Fixed Ops

How to Use Video to Increase your Service Revenue

by Tim James

Have you ever been frustrated because a customer turned down a service recommendation? Perhaps they hand you the excuse that they need to consult with a spouse, friend, or family member before they accept. The problem is most consumers are pre-conditioned to say “no” to the additional service recommendations. They all know the additional service recommendation is coming, and have already prepared themselves to say no, without knowing the additional services you plan to recommend. But how do you convince that customer who lacks trust that the additional services are truly needed?

VIDEO!

Most consumers say “no” to the additional service because they don’t fully understand what the service is, or why it is necessary. They think you are trying to sell them something they don’t need. It is much easier for people to believe something when they can see it. And while sending photos is better than just sending words on a screen, a video personalized for a customer which explains the service and why their vehicle needs it is a much more powerful tool to add to your service department. A technician (or service advisor) who takes the time to show a customer what needs to be fixed on their vehicle via video – whether it is recorded or streamed live – will make your service department more transparent, create trust, increase CSI, and upsells. And, if hosted on the right platform, can capture invaluable data to make your service marketing more effective.

These types of explanation videos are already incredibly valuable. BUT they become even more valuable when you can get data from them. With the right platform hosting your videos, you can get data on who is watching your videos, whether it is a personalized video for a current customer or a general video on your website. And with real-time alerts, you’ll know exactly when someone watches your video so you can ensure that you are getting the right message to them at the right time… when they are the most interested. Hosting your website/marketing videos on YouTube just cannot provide this level of insight or data.

Humanizing your dealership in the eyes of your customer is also important. Video builds personal engagement with your dealership as well as the service advisor or technician that made and sent the video. And the best part? Your service advisors and technicians can do it. using their very own smartphone.

Create a process for recording the multi-point inspection so it can reinforce what you tell the customer. “Hey, Mr./Ms. Customer, we’ve completed your multi-point inspection and found a couple of things we think you should address to keep your vehicle healthy and have a longer life. Let me show you what those are and explain why they should be fixed.”

If you let the customer leave when they decline a service recommendation, they will forget what you told them, and you will have to remember to remind them over and over again(assuming they return). Or perhaps they just go to another dealership that is already using the technology and strategies we are discussing, who wins their trust a little better.

According to statistics, service acceptance rates increase by 25-35% when customers receive their MPIs via video. And Dollars per RO increase by 35-60% with a 25-35% increase in CSI! Is that worth the effort to integrate video into your service department’s process? If you don’t think so, I’ll come out and do it and you can give me the increase in revenue! That’s how confident I am in the results video will bring to your dealership’s service department.

A lot of technology out there promises more revenue. The bottom line is that video is the most preferred method of content in EVERY area of a consumer’s life. From entertainment to shopping to sales and yes, even servicing a car (plus more). I am not sure a more powerful medium exists to engage a customer and create an emotional impact to sell… well… anything.

Keeping with the Times is Essential in Video Marketing

Video marketing in the automotive industry is very dynamic, which makes it essential to keep your videos relevant and sensitive to your market.

During this pandemic, video has proven to be a tremendous tool for communicating with customers and potential customers, helping to gain their trust and create more impact in every stage of the sales funnel.

Here are a few video strategies that I have found to be successful in many dealerships. They are simple, produce great results, and best of all, take little effort on the part of your dealership.

Service – Most dealerships have processes in place to sanitize their customers’ vehicles after repairs and/or maintenance are completed. Consider making a video illustrating the steps from start to finish so customers can actually SEE what you are doing, rather than try to find it in print.

Does your service department offer vehicle pickup and delivery? Show your customers! Make a video showing a driver picking up the vehicle and then returning it. If there is a loaner car involved, show not only the actual process as it happens but also the customer’s vehicle (and loaner) being sanitized, all the way up to returning the serviced vehicle to the customer.

Do you offer touchless payment options? Can the customer pay online before coming into the store? Be sure to include those features in your video to make your dealership stand out from the competition.

Sales – Most states currently allow dealerships to present and sell cars to customers both online and in store. If a customer wants to come in and kick tires, test drive or make the transaction in person, make a video illustrating what they should expect, along with the safety precautions that your dealerships take for this type of sale. This can easily be done using a salesperson along with another dealership employee acting as the customer. In this way, your dealership will not need to get permission from customers to be filmed.

If your dealership offers to deliver vehicles to the customer’s location for a test drive and delivery of the purchased vehicle, make a video illustrating this process from start to finish. This can help build trust both before and after the transaction.

