The automotive retail landscape is changing. The industry is feeling the impact of evolving technology, shifting priorities among consumers, and market volatility due to tariffs.
Fluctuating markets mean revenue instability, putting added pressure on fixed ops departments, which have already seen prices steadily increase over the last five years. Used together, the solutions and strategies outlined in this article can help dealerships service departments improve revenue, efficiency, and customer retention in any market.
Convert service opportunities. Don’t overlook the power of sending personalized marketing service reminders and offers to customers who previously declined services. In addition, high-quality images, audio and video can help customers see and hear why additional service repairs are not only necessary, but beneficial.
Maximize shop capacity. Ensure the shop is always operating at full capacity with solutions that can optimize appointments based on work to be performed. Dashboards and performance scoreboards provide real-time insights and performance tracking into shop output, to help service advisors identify and address inefficiencies before bottlenecks occur.
Enhance the customer experience for retention. Digital tools like tablet reception and self check-in streamline the service process to create a consistent, positive driveway experience. Improve overall customer satisfaction and loyalty with real-time status updates and personalized interactions.
Provide price transparency. Be as transparent as possible while giving consumers cost certainty when you can—and explain all the variables when you can’t. Enhanced pricing tools can maintain uniformity and reduce discrepancies to ensure the pricing of services is consistent across different platforms and dealerships. Meanwhile, transparent pricing models allow customers to see detailed breakdowns of the cost of services.
In the end, it’s all about creating great customer experiences: Earning their trust, providing fast ways to check in and check out, and truly knowing who your customers are and what they need. When you tie all of it together with reporting and insights that improve team performance, you unlock the lifetime value of your customers.
