Leveraging Customer Feedback to Improve Shop Performance

In the auto repair industry, where customer trust and satisfaction are paramount, leveraging customer feedback is an invaluable strategy for improving shop performance. As technology improves, customer expectations for service quality and transparency continue to rise. Shops can actively seek, analyze, and act upon customer feedback to better position themselves to meet these expectations, enhance their service offerings, and build long-term loyalty.

Customer feedback is a powerful tool that, when leveraged effectively, can lead to enhanced customer satisfaction, repeat business, and a stronger reputation in the marketplace. As the industry continues to evolve to meet the needs of its customers, auto repair shops that prioritize and act on customer feedback will be better equipped to rise to these standards, thrive, and succeed.

Know your audience in the modern industry

Today’s customers are increasingly digital. In the past, auto repair shops relied on phone calls as their primary form of communication. In the modern market, however, digital communication like email or text messaging has become the preferred type of communication for most people. In fact, 91% of texts are opened within the first three minutes after receipt, with 81% of Americans texting regularly. The best way to reach your customers is to cater to their preference—so ensure you know your audience’s preference and offer solutions that help meet their desired communication style.

The modern landscape of the customer experience emphasizes convenience. At the click of a button, you can have groceries delivered or receive an item within two days of ordering it. Long wait times and visiting brick-and-mortar stores to purchase items is no longer the only way customers can buy things. The same applies in auto repair shops. With this knowledge, you can implement digital solutions to make the customer experience more convenient, thereby increasing loyalty and ensuring your customers return time and time again.

Collect feedback on your shop’s customer experience

Once you understand your audience in general, you should also strive to understand their experience with your business specifically. It’s important to foster a two-way relationship with the customer and give them the opportunity to share direct feedback. This can help you gain insight into the customer experience, including your shop’s strengths and pain points for customers, so you can adjust and improve.

Tracking feedback is just as important as tracking your shop’s internal operations or financial performance. You can gather feedback through multiple avenues: Google reviews, post-service surveys, or even in-person conversations. Each option offers customers an opportunity to share their thoughts on areas where you perform well or bottlenecks that need to be addressed.

Digital tools can help monitor all forms of customer feedback. Through Tekmetric, you can integrate with a variety of solutions to monitor and respond to feedback via Google reviews. Or, to help drive your customer experience and gather feedback, you can utilize Tekmetric’s Smart Jobs feature to create estimates within one click, allowing your service advisors to spend less time on manual labor and more time cultivating strong customer relationships.

Leverage feedback to improve shop performance

Customer feedback is critical because it addresses your shop’s bottlenecks from the perspective of the vehicle owner. For example, some shops may include parts ordering and inventory tracking among service advisors’ responsibilities, in addition to taking care of the customer. At Tekmetric, we’ve found this creates many opportunities for miscommunication between the technician who needs the parts and the service advisor, leading to a delay that affects the customer. To solve this problem, we created our Inventory Orders feature so technicians can easily order the parts needed. This ensured better accuracy within the shop and a greater customer experience.

Customer feedback also highlights the importance of convenience when it comes to driving loyalty. For vehicle owners, convenience is not always about choosing the closest shop. It is about choosing the shop that will make their life easier. For example, digital payments solutions can create a more convenient solution for customers. With Tekmetric’s two-way texting and text-to-pay features, customers can pay from their desk or their home office, pay for their college kid who lives in a different state, and even pick up their vehicles after regular business hours.

Implementing customer feedback cultivates a stronger connection between your shop and your customers. Through open dialogue, feedback creates a two-way relationship that allows you to address customer needs effectively and improve shop performance. Customer feedback can also help address bottlenecks and streamline processes in your shop, leading to enhanced customer experiences, increased loyalty, and, ultimately, a healthier bottom line.

FAQ

What are canned jobs?

Canned jobs are pre-saved job templates in Tekmetric that include labor and parts associated with common repair work done.

Instead of recreating jobs you perform on a regular basis, shops can create as many canned jobs as they like to build estimates in just seconds. Just apply the right canned job and you're ready to send for approval.

Shops find canned jobs helpful; one shop running on Tekmetric has created over 2,000 custom canned jobs and uses at least one canned job per repair order.

The value of canned jobs is clear: making it easier for repair teams to provide customers with the best of the best.

Simple, efficient, and reliable processes lead to more completed work and happier customers. Happier customers lead to even more customer retention, and better customer retention increases shop profitability.

In essence, canned jobs can even help you pay for Tekmetric. The profit generated from saving time, closing more repair orders, and selling better service can cover the cost of the platform, and then some.

