When is the last time you looked through RO’s to see how many services had been declined? Or whether or not the advisor even offered the service vs. simply clicking decline? Chances are - in any service lane - there are untapped opportunities. One them being marketing to the customers with declined services. That is not to say that sending the offer right after s/he leaves makes sense either. As the customer might think “if they can discount now why couldn’t they discount it before?”

Instead, focus on the smaller services where the customer will have to soon perform those services such as tires, brakes, rotors, etc. Sending the campaign in increments (such as a week to 10 days out) as they are most likely going to shop prices at the big box service centers.

Here are some of the best practices when sending the campaign:

Email Marketing

As I have mentioned before, email marketing is not going anywhere and remains relevant when communicating with your client base. What is not relevant or helpful, however, is sending emails that do not offer the customer something of use. Where if you were to send the declined service campaign immediately after their service (as mentioned above) they might not see the value in the discount or offer. Versus, if you send it out 7-10 days after their service it is on their mind. Where they have most likely looked to see what pricing is available in their own backyard.

In order to make it as effortless as possible, you can create 3-4 opcodes for the most commonly declined services: tires, brakes, rotors, etc.

Coupons:  Dropping the Lowest Price Does Not Always Work

Sending the lowest price in town does not always work. Not to mention, it sets the precedent for the customer that their services will be at a discounted price. That said, you can offer price match guarantee. In turn, allowing you to upsell the advantages of their servicing with you. Such as rental cars, & shuttle service. All of which sets you apart from the local competition.

Service BDC or Advisor Calls

If you have the staff, work with them! They could call the customers who have declined the service. Inviting them back into the service lane. As for the BDC rep, you could spiff them on the number of appointments they got through the door. If run efficiently this could increase revenue and appointments!

Service Plans

Offer the customer a plan of action that works with their own financial goals. Spending the time to review which options work best for the time being. Where perhaps each visit they can get one to two services items completed. This also puts the plan of action on their terms, which will make the customer feel as if they are in control of what they are fixing.

Bottom Line:

Just like in sales there are objections. And while there are certain service items that have to be fixed for safety - we have to ask ourselves, what customer does not want the peace of mind knowing that they're the vehicle - mode of transportation - is running at is best? Ensuring that the integrity of their vehicle is not compromised.

How do you handle declined services? Do you have the BDC call the customers? If so, what kind of results do you see?

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? 
 

Having a 1000k+ reviews is a huge accomplishment! It is something to admire, really. However, what is more important is that you are continuing to collect reviews. Where customers want to see new reviews when making a decision. If the review is 90+ days old it may not carry as much weight as a review that was written a few days ago. That being said, here some ways the advisors can easily ask for a review without being overwhelming or pushy! 

Ask for it! 

That’s right. You heard me. I cannot tell you the number of advisors that simply do not even ask for a review! This is a huge mistake. All of that hard work that made the customers day can benefit more than just that customer! If a potential customer were to see that online - how you made their day it can give them a great feeling. Potentially leading them to book an appointment with you! 

In the thank you email

While I am not a huge fan of sending multiple emails - it is okay to add the review in the main thank you follow-up email. Giving them a direct link to your DealerRater page. And if you are not using DealerRater you are MISSING OUT. It is one of the only platforms that enables you to tag an employee in the review! 

This is invaluable as it allows customers to connect with employees! Giving the Advisor a platform to show off their talent! 

Cashiers Office 

Another way to get a review is to offer a simple reminder by attaching a review card to the service R.O. And while the customer might throw away their service paperwork they will at least see the request for a review! 

Bottom Line: You cannot get reviews without asking for them! Think about it too, have you ever been to a booking site for a hotel or resort? Where the reviews will say “this photo must have been taken when the resort opened." the same thing applies to reviews. Where the customer could say “you can tell this positive review was written a long time ago! Worst service ever” And if you do not have many positive reviews written it can have a damaging effect on business! Versus having a few bad reviews mixed in with SEVERAL good reviews. Where the potential client might view this as a one-off bad experience! 

How do you handle reviews? How many reviews do you average a month? 
 

A little over a year ago I wrote  Emails are Here to Stay. To this day, email marketing is still relevant and an integral part of marketing. However, what has changed is the level of competition we face. Where we have to remember that the customer is receiving possibly hundreds of emails a day. Understanding that we have to stick out from the crowd, which means taking our time to review everything from the subject line to the to customers we send it to! 

