How to maximize service revenue & boost customer perceptions of dealership service
With the proliferation of independent mechanics and national chains, the challenge of keeping service customers coming back is one all dealerships today face. However, the service department is still an often-neglected focus of dealership digital marketing. A Honda dealership and longtime 3 Birds client wanted to maximize its service revenue by recapturing declined service customers and boosting customer perceptions of the dealership as a trusted service partner.
Eliminating inefficiencies in declined code entry and follow-up
The multi-point inspection (MPI) process is one of the most powerful marketing tools at a dealership’s disposal—but this tool is often under-utilized due to inaccurate or missing declined code entry from paper MPIs. To eliminate this issue, the client adopted the 3 Birds Digital MPI tool.
This touch-based tool is accessible on popular mobile devices and made it easy for advisors to immediately notify technicians of service recommendations and customer concerns. After the inspection, the technician could enter codes directly through the visual application. This data served as the foundation for 3 Birds’s automated fixed ops messaging.
Based on the declined codes, customers received dynamically generated, visually appealing emails. The main content was based around specific offers for recommended services.
Quick links to the right of the main body text help the customer find info, specials, and tools and increase click-through.
The email included article snippets in the footer which linked to full text on a subdomain of the dealer’s website. These articles provide answers to common service search questions and position the dealer as a trusted partner in vehicle service.
Results
After just three months utilizing these 3 Birds solutions, the dealership saw an amazing difference in the number and quality of declined service opportunities. Average declined service opportunities per month increased by approximately 98 percent, nearly doubling the dealership’s chance to recapture declined customers.
The dealership used the strengthened customer relationships from the fixed ops messaging as well as its existing in-store processes to win over many of these declined service leads, substantially increasing the dollars generated per month from this source.
A focus on service creates lifetime customers and powerful advocates
The increased service revenue the dealership saw from these few months is just the beginning. With a continued focus on improved dealership communication and providing relevant, personalized information to customers, the dealer can retain more customers throughout the service lifecycle—and remain top-of-mind when it’s time for their next purchase. In addition, satisfied customers can be powerful advocates for dealership service on social media and review sites. By encouraging customers to share their opinions online, the dealership can focus on winning back other customers from independent stores and chains.
