Organizing Your Web Pages – Service & Repair Section
Let’s say I’m a customer who searched Google and found the unit I was looking for on your website. I fill out your quick and easy finance application, come down to the store, and make my dream purchase.
Now that I’ve been enjoying it for a few months, I need some service work. So, I return to your website during a quick break at work to schedule an appointment. What will I find?
Walking yourself through a typical customer relationship several months after a purchase helps you understand the importance of properly listing all aspects of maintenance and warranty services on your website. In this month’s blog we’ll make sure you have a concise, comprehensive plan to organize your Service & Repair section.
It’s easy; let’s do it!
Building Your Service & Repair Department On You Website
First, you’ll need to:
- Create a Service & Repair section.
(One thing I’d like to note: If your dealer does not offer repair services, your website’s section could just be called “Services,” and you’d remove any links dealing with repairs.)
As I always recommend with any of these types of tasks, ask your website provider or webmaster for help if you don’t know how to do something.
In this section we are going to list these items:
- Recommended Service Intervals. In this section, detail general maintenance recommendations about the units/vehicles you sell by mileage or hours. (I recommend many dealers have this section listed first.)
- Services Offered. This is a general area in which you’ll give an overview of everything you do. But don’t get too detailed. (We’ll talk more about this page in the next section of this blog.)
- Service Specials. You can promote your service programs, coupons, or monthly/seasonal specials in this section.
- Customization. Be sure to include how you can give customers ideas on personalizing their vehicles. For example, you could list: Accessory installation, paint work, or details on your “chrome consultant.”
- Certified Staff. This is where you can provide pictures of your service employees along with their experience and qualifications.
- Warranty & Recalls. Detail all warranty/recall work you accept by manufacturer. Also, list any current recalls affecting your customers—it shows you’re the expert!
- Summarize the different types of repair work you do—and don’t forget to mention if you have towing or courtesy transportation.
- Service Hours. List this section only if service hours differ from your store hours.
- A Schedule Service Request form or Contact Us Your website provider may have a standard form for this category. You can even call it something like “Talk to a Tech” to make it more personal.
- Storage/Winterization. Many motorcycle and boating customers in cold-weather states take advantage of these services, so make sure they know how you’ll care of their prized possessions.
- Ready for Summer? You may want to include a checklist in this section as a quick assessment for any recreational vehicles, from personal watercraft, ATVs motorcycles, and more. OPE dealers may replace this section as Ready for Spring?
- Service Reviews. Showcase what customers are saying about you. It adds credibility and increases your search results in Google. (We’ll cover this section in this blog a little later.)
Services Offered
We are going to give the Services Offered page special attention because you could potentially write a lot of information in this section.
On the Service Offered page, make sure to include all the major, popular services you offer including oil changes, brakes, tune-ups, transmissions, etc.—and don’t forget a quick mention of categories like installation, customization, accessorizing, warranty, and winterization/storage. Also, Harley-Davidson dealers should include information on their Dyno Room, if they have one; there may be other manufacture or vehicle-specific services you can describe.
So, here’s the challenge: Some dealers believe that anything and everything service-related should appear in this area. This is because a variety of content could be appropriate. Dealers typically have a lot of service offerings, and they feel like they don’t want the customer want to “miss” anything. But that’s also a reason why you have all those specific page links in your Service & Repair section.
To be perceived as an expert you want to inform and educate your customer. Though, you actually run more of a risk of them not reading anything by providing too much information. This principle actually applies to any section on your website. People want to quickly get what they need, feel comfortable about their decisions, and then move on.
That’s why creating a short, four-to-five-sentence summary of what you do---possibly including bullet points and a few original pictures--is the best route for the Services Offered section. If your website looks confident, accommodating, and professional, your customers will “fill in the blanks” of exactly what you do and how you do it.
I was reading Bye-Bye to These 10 Web Design Trends by Scott Donald on MarketingProfs.com. It describes the web design concept of “less is more” becoming a more popular philosophy. Check it out; I absolutely agree with him. And make sure to check out what Scott also has to say about “Text-Heavy Sites” and “Endless Web Pages.”
Service Reviews
Now that we’ve provided customers their service, are they happy?
I work with hundreds of dealers a month. So when dealer search results display on Google, I can’t stop myself from reading the reviews before I even click into their website—even if I’m not doing any shopping. That’s how important reviews are.
Customer reviews “paint a picture” of what a new customer might experience, and even if they stop in after seeing some bad reviews, they’ll approach the experience defensively. I’m sure you could imagine how a few bad reviews can work to kill your business.
How do we combat this from happening or fixing it if it has happened? Follow-up with the customer! Reach out to them and see how their experience was.
There are several different ways to do this:
- Conduct email surveys. You could even use More Than Rewards’ Auto-Pilot Email System.
- Try written surveys or comment cards. Even if they’re antiquated, something is better than nothing.
- Simple, personal text message-based surveys are becoming more popular, as customers are much more likely to respond to your dealer with a quick “yes or no” if they are satisfied. More Than Rewards also has a full outbound/inbound texting system to help you implement this method.
- Create a sort of “Feedback Center” in your website’s header or footer containing links to review sites such as Google+ and Yelp.
- Do follow-up phone calls using in-house staff, or outsource the work to a qualified call center. I I know I’ve mentioned my company a few times already, but More Than Rewards provides an affordable and effective call center service called “Contact Central” to help with your efforts to improve customer satisfaction in your service department.
No matter what method you use, knowing how the customer experienced your business is crucial—if you reach out to the customer early enough, it may even give you a chance to stop negative reviews from appearing.
You can even provide incentives to gather customer feedback by giving coupons or reward points for their time. Your customers will thank you for feedback opportunities and take more time to provide their valuable perceptions. Even if they don’t tell you about all their experiences, they’ll know you care because they had chances.
TIP: Any form that is active on your website should go to an employee that will be able to respond within an hour. If you can, trying for a 15-minute response time would be best.
Summary
With our “Organizing Your Website Pages” series, we’ve been able to show you that your website is a live, interactive tool customers use every day. If you set it up right, your site will act as a professional extension of your physical store. During this edition we focused on your Service & Repair section. If you gain your customers’ trust in this area of your business, you may have them for life.
Talk to you next month when we start exploring your About US & History pages!