No longer is it best practice (which I cannot imagine it ever was) to send the entire database the same email? Especially given that the content was not relevant to the customer. For example, while I shopped at a retailer over 2 years ago, I am still getting sales emails. Only the email is for women's clothing, which is incredibly irrelevant, and ended up with my opting out as they never sent anything regarding their men's brands. 

The same philosophy applies when marketing with the auto arena. Wherein, if you sell pre-owned vehicles (as I am sure you do) sending them OEM parts coupons for NON-OEM customers regarding service is not relevant. And the age-old cheap/free oil change is not going to work either. Where great, they came in (non-OEM which does not count for retention) but it cost the dealer money on what otherwise could have been a cash customer! 

That being said, here are some best practices when it comes to emailing the customer! 

• Tuesday’s & Thursday remain two of the best days to send an email campaign. 
• The subject line should not be more than 30-40 characters! Anything longer than that can not only be cut off within their mobile platform, BUT more importantly, no one is reading all of that text! Lastly, make it stick out. 
• Do not send the same message to the entire database! Break it down into groups! OEM (within warranty), OEM (out of warranty customer pay), NON-OEM, & lastly your OEM retention customers, who will lap over with the two main OEM groups. Where the OEM will offer that “x” amount of customers sold within the last year have to have 2 visits to meet their retention standards. 
• Have strong call to actions. But not too many. You want the customer to have a clear map of what to do! One of them being a “click-to-call” option. Allowing the customer to call directly

Bottom Line: take a minute to look at what you're sending! Make sure everything is correct. Looking at the email as is if you were the customer. 

What has been one of your most successful subject lines? 
 

Dear valued customer.  Okay, let’s back-up one step. For those that receive emails or letters that say “dear valued customer” do you ever sit back and wonder why you’d receive something like that? Where if you were so valued why they could not bother to use your first name? And no, it is not about ego or that “how dare they not know my name,” but instead it's about being transparent without being overly cliche. 

In a recent post, I talked about over sending emails, and part of the issue with using “dear valued customer” aka buzz words is that it can turn the customer off. Especially (as mentioned above) if you are over sending emails! 

Think about it for a moment, here is a sample workflow for after the service appointment: 

1. Dealer Thank You Email w/ Review
2. OEM Dealer Thank You Email 
3. Dealer Email Asking for Review
4. OEM Dealer text/email pre-survey survey 
5. Dealer Phone Call/Text
6. OEM Email reminding them of survey thanking them again 
7. OEM Survey 

Besides that being way, way too many emails, calls, and texts for an appointment (which when you sit back seems a bit silly) have you ever taken a minute to look and see what the content was in the email? 

Here is are some common examples of the text and emails that go out in between the pre-survey surveys.

Email 

Dear Valued Customer, thank you for servicing your vehicle here with us at (dealer). We appreciate your business. If there are any concerns, please feel free to contact me? We look forward to seeing you on your next visit. 

Text 

Thanks for servicing your vehicle here with us at (dealer). We appreciate your business. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. 

While you might think this is a good thing. It might not be. As you are asking the customer 3-4 times if they had a good experience. They could probably write about their experience on getting too many surveys, calls, texts & emails! 

That said if your OEM sends out a text or pre-survey survey than it is not necessary for you to call those who have already completed the OEM pre-survey and/or have left feedback on social media. What you can do, however, is comment on their feedback - with a personalized response - thanking them for their review.  And use that saved time by calling customer who has not submitted anything or those that have submitted an issue. 

As for the template(s), try and condense your content into one cohesive piece of correspondence. Where you can ask them for a review and if their experience was less than pleasant the ability to speak with the manager. Less is more. 

Bottom line: asking for feedback is crucial, BUT chasing for feedback on what was an otherwise good experience is not necessary. In fact, it is best to use the instances in which case the customer did complain or have an issue to better understand if the breakdown was a one-off or it was a personnel issue that needs to be addressed. 

How do you handle the “after” service correspondence? 
 

In a recent blog post, I discussed the importance of listening to your team's phone calls. The idea that it can assist us in working with our employees. Empowering them to handle the objections we face on a daily basis! However, if we do not have the calls to listen to, then it makes it that much harder to isolate any issues that might be present. 

Here are some top reasons to provision local lines using them in all email marketing! 

