With COVID-19 and its subsequent lockdown, quarantine, and social distancing, many businesses are being hit hard, and the auto service industry is one among them. But with the liberalization of the lockdown restrictions, a lot of people have started to return to their work. As a result, there are a lot of drivers returning to the road. This makes it a perfect time to attract more customers for your auto service business.
People have a lot of business to choose from when they need to send their vehicles for repair. Therefore, it becomes essential to stand out from the competition to attract more customers. This is possible with the help of effective and enhanced communication with your clients or potential customers.
Text marketing is one of the most versatile and accessible marketing tools for sending important messages and help your business reach customers effectively. Now more than ever, emails are being flooded with marketing messages from businesses. The influx of emails makes it difficult for the customers to get access to the important message that matters to them the most. This is where SMS marketing helps.
If your auto service business is being impacted by the Coronavirus and you need to reach your customers effectively, here are a few tips to get started.
1. Maintenance Reminders
During these uncertain times of complete lockdown, most of the people are staying at home. There is no requirement for the daily commute and their auto may be sitting in the garage or in the street and getting much less used. People often forget that their auto needs regular maintenance to keep their motor in check.In such situations, online text message makes it easy to send maintenance reminders to people who have completely forgotten about it. Sending out maintenance reminders can help build trust among your customers. This means increased business and better customer retention rates even after the COVID-19.
2. Discounts and offers
Providing discounts and offers to your customers is another great way to make them feel happy and appreciated. It can also help build customer loyalty. Once your customer has opted-in for your business text messaging service, you can periodically send more offers, such as discounted oil changes for mobile subscribers.You can also create groups in your subscriber list and use group texting to send tailor-made discounts or offers to the subscribers. This can motivate them to take advantage of your deals and use your business service.
3. Appointment Reminders
With all the despair created by COVID-19, people are so stressed. This makes it easy for them to forget the appointment that they made with you to get their auto serviced. When a client misses an appointment, it is a loss of business for you. To avoid this, send appointment reminders via text message. The customers can confirm their appointments with a simple keyword reply or let you know of any changes that they need with the allotted time slot.4. Instant Customer Feedback
You can also use text marketing to get customer feedback. A majority of people prefer to provide their feedback through text messages instead of lengthy online forms. Furthermore, getting customer feedback through text is instant, simple, and more effective. You can send a text message where they can provide you with feedback on your repair services or the products that they purchased from you.You can also send them a survey text message or a texting poll to get their opinion on how you can improve your service. This makes customers feel that their opinions are valued and increases customer satisfaction.
5. Tips on Auto Care
Don't just try to sell your products or services. Concentrate on sending human-centric and time-sensitive messages to your customers. Now, with the ongoing situation, like people, autos are also restricted without any movement and some care is required to ensure the well being of the autos.
You can use the mass text messaging service to send something of value to your customers. Sending timely tips on auto care can build customer loyalty and create a positive impact on your business. Whenever they need an auto service, they will think of your business first.
6. Updates and Notifications
Another way to use SMS marketing is to send updates to your customers about the Vehicle inspection results, repairs, and estimates. Providing them with such updates will give them the assurance that their auto is taken care of. You can also schedule text message service to send notifications when the auto is ready for collection. Considering the current situation, you can offer to pick up and drop vehicles for repairs or service. This can eliminate unnecessary contact.Apart from this, you can also send notifications on your current business hours, steps taken to maintain social distancing, parts available with you, and more.
The Bottom Line
With the increasing use of mobile phones and with higher open rates of SMS, every auto service business can take advantage of the SMS marketing benefits. It can help you increase customer loyalty, leads, and generate revenue for your auto service business.
