Four New Rules of the Road for Service Marketing: Turning Today s Service Customer into Tomorrow s Sales Customer

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Jayson Alexander
5 years ago
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1 Four New Rules of the Road for Service Marketing: Turning Today s Service Customer into Tomorrow s Sales Customer

2 Though probably not written in stone, a few service marketing rules of the road have been around for a long, long time: So what do dealers need to do to keep their eyes on the prize and help move their business toward thriving? Use the time and mileage service interval. Market to customers primarily during their vehicle s warranty period. Focus your service message only on the makes your dealership sells. Send the same message to every customer in the DMS database. Over time, these rules have been extremely successful in helping dealers attract consumers to the service department and drive revenue for the dealership. But, modern marketing strategies are being built around the latest industry research and changing consumer behavior. Those modern strategies call for new road rules to help dealerships capture more service work now and increase vehicle sales tomorrow. The new rules are influenced by three factors: First, the service department is not only an area whose revenue covers operating costs, but also the number one generator of vehicle sales leads. So dealers are looking for ways to maximize both strengths. Second, today s vehicles are better than ever. Quality is less of a differentiating factor for brands. Plus, consumers are keeping their vehicles longer than ever more than 11 years. 1 That s putting intense pressure on dealers to build customer relationships and increase service work to drive future sales. Third, today s consumers are different from the ones visiting the dealership even just a few years ago. They are more tech savvy, more mobile, and have higher expectations for how they ll be treated by retailers. They also do not separate online experiences from real-life ones. That s true in interactions with friends and family, as well as with retailers, including dealerships. *2012 Chief Marketer Social Marketing Study 855.NKD.LIME nakedlime.com 1

3 2013 Google Study New Road Rule #1: It All Begins With Search To be successful in service marketing, it s not enough for just the dealership s brand and name to be found in online search results. The new rules call for search optimization (SEO) efforts for each department, especially service. Here s why: 80% of customers say quality service and trust trump price. In general, people have to see a message seven to 11 times to remember it. Google reports that 70 million searches are performed monthly for aftermarket service work. When consumers search Google for a basic maintenance terms (e.g., oil change, tire rotation, alignment) finding a dealership in the search results is the exception. Results are dominated by independent service centers, with dealerships not even making the first page of results. To add insult to injury, consumers also are finding coupons and incentives that further encourage them to visit the competition! Dealers have a huge opportunity to capture service business from their competition. According to a 2013 Google study, one in three drivers is uncommitted to a particular service provider. Thirty-six percent of drivers surveyed said they d go wherever is convenient and affordable; however, more than 80 percent say quality service and trust trump price. In general, people have to see a message seven to 11 times to remember it. A multi-channel approach that begins with SEO, coupled with traditional and digital advertising, can help put your service brand and message in front of the right customer at the right time with the right offer to drive results. A well-rounded multi-channel approach should include targeted direct mail and sent to your customer database as well as to your competitor s customers. Plus, use digital advertising to put your message where consumers are spending most of their time. Search optimization will help you appear high in search results for service maintenance and repair work. Online ads can appear as consumers browse the web. Using social media can help you inform and connect with consumers. Optimize your virtual presence, drive traffic to your website, and convert more service department customers, who ultimately may become car buyers at your dealership. 855.NKD.LIME nakedlime.com 2

4 Online Reviews New Road Rule #2: Manage Your Service Reputation At the same time dealership marketers are adding SEO and digital advertising for service, they re also paying more attention to online reputation management for the service department. If your service department has low ratings or lacks them entirely, consumers are more likely than ever to move on to the competition. Online reviews are a popular way consumers narrow down their choices. If your service department has low ratings or lacks them entirely, consumers are more likely than ever to move on to the competition. Use surveys to find out what went well and what can improve. Also consider follow-up campaigns to satisfied customers to ask for online reviews. Those bad reviews? Don t ignore the customer s complaint. View negative feedback as another chance at customer retention. Reach out to the customer to resolve the issue and repair the relationship. Plus, if you re able to fix the issue, the customer will likely update the online review so others will see you take complaints seriously and make things right. 855.NKD.LIME nakedlime.com 3

5 Did you know? New Road Rule #3: Harness the Power of Data 25 25% of the customers in your database no longer own the car you think they do. 3 The old expression garbage in, garbage out is especially true of your marketing database. For example, did you know 25 percent of the people in your customer database no longer own the car you think they do? 3 That s just one of the holes in your dealership s data. Now think about all the other fields: address, phone number, address (you are collecting those, right?), and so on. The most successful marketing efforts include scrubbing, appending, and organizing your customer database so the data can be used to its full potential. Your database should accurately reflect what vehicle your customer has, if they are in equity, when their last service visit was, what time and mileage services they are due for, and more. Having this data will help you better market to consumer habits and go beyond the standard service interval. Here s a powerful example of using good data to turn a service customer into a sale: If a customer has regularly visited your dealership for service work, your database contains the history of everything that s been done to that car. Because you did the work, you know the vehicle has been properly serviced and what condition the vehicle is in. As the vehicle ages and repair totals add up over time, that vehicle may be less attractive to the current owner, but it may still be an attractive one for your dealership to retail. With a vehicle upgrade campaign, you can target these service customers with an offer to upgrade to a newer vehicle for the same monthly payment, or maybe even less. The outcome is a win for everyone. Your customer has a shiny new vehicle. Your dealership made a sale and secured another unit to sell. Plus, you can continue to market to that customer for service for the new vehicle. 855.NKD.LIME nakedlime.com 4

6 Make a change today. Train your staff to follow these three tenets: 4 1. See: Know who your customer is, make eye contact, smile, and call them by name. 2. Surprise and delight: Be conscious of your customer s time and surprise them with world-class service. 3. Serve: Employees should elevate customer objectives and needs above their own. New Road Rule #4: Customer Experience Matters Again, today s consumers don t have different expectations for how businesses interact with them online versus face-to-face. That s why a focus on customer experience is quickly becoming a better measure of dealership success than CSI scores. How consumers experience your service department is key to customer retention and new sales. If what your customers read online about your service department doesn t match their in-dealership experience, they ll quickly pick up on that and take their business elsewhere. Conversely, customers who feel their time is valued, their concerns are heard, and repairs are done right the first time are more likely to return for service and for sales. Plus, don t overlook the fact that customers often are your best marketers. They help spread your service message by telling their friends and family about their experience. Happy, satisfied customers can lead to easier, more cost-effective referrals for your service department and dealership. 855.NKD.LIME nakedlime.com 5

7 Pulling It All Together Service marketing is no longer limited to time and mileage intervals and only for makes your dealership sells. Now, service marketing focuses building customers for life and the tools you need to do that are right at your fingertips. When your dealership builds its service marketing strategy around SEO and social, digital advertising, reputation management, optimized data, and a focus on the customer experience, your dealership will begin to see results in service and, ultimately, in vehicle sales. To learn more about Naked Lime s services, call 855.NKD.LIME, info@nakedlime.com, or visit nakedlime.com. 1 R.L. Polk 2 Dealer Magazine 3 Naked Lime Study 4 Warner 855.NKD.LIME nakedlime.com 6

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