A Provisioned Line for Email Campaigns 

When is the last time you checked your email creative to make sure that the number on the email is the right phone number? If not, you could be missing out on potential customers! Best practice is to include a recorded line in every campaign that is sent. Especially given that click-to-call is continuing to increase and surpass lead form submissions. Making sure to use different lines, and not a new line for each email. But a line for sales blasts, service, and/or other campaigns. If you work with different vendors to send email blasts, then you should have a line provisioned for each vendor. 

Local is Always Better 

If you had the choice of calling an 800 number versus a local number which would you choose? In most cases, the customer would prefer to call a local number in the hopes of speaking with an actual person! No one wants to press a million buttons or talk with a robot that just doesn’t understand what you are asking! Only to get asked the same questions when someone answers the phone! 

Tracking. What’s Hot What’s Not! 

Vendors always tout that their email blast is the next best thing! That they drive so much traffic to the store! Or that they sold “x” amount of cars due to their email blast! This all sounds great, and while you can see the traffic in Google Analytics. What you cannot see is the number of calls you are getting if the number is not tracked! If you use a local provisioned line, however, you are then able to see how many calls you are getting!

This is essential to understanding the impact of the campaign! As you can get all the traffic, you want on your site for service, BUT if they are not calling or converting than it is not effective. Click to call is becoming an essential/pivotal feature for a customer in today's marketing arena! Do yourself a favor and add a provisioned line and see what kind of results you are getting! 

Bottom Line: Yes, you can look at the google analytics, and yes believe it or not service is one of the top converters for traffic on your site. But you will not know the actual success of the campaign without recording the calls! 

Do you provision local lines to use for campaigns? If so, has this assisted you in making changes or better understanding how to approach your marketing? 
 

Lead generation remains a hot topic as it should! However, the issue itself has not evolved much. Wherein, the same answer is offered - noting that Dealer Website traffic is by far the best source for lead traffic. And while it is not saying that third-party leads are over -  it is telling us that dealers still shell out thousands of dollars a year for low-quality leads! Leads that for all intents and purposes might not even be considered a lead. 

What is a lead anyway? One might offer that a lead is merely a form that provides the customers first name, last name, email & phone number, no? But make no mistake that not all leads are created equal! That said, one of the lead sources that has one of the lowest return on investments are the OEM leads. The leads you are spending anywhere from 15-25 dollars for! (and maybe more?). 

While not all OEMs have the same standards when it comes to lead management or the program they offer. There is a relative conception as to the quality of their leads; where their site (as you might know) is geared towards the OEM, not the dealer. And we know that, BUT what are we doing about that? At the end of the day, it is about selling a unit. And sure, in some facets, the customer will build their unit, and choose the dealer. That leads to another topic (for another day) where the model the customer builds is not offered at their local store. 

More often than not, the customer requests information on a vehicle to then get 20+ phone calls depending on how many stores are in the district. And in some cases more than 20 calls if dealers purchase leads that are not within their PMA! Leaving the customer frustrated resorting to providing little to no information in their lead! 

OEM Internet Lead sub-sources can include: sweepstakes, organic & social which all sounds great! But not so great when their sites do not have strong enough CTA’s. Where while their platform might give dealers more than 200-300 leads. It does not mean it will offer the dealers a strong ROI. Where in some instances the closing rate expectation does not surpass 12%, which albeit it is 2% above national average. But what’s more important to note is that Dealer Website leads have a closing rate 20%+, which is nearly 10% of an increase! 

What does this tell us? It tells us that OEMs have work to do on their platforms and while it is necessary for the OEM to offer informational elements about their brand. It is just as important to brand the dealers! Pushing their inventory,  allowing the customer to easily “click to call” the dealer of their choice housing a drop down to choose their dealer!   All of which can happen on the informational pages vs. having to jump out of the screen to then have to locate a dealer and then be able to call. 

The other issue OEM’s face and have not done a great job working with their dealers on the quality of their leads. Where the customer is largely unaware or expecting the barrage of phone calls, and if the customer chooses to purchase 6-months out, and the dealer is calling - or overcalling - it turns off the customer. And that is not to say that we should not be getting in touch with them. But it does offer that if the OEMs were to focus and work with their dealers, they would not sell and recycle the same leads to all dealers! 

One of the things that the OEM could do is have the customer confirm their zip-code to verify rebates in which case the customer would intuitively insert their home zip-code, which can also trigger which dealer the lead should go too. 

