If you your website has more options than a dinner menu (without sharing actual information) you might have too much going on. Sure, we like options. But not when it comes to the point of being “unable” to make a decision. We call this analysis paralysis. Too many choices also can lead to confusion, and confusion leads to doubt. And doubt leads to disinterest. Especially if you share all of the information regarding what the service entails without disclosing the price - where we are possibly talking our customer out of purchasing the service before they have even booked an appointment! 

Here are some of the top things to consider when managing your fixed-ops website! 

Service Appointments - What’s Going On? 

The highest conversion - typically - is the booking of a service appointment. That said, it is imperative that the route to booking the appointment is effortless. Where if the customer has to click multiple links to get to their final destination they are more than likely going to exit the page without booking! (most vendors can show you how many appointments were started without being finalized). 

The other thing to consider is not requiring the customer to have all of their information when booking the appointment. As they might not have their VIN number on hand or know what it is they are wanting to book. 

Lastly, you should also be able to see what the average dollars per R.O. are for a customer that had a service appointment! It would be interesting to see if those customers spend more or less than a customer who did not have an appointment. One that came in just wanting to use that coupon for a free oil change! 

Options Without Pricing. Would You Blindly Purchase an Item Without Knowing the Price? 

This is topic has two very distinct opinions. That is to offer pricing and the other not to have pricing. Let's step back for a minute though and put on the shoes of a customer. If you already had difficulty trying to complete what should be a simple task - booking the appointment - to then only find out that the pricing is not available wouldn’t you exit? 

A small percentage of the customers will continue with their scheduled appointment not knowing what the costs are going to be;  while others will simply exit without having booked an appointment. Perhaps showing up at an unscheduled time where the availability is not the best causing for a bad survey as the site might say “service time approximately 90 mins,” and it took 3hrs. As we know, the time to complete a service all depends on how many open R.O.’s there are at any given time. And do know, this is not referring to offering pricing to fix a transmission (or other significant repairs), but rather OEM maintenance Intervals, and other minor repairs. 

Less is More. Showing the Right Items! 

We know that we have an affinity for having several options for the customer to click on!  Each one opening Pandora’s box. Leaving the customer confused as to what they have done. Or worse, they have exited the page without converting because they were unsure of what to complete. All while they were just wanting to schedule a service appointment! 

We could also learn something from one of the major powerhouses - Amazon - where when the customer has *selected* a more expensive service (because they can see the pricing) it will show “what other customers have viewed,” which are at a lower price point. Not too low, but lower. For example, if the customer elects a $599 service - you would then show an additional service in the $49-125 range. Where the customer feels that the less expensive item is a value compared to the $599 service. Thinking, well $50-100 is not that much more. And I do need to replace “X, Y & Z.” 

This is not to say that this approach will work all of the time. What it does, however, offer is that it is all about showing the right items. Customers also want to know approximately how much it is that they are going to spend. And while it might much more or less depending on what the actual issue is the customer at least has a general idea regarding pricing. 

Bottom Line: 

It is essential to clear the clutter from your fixed-ops page - keeping only necessary information regarding the booking of an appointment and cost of the services. Allowing the customer to pre-pay (putting deposit essentially down) where they are agreeing to complete “x” service(s). And if it were to cost less more depending on the nature of the service(s), you already have an agreement, where the customer is much more likely to work with you! 

How do you handle the online experience for your service customer? Do you show the pricing online? If so, have you see results from this approach?