A few days ago was Cyber Monday. And like many of you, I spent the day snagging those deals on my phone because that is just the way I prefer to shop and do business. No computer, no waiting in line, no hassle. That got me thinking about how businesses DO business.
Last week, I had a plumbing emergency (I know, TMI, but bear with me here). I Googled on my phone, let’s be honest it is no longer a phone but a personal device, and found the top four service providers in my area and contacted them through their websites for quotes. Two of the companies started calling right away making call after call which I finally answered (think “extended warranty” – ugh). Neither would provide a quote but would charge me a “service fee” of a set amount and then once onsite would tell me the cost. Nope- I don’t do business that way especially when I know the problem. The third text me a quote that was so far out of the ballpark that it might as well have been in outer space. The fourth company had a perfect and recent Google Rating of almost 1,000 5-star ratings and guess what? They responded within minutes with a quote via text and confirmed when a tech would arrive via text, text when the tech was 5 minutes away, and sent me a link to an invoice a couple of hours later. When the tech was here, I was so pleased with how seamless and easy the process was, I had him repair another little issue I was going to fix myself. I didn’t even ask for the cost of the additional repair because I was so happy with the entire process. Let me say that again: I was HAPPY before, during and after a plumbing repair. Why? Because this company communicated with me the way I like to communicate – via text using my personal device. Plumbing issues are never positive, but this company made mine so. I was able to utilize my personal device for what we call Search to Service.
At Easy Repair, we define Search to Service as the process of how the customer finds a business and commits to that service – a process that is rarely digitalized in our industry. Car repairs after an accident are typically never positive. It is a stressful event for your customer from the moment of impact. How can we take some of that stress away and make the repair process more of a “pleasant” experience? Claims are being filed digitally, according to Money Magazine:
“The 2021 Auto Claims Satisfaction Study, released in late October 2021 by JD Power, revealed how satisfied users are with mobile claims, which the industry terms to be “low-touch” — meaning the entire claims process takes place within the app.
Such claims yielded the highest levels of satisfaction in the study, with consumers scoring the experience at a whopping 915 out of 1,000. By contrast, claimants who filed claims face-to-face, and engaged with three or more representatives during the process had the lowest levels of customer satisfaction.” https://money.com/home-car-insurance-app-study/ .
As well as the claim process becoming digitalized, body shops are becoming digitalized as well.
“We’re basically driving computers, said Carl Garcia, owner of Carl’s Collision Center, underlining the sophisticated nature of modern vehicles. This metamorphosis in the auto world has prompted body shops to evolve similarly to maintain a competitive edge. Modernizing body shops with cutting-edge color-matching software, 3-D visualization and advanced tools has become even more critical for continued success.” https://www.bodyshopbusiness.com/the-digital-transformation-of-collision-repair/ .
I started thinking about our industry and what was missing in the digitalization of body shop repair. We are missing the digitalization of customer experience from Search to Service. We aren’t as present on the web as we should be with updated and interactive websites. We don’t give customers the opportunity to make appointments online, their preferred method of doing business. We don’t give updates and communicate via text messages, and we aren’t asking for that critical Google Review upon repair completion. Now don’t get me wrong, there are some shops who have risen to the challenge of the digital age and have done a wonderful job, But as a whole, our industry lags. As I mulled this over, I searched for body shops near me. I looked at the first ten and out of that ten, eight had either outdated or poorly constructed websites, no appointment setting feature, too few google reviews or low google reviews. What I noticed on the negative reviews was a consistent “lack of communication in the form of returned calls.” Lack of communication…what if that could be solved with a click of a button and a customized text message on repair status? What if there was a program that made the repair process easier on the customer so that Google Reviews were positive and the number of 5-star reviews increased? What if we gave customers a way to search for our shops and make online appointments and receive text confirmations with info such as maps to our locations, rental car info, towing info etc.? What if customers could sign a repair authorization digitally?
If we did these things we would close the gap with Search to Service and make their accident repair experience as positive as my plumbing experience. Easy Repair can do all of these things for you and help you digitalize your customer experience by saving time, eliminating paper, keeping your customers updated like YOU want them updated and boosting your positive reviews. Message me if you’d like to hear more about Easy Repair www.easyrepair.us and if you need a great plumbing service in the DFW area, I have the company for you!
Cheers!
Lori Robinson
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