If the dealer were able to focus on their own backyard - with the assistance of the OEM - they would see an increase in sales within their PMA! Versus the game of which dealer is going to drop the price the most, which does not do anyone any favors! 

Well in some cases it does, where if you are a dealer that chooses not to play the 3k loser game you will acquire the customer who purchased out of PMA as a service customer for free. As you did not have to lose 3k to acquire the new service customer from sales. And the dealer that loses big time is the guy who did take the 3k loser for the out of PMA customer who most likely has no intentions of servicing their vehicle with their dealership! All of which can affect their retention rate depending on the number of out of PMA sales made. 

The bottom line: OEM’s have their work cut out for them. Work that will force them to work with the dealers to better the quality of traffic. All of which will better assist the dealers in owning their backyard! It is time the OEM’s support the dealers vs. working against the dealers by pitting them against each other. Making it that much more difficult to sell the brand. 

Do you participate in your OEM lead program? If so, do you have great success with it? Is it mandatory? For those that do not participate have you invested that money in other lead sources? 

There is nothing (I mean nothing) more annoying to a customer than getting multiple - pointless - emails both before and after their services. Not to mention the countless emails sent in between. Emailing still remains a vital marketing source for building the business. However, both CRM & DMS companies are starting to tighten the ropes regarding how and when you can communicate with your customers. That being said, here some best practices to visit before sending out too many email campaigns, which runs you the risk of high opt-outs!

How Many Customers?

When is the last time you checked either your DMS or CRM to see how many emailable customers you had? If you do not know off the top of your head (roughly) the number of emailable customers, then you could be missing out!

The other thing to consider when looking to see how many emailable emails you have is the number of actual *emailable* emails. Where sure, your DMS might say that you have 27k records, BUT only 18k are still opt-ed in emailable emails. For the records that are opted out, there is always the option to send an “opt-in” piece or move on.

OEM vs. Other

For those who sell pre-owned vehicles, which is almost every single dealer - do you send those that purchased a pre-owned non-OEM vehicle an OEM themed service email? Next time work with whichever vendor or marketing company you use, and break down the list sending it to OEM vs. NON-OEM, and create an offer that makes sense for both. While this may cause additional work in the beginning - sending a direct message that makes sense will only increase your chances of getting an ROI.

This is especially true when it comes to sending OEM maintenance interval coupons, which is entirely irrelevant for a non-OEM purchaser.

How do you handle this? Or do you send the same message, and hope for the best?

Your DMS Customers are Most Likely in Your CRM

For those that use a DMS and CRM, your DMS sold customers, or those that have serviced with you are likely in both systems. That said, it is essential to ensure that you are not sending the same customer 8-10 emails a month because you are using two different vendors to send each database an email campaign!

That being said, the best practice is to work with VIN based vendor out of the DMS who will send to only those who have had a transaction with the dealership. And as for the CRM, you can send a sales blast with a service element.

Create a calendar

The best way to make sure there is not any confusion as to what is being sent out when is to have a calendar for both sales and service. Making sure that all marketing (emails) are carefully thought out and executed. This way you lessen the risk of over sending to the same customer, which as mentioned above will increase your opt-out rate. And as we know, once the customer has opted out the chances of getting them back in the game are highly unlikely!!

Bottom Line:

Know your database! Understanding what you have to work with regarding both the DMS & CRM will better assist you in knowing what tackle first. This also helps you in understanding opt-out rates between new and prospective customers. Do not be stubborn and not speak with the sales managers. Remembering you are all marketing to the SAME people! The customer easily can see the disjointed marketing efforts between sales & service.

How do you handle and plan for marketing campaigns in Service? Do you send the same customer multiple emails from both systems? What are some of your best practices?

Contrary to the title conquesting in service can, in fact, increase revenue. However, merely increasing revenue can not only be short-lived, but it can also have other hidden ramifications. OEM’s have tight policies regarding customer service in a time where your transactions are under a microscope. Where OEM’s send a survey within 24hrs in addition to the pre-survey survey you might be sending out. And let’s not forget the phone call you might be sending too! 

That said, before conquesting in service you should consider the following points. Working with your dealer to comprise a plan that makes the most sense: 

Why do you need to increase service? What is Your Current Absorption Rate? 

