Fixed Ops Journal - June 2019 - F15

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

SPECIAL REPORT

DIGITAL

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Text me, please
Dealerships' digital service marketing also
should include text messaging with customers, says David Foutz, vice president of sales
for Xtime, Dealertrack and Kelley Blue Book,
brands owned by Cox
Automotive.
A customer service survey conducted by J.D.
Power in 2017 found that
67 percent of respondents
said they would return to a
dealership for service if
they got text updates
about the vehicle's repair
Foutz: Texting
status. That figure dropped
builds loyalty.
to 55 percent when the
service department communicated by phone,
Foutz says.
"Only 3 percent of consumers who get their
car serviced receive text updates," he notes.
"Imagine the financial impact of a 12 percent
increase in customer retention, just by using
texts instead of phone calls."
An Xtime platform called Spectrum, used by
more than 7,200 North American dealerships,
applies digital technology to service lane efficiency. A Spectrum module called Invite can
help develop digital marketing campaigns
aimed at filling service bays during cyclical
business lulls, Foutz says.
"Maybe you offer 20 percent off any kind of

Feldman Automotive Group dealerships post more than 20 service-related Web pages.

"The market will favor
dealerships that adapt to
digital marketing
technologies. Dealerships
that lean in will win the
business, and those that
don't will be left behind."

service managers. We need to bring that part
of the dealership up to speed."
Dealer.com's managed services team creates fixed ops website content for more than
4,000 dealerships. For $599 a month, a dealership gets eight new pages of fixed ops content
monthly, Danford says.
Dealerships' websites must be transparent
about service pricing, Kulma says. Many consumers don't go to dealerships for maintenance and repairs because they fear they'll get
gouged, he warns.
"Would you buy something from Amazon if
the price wasn't shown?" he says. "Almost every
dealership has a menu pricing board hung in
their service drive. It only makes sense to do it
on websites, too. And you need to emphasize
that dealerships offer OEM-certified parts and
technicians, which independents can't match."
Because a Google search's algorithm treats
prices as highly relevant data, adding price information boosts a dealership's search rankings, he adds.

DENISE CHUDY, general manager,
messaging platform provider LivePerson

service on Thursday afternoons, targeted to
people who came in once but haven't returned for 12 months," he says. "That way,
you're not stealing away full-price work on
Saturday mornings when you're already too
busy to serve walk-in customers."
Another module, Engage, helps service advisers manage the check-in process via a tablet computer, allowing customers to review
repair histories and other data with advisers.
The software also allows advisers to text service updates and photos to customers and obtain prompt service approvals, Foutz says.

Rapid response
Quick approvals are also a goal of LivePerson Automotive's service texting platform. On
average, fixed ops departments that use the
platform get customer approvals within four
minutes, and phone calls between the service
department and customers drop by 30 percent, Chudy says.
The monthly fee for the text service ranges

from $495 to $995, depending on the size of
the dealership. LivePerson's Chudy declined
to say how many dealerships subscribe.
Texting also helps dealerships increase consumer satisfaction scores and boost customer
retention, Chudy says.
"When you communicate with and make it
convenient for customers, they're more likely
to stay with you three or four years down the
road when their [factory warranties] expire,
because you've built relationships," she says.
LivePerson's texting platform enables customers to get their vehicle appraised during a
service visit. The feature generates 10 to 60 additional appraisal requests at a typical dealership each month, she says.
D.J. McMahon, service director at Mercedes-Benz of Tuscaloosa, in Alabama, says
he initially was skeptical about using texting
to communicate with customers.
"I didn't think it would make that much of a
difference, but it definitely has," he says. "It's
been amazing to see. I honestly don't know
where we'd be without it."
The service department has used a texting
program developed by myKaarma for four
years at a cost of around $2,000 a month, McMahon says. Customer approval of additional
service work recommended by the dealership
is about 25 to 30 percent higher than before it
adopted the texting technology. McMahon
cites the ability to text customers photos of,
say, worn brake pads or tires.
"That gives customers confidence about
making a decision, and we get approvals faster, too," he says. "Before, when we'd call people to get approval for recommended service,
see DIGITAL, Page 16

JUNE 2019

PAGE 15

Fixed Ops Journal - June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - June 2019