How can I increase customer loyalty at my auto repair shop?

you’ll also want to employ strategies that help [retain existing customers](https://www.tekmetric.com/post/increase-customer-retention-auto-repair-estimating-software) and increase loyalty.

Auto Repair Shop Marketing Strategies | Tekmetric

The content from Tekmetric discusses various marketing strategies tailored for auto repair shops to attract and retain customers, highlighting success stories like Metro Motor's growth in average repair order value across multiple locations, and offers resources such as thought leadership articles, events like Tektonic 2027, and personalized user experiences through cookie preferences.

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See how Metro Motor grew their average repair order to $800 across 19 shops with Tekmetric

Under the Lift: Stories from the Automotive Frontier (New Episode)

Thought Leadership

More Marketing Strategies for Auto Repair Shops to Attract and Retain Customers

Author

September 9, 2022

Read time: 1 min

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1. Get Involved In Your Community

Community work allows you to not only expose the business to potential new customers but also make a positive impact on the people and places you call home.

Do something good by feeding the homeless, supporting your city’s high school, or raising money for a local nonprofit, like Casey’s Automotive did for Ellie's Hats.

2. Partner With Local Businesses

Partner with an adjacent local business, like a car wash or detail facility to establish a flow or referrals between your business and theirs.

3. Advertise Locally

According to Mary, advertising locally is one of the most effective techniques to draw new customers into your shop.

Some reliable local advertising mediums include local papers, school mailers, sports programs, small magazines, or even something as simple as hanging up flyers at adjacent businesses.

4. Run Special Promotions

Running special promotions is a great way to attract new customers. Haglin Automotive provides first-time customers with an oil change special or $25 off a repair each quarter with a seasonal savings card sent to every customer.

5. Run Targeted Social Media Ads

A few examples of social media auto repair promotion ideas include both sponsored content and visual advertisements.

When you advertise your auto repair shop on social media, make sure you consider:

Paid social media ad goals
Budget
Target demographic
Time frame

6. Up Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Game

A strong automotive SEO strategy will help make your business appear higher in the Google listings when someone searches a keyword in your area.

How to Drive More 5-Star Google Reviews to Your Auto Repair Shop - YouTube

Tap to unmute

How to Drive More 5-Star Google Reviews to Your Auto Repair Shop Tekmetric

Tekmetric4.59K subscribers

Pro-tip: the first step you should take to improve SEO is to list your business on Google, then regularly update your website with new content.

7. Increase The Loyalty Of Existing Customers

Always remember the customers who have been visiting your shop since the beginning. As Mary says, you’ll also want to employ strategies that help retain existing customers and increase loyalty.

8. Sell Declined Jobs

Vehicle maintenance can become less of a priority for customers who don’t set their own personal reminders on vehicle maintenance.

By investing in a shop management system that gives you and your team full visibility into what repairs customers have had previously and exactly which repairs they’ve declined, your service advisors have the opportunity to remind them of repairs and maintenance work that may be needed soon, saving them money on what could become more expensive repairs later on.

Your customers will appreciate that you are looking out for them and their vehicles amidst everything else they have to manage, and you can bring more revenue into your shop, too.

9. Provide Customers With Expert Advice

One aspect of marketing that Mary prioritizes at Tekmetric is the reliable information that the customer success team provides to Tekmetric users. Implement Digital Vehicle Inspections into your technician’s processes.

With Tekmetric’s DVIs, you can attach images and videos along with your findings, building trust with customers while clearly showing them what’s going on with their vehicles.

10. Send Timely or Seasonal Gifts

Giving small gifts to your customers during holidays, birthdays, or other celebratory times of the year is a great way to show customers that you appreciate their business.

A simple coffee mug with your logo on it could spark the next conversation about your shop when they have their friend over for coffee.

Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth auto repair shop marketing.

11. Create Loyalty Referral Programs

Provide your loyal customers with a gift showing how much you appreciate them.

Implementing a loyalty program in your shop will offer your customers important benefits that keep them coming back.