If your service absorption rate is above 73 percent than there is nothing to bark at. That is a solid number. If you are at or below that target number, there could be a correlation to a decrease in cars sales and an increase in the number of vehicles that are out of warranty where the customer pay is obviously lower on those RO’s. Take some time and review the absorption rate for the last 12 months rolling. Looking to see if there is a trend or just spikes. 

Assigned Customer Base 

OEM’s tend to push customers into to list whether they have serviced with you or not. Usually not outlining their marketing efforts to those customers unless you pay to play with the list. However, you do not always have to spend thousands of wasted dollars to acquire these customers as the ROI is very minimal. Instead, there less expensive alternative ways to acquire new service customers within your ACB using social media campaigns is one of them.  

That said, instead of sending a blanket campaign to all of the customers on the ACB OEM list - target specific customers within the list focusing on certain years and models.  This will not only help yield better results, but it is a more targeted cohesive plan giving you not just a service customer, but also a new purchase! 

OEM Mailers vs. Third Party 

We already know that mailers have a very minimal return. And in other cases (for current customers) sending a mailer can be beneficial as it will help you update your database using the “return to sender” as a means of weeding out old customers. At the same time, sending a mailer to a noncustomer who might not even be aware of your brand is not only not as effective, but the ROI is not there. As mentioned above, stick to a more targeted cohesive marketing strategy embracing social. Not only will you spend much less the ROI will be stronger.

Marketing Plan - Following Up! 

Having a marketing plan is great! What is not so great is spending money on a marketing plan to then only not have a plan of action on following up with those customers who are engaged. And by that, I mean coming up with a plan to call those that have opened and clicked-through on your marketing. 

Bottom Line: Conquest programs should have a thought out plan making sure all fronts are covered. More so, conquesting service customers usually have a low return on investment. Spending thousands of dollars on a mailer for conquest customers may not make the most sense. Instead, social is another avenue to take, which can offer a lower more cost-effective means of acquiring not just new service customers, BUT a new sales customer as well!  

Do you have great success in conquesting new customers? If so, what campaigns have you had great success with? 

The Auto Industry is a world of its own. A world within the franchise arena. Yet each and every store has its own understanding, methods, and perspective on what the brand experience means, and how it should translate to the customer. 

Everything from the Meet & Greet, Rewards Program, Amenities, CRM they use - down to the POP marketing that sits within the lane is different. No two dealers are alike other than the facade on the exterior. That said, there can often be a breakdown in the customer's experience. 

One of the best examples of franchise brand experiences is the Airline Industry. You might not fly every day, BUT - if you stay with one airline, you become accustomed to the way they do things. You know what to expect. Everything from booking the ticket (using their mobile app) to the time you check in at the airport to boarding the plane. 

The same cannot be said, though for the Auto Industry. This is especially true when it comes to servicing your vehicle, and the rewards programs dealers have. The goal - as you know - is to have not just brand loyalty, BUT dealer loyalty! This is why every aspect of the customer's experience has to be on point. There is no room for error in today’s market where every aspect of the transaction is under a microscope. 

The more orchestrated the experience is for the customer, the less distracted they are (or discontent), the less discontent and distracted they are the more they focus on what's important. That is you upselling and working the customer! 

Here are the top things to monitor to ensure the customers brand experience is the same: 

Omnichannel Experience (Mobile to Desktop)

Whether the customer is booking an appointment online using their iPhone or using the desktop the experience should not just be familiar, but expected. Booking an appointment should not be any different in so far as the path in which the customer takes to book an appointment. As soon as the customer gets frustrated they will most likely exit. All without having booked an appointment. 

Sell the Service. Not the Product. 

At the end of the day, selling the *experience* (for upsells) is far more important than the product itself. In fact, it is an added bonus. Not just for the customer, but for the service lane. If the customer is relaxed, they are much more likely willing to open their wallets and make the impulse upsell purchase. 

Have a Signature Check-In or Check-Out 

Some hotels offer their guests that warm fresh cookie at check-in. Imagine doing something similar. The customer check-ins in and as they make their way to the lounge they are enjoying that nice warm cookie. And as you make your way back in to check in and offer upsells they are *warmed* up and, perhaps, more willing to make that extra purchase. Not saying it will work every time. But believe me, they will remember that cookie! 

Bottom Line: As much as it is discussed and/or spoken about it is imperative to stand-out from your competition. Solidifying one or two key components will make you stand out. Having your customers remember their experience! 

How do you define your brand's experience? What is something you offer that is different?