Chances are that you have heard the old adage that it is cheaper to keep a customer than to gain a new one. Even for auto shops, customer retention is a big deal. After all, a loyal customer tends to spend more than a new one. Loyal customers will return time and again, frequently spending about 31% more than a new customer.
By boosting your customer retention rates by as little as 5%, you could see a profit increase by an incredible 25%.
Bottom line: Customers who are loyal to your auto shop will account for a much bigger portion of your revenue. The question is: how can you increase customer retention in your auto shop?
Here are 4 tips to keep your customers coming back.
1. Provide Value
Your customers want to feel like they are getting the best deal possible with your auto shop. This is especially true if you want them to come in for routine maintenance and not just when things are wrong with their vehicle. That’s why you should consider providing customers with frequent promotions that will have them coming back to you on a regular basis.
Loyalty programs are another great way to entice customers to keep coming back to your auto shop. In fact, members of loyalty programs typically spend 5 to 20% more than non-members.
Other benefits of a robust loyalty program include:
- Reducing slow seasons
- Lowering cost to market to new customers
- Creating a mailing list of loyal customers
- Improving your reputation as an auto shop
Few auto shops implement a loyalty program despite the impressive statistics. With that in mind, if you take the time to put one in place now, you can stand out from the competition.
2. Be Consistent
Consistency isn’t just about providing great service for each customer. It’s also about making sure they get the same experience each time they visit your auto shop–and you should be striving to make it a positive one. You can do this through simple actions like sending them a text reminder about their appointment or having a great waiting area.
This consistency extends to your staff. If everyone is trained the same way and held to the same standards, it is more likely that your customers will always have a positive experience.
3. Keep Talking to Them
One of the ways that auto shops often go wrong is that they lose touch with their clients in the times between repairs. Auto repairs are one of those rare, as-needed services. As a result, your customers likely don’t think about your business until something goes wrong with their car. You want them to remember you when the time comes and become accustomed to your services.
The best way to do that is to stay in touch constantly. If you don’t stay in their periphery even when they don’t need auto services, they may go to someplace closer, more convenient, or even cheaper than what you can offer them.
Email and text marketing are the most convenient ways to do this, and they take less time than sending handwritten letters or making a phone call. Automate your marketing efforts by sending customers reminders for upcoming service needs. Alternatively, you might share manufacturer rebates and promotions that can save them money.
With text message and email marketing, you can build a targeted list of clients who might be in need of your services right now. This makes your marketing much more effective.
According to HubSpot, segmented campaigns like these can yield up to a 760% increase in revenue. When you think about how much you could stand to gain from something as simple as clicking a few buttons and putting together a special offer via email, it just makes sense that you would want to engage in this trend.
4. Use Technology
Working to retain current customers is a necessary part of running a thriving auto shop. With that said, it’s a lot of work. From implementing a loyalty program to sending text reminders to developing and marketing promotions, each touchpoint is crucial. That’s why you should consider automating.
BayIQ is a marketing platform created by auto shop repair owners specifically for the unique pain points of auto shop repair owners. It provides a built-in loyalty program, email and text marketing, automated review solicitation, and more.
BayIQ eases the burden of managing your shop’s marketing efforts and instead enables you to automate it. Ready to retain more customers without lifting a finger? Schedule a demo to learn more.