Or, for returning customers, one of the best ways to give and receive is to create a referral challenge that incentivizes existing customers to refer people to your shop for a reward.

Make your program attractive to customers and easy to track.

12. Give Customers More Ways To Engage Online

Upping your social media game can sound intimidating at first, which is why Mary recommends making it fun.

Consider sharing testimonials from satisfied customers, posting “day-in-the-life” or “behind-the-scenes” looks at what goes on in your shop from your perspective or the perspective of a technician, sending out e-newsletters with fun shop updates and vehicle knowledge, or making applicable “how-to” videos for sticky situations such as flat tires.

No Matter What, Track Your Results

No matter what auto repair promotion ideas you put into place at your shop, you’ll want to track what works and what doesn’t.

With regular, careful analysis of the results, you’ll put your shop in the best possible position to generate more profits as cost-efficiently as possible.

Selecting a shop management system that allows you to track your auto repair shop marketing strategies will provide you with insights into who your most loyal customers are, how they found your business, and why they keep coming back.

Tekmetric's former Marketing Coordinator Mary Payton had the chance to share these go-to marketing strategies to attract new customers and retain existing customers with Vehicle Service Pros. Access her full piece here.

👉 Ready to grow your automotive business? [Book a personalized Tekmetric Demo Here]

FAQ

As much we like to think we’ve always been at the top, no one is born a boss. Before you became an auto repair shop owner, you probably held other positions and had someone else bossing you around. Think back to those bosses, and how you felt about those jobs.

You may have had some bosses who you didn’t like. Their leadership style might have been too aggressive, or maybe they didn’t take the time to show you the ropes.

But hopefully, you had at least one boss who helped you get to where you are today. Typically, good bosses:

Strongly support your career growth by encouraging you to gain new skills
Understand when you have to take some time off or shift your work hours
Trust you to get the job done instead of micromanaging you
Show you they value your contributions to the team
Effectively communicate instructions and priorities to you

If you had a supportive boss who championed you at work, you probably went above and beyond—you knew they valued your work. Your former boss’s great leadership qualities probably set an example for you, influencing how you run your own shop today.

We’re willing to bet you’re already an excellent leader, running your own shop in a way that inspires your team, just like how your previous bosses might have inspired you. But, just like you expect your employees to grow in their roles, your employees expect you to continue growing as a leader.

By fine-tuning your leadership skills, you can bring the absolute best out of yourself and your team.

Thought Leadership

Software for Auto Repair Business Leadership

February 6, 2023

Read time: 2 min

Let’s start off by laying down the foundational launching points for starting your original shop: you found your niche, you got the right advice, you started with the right branding, and you impressed your customers by providing exceptional customer service. But there are four key factors that become extremely important as you go from being a single shop owner to a multi-shop owner.

‍ You’ll want to:

1.Stay organized as you scale
2.Create consistency across your locations
3.Test the performance of each of your locations
4.Leverage an automotive repair software that will support your team as you grow across multiple locations

To select the management tools that will catapult your multi-shop owner journey, you’ll first need to weigh the pros and cons of each of your shop’s processes and procedures.

From there, you can find a system that will uphold and scale the processes that made your shop so successful in the first place, but now across multiple locations. Later in this article, we’ll specifically dive into automotive repair software like Tekmetric and discuss how it supports you, your team, and your customers as you go from a single shop owner to a multi-shop mastermind.

Here’s how to choose an automotive repair software that makes it possible to grow and easily manage multiple shops.

Thought Leadership

How to Find An Automotive Repair Software That Supports Your Multi-Shop Growth

January 17, 2023

Read time: 2 min

Ever wonder how you could make your auto repair shop website rank in Google for “Mechanic near me” or “Best auto repair shop”? Look no further, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know about search engine optimization for automotive repair shops.

Search engines play a large role in today’s buyer journey and the auto repair shop industry is no different. Shop owners are recognizing this and starting to emphasize SEO (search engine optimization) as part of their overall digital marketing strategy.

