When you look around your waiting room, you might see customers watching TV, reading magazines, and playing on their phones. What you might not see is an essential marketing opportunity for your auto business that you’re missing out on.
Offering free customer WiFi is a great way for businesses to market to audiences and keep them entertained. Your customers are already playing on their phones without your WiFi, so why not offer it as a complimentary service and reap the benefits?
There are multiple perks of adding WiFi in auto shops for both customers and business owners. Keep reading to learn how you can take advantage of this marketing tool to keep customers engaged and entertained.
Reduce Perceived Customer Wait Times
According to Small Business Trends, 62% of businesses that offer free WiFi report that customers stay longer in their buildings. While you might not want customers staying longer in your auto shop (as that likely means your repair times are slow), this statistic shows that customers become distracted with the Internet and don’t notice the passage of time. They might think they’re only staying a few minutes extra, but they’re actually lingering longer than they think.
If your customers spend an average of 30 minutes waiting for a repair, that time could seem shorter (making your service seem better) with free WiFi.
Additionally, the same survey from Small Business Trends reported that 50% of customers spend more when they have free WiFi. If you’re trying to increase the number of upsell packages your auto business offers, then adding free WiFi to the mix could boost your overall sales.
Create Landing Pages That Sell to Customers
Your login process creates a whole new platform for you to advertise to your customers in the waiting room. In particular, your auto shop can customize your landing page and change it seasonally depending on the promotions you need or sales you need to push.
For example, a few auto repair marketing strategies and landing page options that might be useful in an auto shop include:
- Seasonal offerings (like installing snow tires or checking air conditioning)
- Upsells during the slow season to boost sales
- Maintenance reminders to encourage customers to maintain the health of their cars
- Brand information about what sets your company apart from the rest
You can change these landing pages monthly and even A/B test multiple designs at the same time to see which ones are the most effective.
If you want to see how these pages compare to other marketing efforts, consider creating a unique promo code or offer for customers to redeem.
At the end of the month, you can see the direct ROI of customers who find value in your WiFi by tracking the number of redemptions.
Invite Customers to Connect With Your Brand
An additional benefit of WiFi in auto shops is the ability for businesses to connect digitally with waiting customers. When people log in to your WiFi from the waiting room, you can invite them to visit your website, download your app, or connect with your brand on social media.
This connection grows your online presence and helps customers remember you even when they leave your shop. A few weeks or months after they visit, your customers might realize they’re due for an oil change or schedule a detailing appointment to make their car shine.
Some auto shops actually take their WiFi option to the next level by sending push notifications through their app on the status of their cars. Customers are notified when their car is getting worked on as well as when it’s done and ready to be picked up. This saves time for your staff as they don’t have to manually tell customers about the status of their cars.
Monitor Your Marketing Efforts With Synced Social and Google Accounts
Do you promote your business on Facebook, Google, or other digital platforms? Do you know exactly how much business those channels drive? If not, then you could be missing out.
One of the hardest marketing metrics to track is online to store conversions. If a customer looks up your website on a desktop, it’s challenging to know if they actually scheduled an appointment or came in. With free WiFi, this customer data is open to you.
When customers log in to WiFi in auto shops and other locations, Google can track the location of the phone and attribute the sale to a click made earlier. Furthermore, asking customers to log in to your WiFi via Facebook allows you sync with their accounts and share the data.
You won’t have access to private customer data, but you will be able to see which customers clicked on your posts online and then turned into customers.
This data transparency alone can help your brand determine which ad platforms and marketing efforts are worth the investment, increasing your sales and growing your auto business.
Help Your Business Operations Plan for Busy Times
Even if they don’t have an overly high-tech business, installing WiFi in auto shops can help improve internal processes and flow. For example, two of the top metrics available to business owners is the number of customers that are logged into the WiFi at any given point and the duration in which they stay there.
With this information, you can gauge the number of customers in your waiting room and their average wait time.
If there are influxes of customers at certain times, causing wait times to spike, you could create a disappointing customer experience and stressful situation for your staff. Using this data, you can schedule your employees to work during the busiest times and let people off during slow periods. Your business will operate smoother and your customers will be happier with the efficient flow.
Start Offering Free Customer WiFi in Auto Shops
The benefits of WiFi in auto shops significantly outweigh the investment costs of the technology. Customers increasingly expect WiFi from their businesses they frequent, and you could be falling behind by ignoring their requests.
If you’re ready to add free WiFi to your auto shop, contact the team at Spectrio today to discuss your options. We can find an affordable and comprehensive option to engage with waiting room customers with free WiFi.