Four great ways to boost aftersales with video

The cost of living crisis is showing no signs of abating, and it’s already having a significant effect on the automotive industry. According to AM Online, one-third of consumers are now planning to keep hold of their current vehicles for a longer period of time.

As a result, consumers may well turn towards workshops to keep their vehicles in perfect working order, and fix any problems that may arise. There are many different things workshops can do to highlight their service, repair and aftersales offerings to customers, and encourage them to book their vehicles in. In this blog, we’ll take a look at how video can be used to maximise opportunities, improve customer journeys and better integrate aftersales processes.

Linking sales and aftersales experiences

A vital way of generating workshop interest is to link from sales to aftersales as part of the customer engagement. This might sound like common sense, but many retailers don’t take advantage of this opportunity, even though the customer sees you are one business. According to CitNOW Group research, around 30% of retailers don’t introduce their aftersales team to customers at the point of handover, therefore could be losing potential customer loyalty.

Video can be helpful at the handover stage, so that customers can be introduced to the aftersales team and find out more about the services available. It also helps them put a face to a name so that a relationship can be cultivated, and ensures that the smooth communication that supported a sale can be continued in the longer term.

Making approvals easy

When customers receive videos that visually and verbally detail the work that’s required on their vehicle, it’s much easier for them to appreciate and understand what’s needed. Empowered by this information, they feel more confident in approving the work that’s proposed by the workshop. Our research has found that 41% of car owners are more likely to approve work if they’re sent a video of the work required.

Not only can this improve workshop revenue through higher approval rates, it can also increase workshop efficiency by speeding up approval processes and therefore turnaround times. Among CitNOW Workshop users, 48% of videos sent with a quote got work approved by the customer in less than ten minutes, and 68% received approval inside half an hour.

Creating impressive VHC videos

Of course, a workshop video should do more than just inform a customer: it should also engage their interest and inspire confidence that their vehicle is in good hands. The best videos we see created in CitNOW Workshop all manage to:

  • Give the customer a positive first impression and allow the customer to ‘meet’ the technician responsible for the work
  • Allow customers to get an explanation of the work required in common everyday language, free of jargon that might confuse or irritate
  • Have the right equipment in place before filming to ensure that the video is the best possible quality
  • Encourage customers to give them a five-star rating at the end of the video as feedback (for reference, the average customer rating of all CitNOW Workshop videos is 4.8 stars)

These are just some of the elements that come together to make a workshop video great, and our How2CitNOW playlist on YouTube gives you a handy guide on incorporating them.

Using integrations to improve your service

Bringing together different technologies as part of a smooth, supportive customer experience is vital for generating long-term relationships and revenue. It can also help workshops operate more efficiently, helping to increase throughput and therefore profitability. At CitNOW, we’ve invested in a range of integrations that make this possible:

  • Offering a buy-now-pay-later service such as Bumper allows customers to spread the cost of repairs over several months interest-free, so they can get back on the road without getting into debt. At a time when finances are tight for many people, this can make a real difference in getting work approved
  • Overseeing customer journeys and communications through a Dealer Management System like Keyloop DMS helps workshop staff deliver the right information at the right times through the right methods
  • The ability to deliver videos through OEM apps such as ‘My BMW’ and ‘MINI Connected’, expands the range of channels through which workshops can send videos out to customers
In summary

As this blog demonstrates, video is an area full of opportunity to take aftersales revenue to the next level. It can help in speeding up approval processes, building better communication into customer journeys, and converting more aftersales opportunities directly from sales.

Take a closer look at CitNOW Workshop here and learn why it’s become such an important tool of the trade for aftersales and workshop teams, then read our full report on uniting customers and retailers through technology here.