Auto Repair SEO 101

SEO for automotive repair shops is a marketing tactic designed to influence how your website ranks in Google and other search engines. When done correctly, SEO efforts can create more website traffic and ultimately, generate more customers for your auto repair shop.

However, search traffic is becoming more competitive and other shops are likely aiming for the same keywords as you are. Utilize this guide to see how you can improve your website traffic and search engine rankings for your auto shop.

Tek-Tip: Curious how you rank for important keywords? Simply open an incognito tab and search for keywords you want to rank for. Incognito tabs remove location and search history bias from your search.

Image showing 5 steps to better SEO for auto repair shops.

Why is SEO important for Auto Repair Shops?

More traffic equals more customers

Search traffic is high-intent traffic which means that people who are searching for “mechanic near me” and similar queries are indicating that they are ready to make a decision. Social media and other traffic forms may bring in traffic but rarely are they ready to make a decision that day. Capturing more search traffic almost always leads to more conversions. Think about it, when you start looking for a service where do you start your search?

Brand awareness

Even if the customer is not ready to make a decision that day, being visible for relevant keywords is important (and free) brand awareness. Ranking well will help your shop stay top of mind for future automotive repair needs and build your online presence. Just like we remember a billboard or business logo weeks later, being visible in search engine results leads to better brand awareness and online visibility.

Cost effective

Unlike Google Ads, SEO efforts are free if you do them in-house. All you need to get started is this guide + a few YouTube videos and you can make a big difference in your website traffic and online conversions.

Local search

Search engines can use mobile device locations to help match customers with a shop that is nearby. Part of this guide will walk you through how you can indicate to Google where your auto repair shop is located and capitalize on local search traffic.

5 Steps to Improve your Rankings and Website Traffic

1. Quality content

Helpful content: Google loves fresh content and companies who regularly publish helpful content. Strategize what type of content will resonate with your audience and don’t be afraid to test new ideas. Consider removing or updating out-of-date content that is no longer relevant for your audience.

Content calendar: Creating a content calendar for your shop can help you strategize which topics you want to cover each month and who will be responsible for the project timeline.

2. On-page SEO

URLs: Did you know that Google uses the words in your url to help understand what your content is about? Avoid generic URLs like www.Yourshopname.com/blog/23trk and start using keyword-rich URLs like www.Yourshopname.com/blog/houston-tire-store. A simple optimization that can lead to better rankings.

Keyword research: Organic search is no longer about stuffing your content with every keyword you can find but keywords still play a part in how Google ranks content. Keywords are the terms searchers type into Google like “Tire shop near me” or “Brake service shop in Houston”. Other common auto repair keywords include “auto repair shop near me”, “best mechanic in (insert city)”, or "(insert service type) near me”.

You can use a free tool like Google Search Console (more info on tools later on) to explore which keywords you are ranking for and strategize how you can include those terms in your content/website. You will also want to research keywords that you do not currently rank for but want to in the future. Don’t forget to look at competitors and see what they are ranking for to help you locate your target keywords and form your overall strategy.

Internal linking: If you think of the internet as a spider web, each piece of content has internal and external links that help connect related content. These internal links help search engines crawl your website and find all the other content your website has to offer. Aim for at least one internal link in each article you write.

Meta Descriptions: As the name suggests, meta descriptions inform readers on what they can expect your content to cover. This is a great place to highlight keywords you think searchers might use to find your content.

Avoid click-bait strategies but try to make your meta description attractive and keyword dense. This will lead to better click-through-rates and better rankings. Aim to use 150 characters or less in your meta description so Google doesn’t cut it off.

Meta Titles: Think of a meta title as the headline or title tag for your content. This is a great place to showcase what your content offers and what it covers. You also want to feature your top priority keyword in the title to make sure Google (and users) know that it matches what they are searching for.

A picture showing how title and meta description tags appear in Google search.

3. Technical SEO

Tek-Tip: Warning: this section is more technical and may require the assistance of a website professional. We recommend Shopgenie to help with all of your website/SEO needs.

