car sparkling clean after a quick wash, they won’t want to go anywhere else.
Provide a small gift
If washing cars isn’t your thing there are other ways to provide a wow factor. A great way to stand out is to give customers a small gift after you have finished with their car. Small gift ideas include, keychains, magnets, car scents, mugs and even stickers. Most of these are very cheap and you can pick them up for next to nothing.
In conclusion
Even as we battle lockdowns and social distancing customer service should never be overlooked. Providing great customer service is the best way for attracting and retaining customers for auto repair stores. Using the examples above you can go along way at maximising customer satisfaction and retention.
About Workshop Mate
Workshop Mate by Jeal is a simple and adaptable workshop management system that automates all the day-to-day tasks of running an auto repair shop.
Workshop Mate includes, parts inventory, job allocation and tracking, all in one quotes, invoices, barcoding, customer reminders, service history, Xero/MYOB integration, and so more – everything you need to run your workshop efficiently.
Want to learn more? Call us today on 1300 473 744 or click the button below to start your 14-day free trial of Workshop Mate.