By Uwe Kleinschmidt, CEO, AutoVitals

The numbers are mind-boggling: 134 million smartphones are used in the U.S. alone and every quarter 8% more Americans select a smartphone. If that doesn’t surprise you, maybe the following facts will: 59% of auto service customers under the age of 35 want to be communicated with via mobile applications and 31% of American mobile Internet users say that’s the primary way they access the web.

The direction is clear: your service counter interaction with customers needs to be complemented by online interaction. Websites present interactive ­information and have competition from social networks with easily consumable information. According to Google, motorists look for educational information and parts at a significantly higher degree than searching for services like “auto repair” in your area.

Let’s explore ways of providing educational information, so that your prospects and existing customers don’t get their education from “the Internet” like the lady who found the French model in the famous State Farm commercial. Leverage your website and social networks to engage with prospects and ­existing customers to provide education, that is coming ­directly from you, the expert.

Interaction At The Moment Of Need
I bet that you not only get solicitations from hundreds of vendors for your website, SEO and Facebook services, but also, just like your customers, you are asked to consume so much information in your inbox and on your phone, that it’s impossible to process it all. In fact, the amount of data generated on the Internet every minute (YouTube users upload 48 hours of video, Facebook users share 684,478 pieces of content, ­Instagram users share 3,600 new photos, etc.) suggests that new engagement strategies are ­needed.

The experts at AutoVitals ­researched the clicks on videos embedded in dozens of auto repair shop websites and the ­results are disappointing. Videos on the homepage of websites are clicked on between 1% and 9% of the time. Videos as part of blogs embedded in auto ­repair shop websites below the fold (visitors have to scroll down to watch them) are clicked on less than 0.5% of all clicks on that page. Why are the results so devastating? The answer can be summed up in two words: User Experience. If the ­information is not presented in the moment of need, it goes by unattended. The visitor of the website should find the answer to the reason why they came to the website in the first place.

Educational information presented in the moment of need can be highly engaging and useful. But what is the moment of need and how can it be determined? That depends on what audience you are trying to target:

● New prospects are looking for a trusted auto repair shop for a ­perceived big (expensive) repair.
● Coupon clippers are looking for the best deal.
● Motorists who called another shop already are looking for a second opinion.
● Existing customers are looking for a shop’s phone number.
● Customers with the vehicle ­already in the shop are looking for ­answers to “Why now?” and “What happens if I don’t do it?”
● Motorists are looking for a good price on tire services.
● All of the above.

The good news is that auto repair shops are not e-commerce businesses like amazon.com where no personal contact is possible and all products are commoditized and readily available for price comparison. The key is to focus on the value a local business provides to the local community. You are your own brand with these features: Trusted, excellent customer service, personalized recommendations and ­vehicle-specific information.

One example in our attempt to make it personal is what we call the traffic booster. See the image to the right as an example. Ron Haugen, owner of Westside Auto Pros, Des Moines, IA, greets his prospective customers right on the search page of Google. Especially ­because the visitor’s decision to click on a featured link is made within seconds, his business listing stands out and introduces the searching motorist to his business.

Attention Span Matters
In every interaction, “time” matters. Motorists’ attention span is low, as they want to tend to their normal lives. So, it’s crucial to provide the ­information in layman’s terms and focus on the subject matter that’s ­important for them to make a decision. After we didn’t find a solution we could recommend to our clients, our AutoVitals TV experts started producing a series of service recommendation videos, which meet the criteria we just established:

● Brief (approx. 90 seconds).
● Coming from the expert who ­motorists trust (You!) without breaking the bank. (We have developed a special technology to cost effectively achieve high ­personalization.)
● Conveying the complexity of the technical subject matter so the motorist sees the importance without the attempt to turn the customer into a technician.
● Responding to “Why now?” and “What happens if I don’t do it?”
● Providing an easy-to-understand ranking for: Safety relevance; Cost avoidance; and Environmental ­impact; and
● Creating a call to ­action at the outro.

These videos can be used at ­different ­moments of need:

● During the service counter interaction, on the website or via counter TV with closed captioning.
● When selling a phone ­estimate, using images of the problem area in conjunction with the educational videos.
● When sending service ­reminders, links to those videos will be automatically inserted, if our system is configured for your canned jobs (and, of course, if you use canned jobs).
● Searches on Google for educational information lead to the website.

Combine Your Social Power
Your business is on Facebook, isn’t it? Of course it is. Have you ever thought about amplifying the leverage of your business page in a cost-effective manner? Millions of motorists are on ­Facebook and have at least one friend who comes across your business page, or the business page of another shop that’s affiliated with the association to which you belong. Where individual reach might be limited, an ­association’s wide presence can help in ­attracting the motorist’s attention.

The Automotive Service Councils of California (ASCCA) and AutoVitals have just started a project on Facebook to create a page targeting motorists (see image at right). In order to make it really easy for the motorist to find a shop, the location of the ­motorist is automatically detected and the nearest ASCCA member shops are shown on the map, with the ability to promote the shop’s specialties and values. Search for ASCCA University on Facebook to check it out!

Uwe Kleinschmidt is the CEO and founder of AutoVitals in Santa Barbara, CA. The company’s Web-based services focus on the independent automotive repair industry. AutoVitals’ products facilitate highly effective Concierge Auto Repair ­services, covering all aspects of the service advisor’s interaction with prospective and existing customers. Highly effective and optimized websites, workflow support in the shop, as well as customer retention and social media ­services are just a few ingredients. He can be reached by ­visiting www.autovitals.com or calling 1-866-949-2848.