Page speed: Search engines have started to prioritize websites that provide a better user experience and part of that is having fast page speed. You can test your website speed using this free tool. Some quick ways to improve your page speed would be to minimize image file sizes and reduce the number of third-party scripts you have on your website. You may need to contact a website developer if you want to make bigger adjustments to your website.

Link building: Search engines use backlinks as a way to identify which websites are trustworthy and authoritative. For example, if your website has a link from Forbes pointing to your blog article, it indicates that your blog has value. The more links you can gather (especially from high-quality websites) the more reasons search engines have to believe your website has value.

SEO and PR agencies can help you build your link profile. You can also contact other websites directly and do manual outreach. The best practice is to create content that people want to link to and the links will accumulate naturally. Content that typically performs well for link-building in the automotive industry includes how-to videos, guides, and tutorials.

Mobile friendly/UX: Have you ever been frustrated by a website on your phone that you can’t use because the buttons are too close together or it loads slowly? With the majority of your target audience using their phones to search for services, your SEO strategy needs to include a user and mobile-friendly website design.

Sitemaps: A sitemap is a file that you can add to your website to help guide search engine crawlers to your content. Think of it as a crawler roadmap for your website. This file can be useful if you don’t want certain parts of your website crawled or if you recently added new content and want it to be crawled quickly.

4. Local SEO

Google My Business: Google My Business (GMB) is a free Google business profile that showcases your company, services, contact info, logo, and more. An easy way to improve your local SEO is to keep this platform up-to-date with your contact information, website, and hours of operation. If a potential customer searches “auto repair shop near me” your GMB listing indicates to Google if you service that area and helps you rank for their search.

Bonus tip: Make it easy for customers to leave reviews on your GMB profile as extra proof that you run a quality automotive repair shop. Some auto shops add a QR code on the front desk or on receipts directing customers on how to leave reviews. Make sure to respond to negative and positive reviews with professionalism. First impressions matter; potential clients often research reviews before selecting a shop.

How to Drive More 5-Star Google Reviews to Your Auto Repair Shop - YouTube

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How to Drive More 5-Star Google Reviews to Your Auto Repair Shop Tekmetric

Tekmetric4.59K subscribers

Watch on

Directories: Directories are popular aggregation review platforms like Yelp, Consumer Reports, BBB, and Yellow Pages. Claiming your business profiles and updating them with your relevant information can help some potential clients find your auto repair business. Make sure your phone number, address and website are all up to date within each directory.

Location pages: Adding your address and directions to your website can help search engines understand where you are located and aid in pairing you with appropriate local queries. Another tactic is to make sure your website content mentions your city to further boost this effort.

5. SEO tools

Paid tools: There is no shortage of SEO software/tools to help you upgrade your auto repair SEO strategy. These tools typically have a free version but they are limited in functionality and you will need to upgrade if you have larger websites. Some of the top options include Ahrefs, Semrush, and seoClarity.

Free tools: If you have a smaller website you may be able to get by with these free tools. Some of the top free SEO tools include Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, and free versions of Ahrefs and Semrush.

Tracking/monitoring: After making updates to your website and overall SEO strategy it is important to track your progress and KPIs like clicks, traffic, impressions, CTR and others that may be relevant to your auto repair business. You can build free tracking dashboards in Google Analytics or Google Looker Studio.

Bonus tip: Google and other search engines regularly update their algorithms so keep an eye out for volatility during these updates.

How long does it take for search engine optimization to work?

While some SEO tactics will start working immediately, larger and more consistent progress will be seen within 3-6 months if implemented correctly. Typically, this progress is seen as part of a “snowball” effect where multiple small optimizations will snowball into larger results over time.

Ranking on the first page of Google can take time but it often depends on how many competitors are in your area. All worthwhile marketing strategies take time and SEO is no different.

Final thoughts

Search engine optimization is an important tactic to drive more traffic and customers for your auto repair business. Keep in mind that SEO is one of many marketing tactics and should be part of a larger marketing strategy. To be successful in automotive shop marketing you will also need to explore other channels like social media, email, paid advertising, and traditional marketing.