I have some mind-blowing statistics you need to know if you’re a GM, dealer principal, marketing manager, or service manager.

• 78 percent of male American adults use YouTube, as do 68 percent of adult women in the US.
• 72 percent of businesses say that video has improved their conversion rate.
• Email click-through rates are 96 percent higher when the intro has a video.

Yes, we all know that video is an effective strategy for marketing. But who has time for marketing the service department effectively? There’s always a new vehicle hitting the showroom, fires to put out with current customers, and deals to close on the sales floor.

Fact is, growth is what everyone desires and it takes pains to make it happen. Those pains are both mental and financial because it costs time and money to kickstart an effective strategy for growth. And although video marketing is important for every part of the dealership, the service department needs to be a focal point.

Isn’t Customer Retention the Top Priority?

For the record, video isn’t going to be a massive revenue generator in the service department. What it does is keep the customers coming back. The cost of attracting a new customer is five times higher than retaining a current client. If you’re looking solely at retaining a customer through their ownership with the intention of selling them their next car, you have around five years of engagement that needs to happen.

Video engages customers better than any other media. Microsoft research shows that an average attention span is eight seconds. After that, they’re moving on to something else. Aside from a video, there’s very few ways to grip someone’s attention in eight seconds.

How You Can Use Video Well

If you aren’t already keeping in communication with your current service customers with a message specifically from the service department, that’s where you start. It has to be meaningful to the viewer, so no gimmicky or sloppy videos should ever go out. There are two types of video to create:

• Short clips, 15 seconds or less. These short messages are perfect for quick branding messages and special announcements, like a headline on a news story. They’re to capture a viewer’s attention.
• Longer clips, from 15 seconds to 2 minutes. Think of these as explainer videos, an opportunity to build value for your customer with more detail about a brand or topic.

Develop a Cache of Content

For the service department, explainer videos are a goldmine. Your service advisors are constantly fielding questions about why certain services and repairs are necessary. Video clips can authoritatively show the why and how behind popular services like fluid flushes, timing belt replacement, tire services, and so on.

This cache can be linked to or embedded when service reminders are sent out. They’re perfect for seasonal service campaigns. They’re excellent for a service advisor to send a customer who has questions during their visit.

Get on Social Media

Your sales team will almost assuredly post new model videos on the dealership’s Facebook page. Your service team should be there too. Your service videos should consistently be posted for engagement with customers. And in every post, give the customers a way to respond if they want to book a service appointment.

Make It Shareable

Videos posted directly to Facebook are much more likely to be shared than from another video source. More than 10 times as likely. That means you should be posting natively to Facebook as well as Youtube. Don’t expect a ton of shares, but the ones you get dramatically increase your reach.

Video for the service department should ideally feature your service team. Some manufacturers have video resources that you can use, but they’re just not as engaging for the customer. Keep the production value high and put out consistent video, and your current customer base should realistically stick around.