I see a lot of dealerships starting to shoot great content like I’ve mentioned, but then only post their videos on YouTube or Facebook. Video is an incredibly valuable tool, but to truly maximize your ROI you must have a strategy that gets your videos in front of your audience at the right time of the buying cycle (where it will have the biggest impact). The best way to make it work is to present the videos where your customers will see them.

Your video experience should live on your website, and it should be as easy as possible for a shopper to find. Put your videos in the places where you know your site visitors will be looking since buyers won’t go out of their way during the buying cycle to view your content. To capitalize on the impact video can bring use these videos in a variety of ways:

  • Put value proposition & testimonial videos on the same page as inventory videos so consumers get to see not only how great your inventory is, but how great it would be to do business with you. The majority of consumers are looking for a dealership that they can trust, every bit as much as they are a vehicle to purchase. Don’t make them search your site to learn why you are that dealership, put it in front of them where you know they will be looking.
  • Send video emails with a landing page featuring a vehicle a customer is interested in, while also giving them the option to watch several other videos that feature your inventory, value proposition & testimonials videos. Even include your personal introduction videos, all without having to leave the page.
  • Build a trust relationship between your sales team and customers by having them send picture-in-picture videos of a vehicle a customer showed interest in, explaining the vehicle in more detail, and letting the customer know that your salesperson is a trusted resource throughout their buying process. Be sure to include this video content on the landing page experience that I just mentioned. The possibilities are endless when you utilize video to give your consumers the best experience possible.

We are currently living in an interesting time. People have many different viewpoints when it comes to the pandemic. The most important thing is to put your videos where your customers will see them, showing your customers (as well as potential customers) that you care, are trustworthy, and that your dealership is a place where they can feel safe and comfortable. These emotions are what will make a consumer choose you over the competition, and keep your current customers coming back again and again. The single most effective way to build these feelings and connections? Video.  

Use Video to Increase Service Upsell

It’s widely known that video walkarounds, email responses and other types of video attract more attention from car buyers and better engage them once they reach out to you. But, one of the biggest mistake I see most dealerships make is to neglect the service department in their video marketing efforts.

Most importantly, utilizing video in your service department is a key part of a complete Video Marketing Strategy, and an easy way to capture your service customer’s viewer profile (data) to match with your CRM records.  In other words, you can know if your service customer is also watching your inventory videos on touch-points such as AutoTrader or Cars.com, in addition to your own website, Facebook pages, Email Campaigns, Blogs, etc.  You can then leverage this knowledge by sending targeted messages to that service customer that include videos with offers specific to their vehicles of interest, while passing that data to your CRM to queue the customer up for Sales Follow Up. Essentially, the targeted messaging occurs via your existing videos in “real-time,” based off the data gathered from your video views. It’s re-marketing just as you would have through a Google Ad Campaign, except you are using your own videos and your own data.

Video can dramatically increase the service department’s footprint on your website and serve as a useful resource for your customers. It is also an excellent way to educate customers and increase service recommendation acceptance.

When customers drop their cars off for a scheduled repair, one of their biggest fears is an unnecessary upsell. Unfortunately this fear can create resistance to any repair recommendations. A short video created by the service adviser can help to alleviate this fear and provide “visual proof” that a repair is really needed.

Videos are far more effective than photos because the service adviser can explain how the old part is worn and compare it visually to the new part, along with an explanation of how important it is to get the repair done now. Additionally, advisers can mention the potential impact and costs of related problems that could be caused by not completing the service now.

Creating an upsell video simply involves two parts: the “why you need it” and the tutorial. The “why you need it” portion of the video plants the seed in the customer’s head that they had better get this taken care of soon or they are likely to end up with a more expensive repair, stranded on the side of the road, or possibly even in an accident.  The tutorial section shows how much work it really is to fix this issue, the cost of the parts, and the time involved with the fix; thus, justifying the cost of the repair.

Once the upsell video is created, the adviser can text it directly to the customer so they can see the video on their mobile device and make a quick decision. You can remove additional fear and the “oh they’re just trying to up-sell me” mentality from the customer by delivering each video on a landing page that contains your Value Proposition Video, Service Manager Introduction Video, and a couple of Testimonial Videos so that the customer can quickly see that you have their best interest at heart and can be trusted.

If the customer refuses the additional service, send them a “how to” (on the same landing page) so that they can appreciate how serious you believe this service is, and that it needs to be completed ASAP (even if they prefer to do it themselves).  The more you can help the customer understand that this about “their safety” and that you aren’t just trying to sell repairs that aren’t necessary, the more likely the customer will trust you and approve the additional repairs.

These type of videos also create content on your website and increase the odds that your dealership will show up in service related searches (VSEO). You never know when someone searching for an answer will stumble across your service video and make the decision to choose your dealership for their service repair.