Just why are canned jobs so powerful for your shop? That's easy:

• ​Make your jobs easier by simplifying your workflows for common repair orders into just a few clicks
• ​Shorten the time it takes to operate, get estimates built and approved sooner, and move cars faster
• ​BG Canned Jobs, using BG products in particular, enable your shop to offer more specialized service options for improved vehicle performance

Using Technology to Educate Your Customers

In an industry where trust is paramount, educating your customers is one of the best value-adds you can offer. When done conveniently and thoroughly, education can help the customer better understand their vehicle’s problems, the necessity of the proposed repairs, and what additional repairs need immediate attention. This in turn allows them to make the best decision for the health of their vehicle and their safety as the driver.

Digital solutions can play a significant role in educating customers. In conjunction with the technicians who complete the repair, service advisors are in a unique position to educate the customer about their vehicle and repairs. When the service advisor takes the time to clearly share the technician’s diagnosis and proposed repairs, the customer can better understand where their money is going. Digital solutions can help streamline this process, which makes customers more likely to approve repairs—ultimately driving your average repair order. Some digital solutions include:

• ​Digital Vehicle Inspections (DVIs): Aside from cost, customers care about two things when it comes to repairs: what repair is needed to get the car back on the road, and how long it will take. DVIs fulfill both needs—and they provide the information in a digital format the customer can easily access and understand. With the right mix of photos and videos sent to the customer, vehicle owners can see the healthy and unhealthy parts of their vehicle. By using DVIs as a tool to educate your customers clearly and conveniently, you can foster a relationship based in trust and transparency from the beginning.
• ​MotoVisuals: Tekmetric’s MotoVisuals integration makes explaining tricky car problems easy. MotoVisuals offers a wide selection of simple-to-follow animated videos about general vehicle repairs to accompany your DVI. By sharing a MotoVisuals video with the vehicle owner, you can leverage top-notch visuals to effortlessly explain repairs without confusing tech jargon. This can help make it an easy “yes” for the vehicle owner when it comes to approving repairs.

Building Trust by Meeting Customers Where They Are

A big part of establishing transparency in your shop is creating convenience for your customers. Through convenient digital tools, you can share information with customers easily and clearly in a format they can access anytime, anywhere. For example, by facilitating a convenient, two-way digital conversation, you can share repair updates and answer questions all through a simple text. You can even share photos and videos to further illustrate your recommendations. When customers can text you and get immediate responses, they can rest assured that your shop will meet their needs in an efficient manner.

At Tekmetric, two-way texting and text-to-pay both build on convenience through transparent communication, from repair questions to financial needs and payment options:

• ​Two-way texting: Two-way texting allows for open communication between your shop and the customer in a format that is accessible anytime, from anywhere. Nearly all parts of the repair process can be completed via text, from sharing DVIs to gaining customer approvals. Customers can view images of their car and ask questions, and the service advisor can respond with clear explanations or even share videos through MotoVisuals. This also creates a simple, transparent record of the repair process, including time and date stamps, whether a customer viewed the message, and more.
• ​Text-to-pay: Vehicle repairs are often one of the most expensive purchases a customer can make. Therefore, it’s important to offer financial options that are easy to access, so they can easily review the invoice and submit payment. Text-to-pay provides the tools shop owners need to offer a seamless, convenient payment experience for customers, while keeping data secure and fully integrated into the Tekmetric system.

Establishing Transparency Through Secure Digital Payment Options

Transparency is critical from start to finish in the auto repair process. You work hard to establish and build trust with the vehicle owner throughout the repair—so it’s crucial to maintain the same level of transparency at the final touchpoint: the payment. After the repair, you should offer a secure form of payment your customer will be able to review, clearly understand, and complete in a format that is easiest for them.

• ​Buy Now, Pay Later: When it comes to finances, most repairs are surprise purchases for vehicle owners. Even with a budget, there is no way a customer can anticipate the exact cost of the necessary repair ahead of time. By offering payment installment options through Buy Now, Pay Later, shop owners can demonstrate transparency about the total cost of the repairs while providing options for financing so the customer can complete the repair while adhering to their budget.
• ​Integrated Payments: Shops run more efficiently with integrated payments due to a visible, centralized location. Integrated payments allow customers to pay without being at the shop or needing a physical credit card. Within one click, the customer can pay, streamlining the final part of the customer experience and maximizing the shop’s workflow through a quick and painless payment process.

Transparency fosters greater trust and loyalty between auto repair shops and vehicle owners. By providing clear and open communication throughout the auto repair process, shops can build stronger relationships, gain new business, and increase customer satisfaction. The more transparent you are, the greater the vehicle owner’s trust in your shop. This enhances your reputation and your business performance, leading to more customers, an excellent customer experience, and ultimately greater profitability.