Automotive CRM's for Independent Repair Shops
Customerlink pioneered automotive CRM with service follow-up postcards. Demandforce improved it with emails and added text message appointment reminders with confirmation via email & text. Demandforce then added a web portal with reviews and appointment scheduling. Also, facebook and website integration for reviews and scheduling. EAutoClub took the concept of Customer Relationship Management further with a service selling point of sale tool, Service Intelligence.
The importance of a portal site (like Demandforce, EAutoClub, Customerlink, CustomerLobby, etc. provide) and its reviews has gone away. Google no longer looks at any of the reviews as important. The content does help general web presence and SEO, if you do not have a web site it is a great benefit. Reviews on Google and Facebook are what a business needs, not a review micro-site like Sure-Critic offers.
Email marketing from a CRM is great because it is integrated. Unlike something like Constant Contact which requires a manual upload of customer data. The ability to customize these messages is important for effectiveness. Demandforce is limited to their templates. EAutoClub & Customerlink offer good customization.
The key here is segmentation. The ability to send a targeted message to the right customer at the right time. EAutoClub does this down to the year/make/model/mileage of a vehicle, or based on specific services and the customer vehicle history. Customerlink does this by a customer demographic only. Demandforce only by the review grade the customer left.
Mitchell offers an owner site with service history access. If you use a vin decoder you most likely report to CarFax which offers the same thing, free. The Mitchell owner site has an ask a tech section, appointment & coupon integration, also next service due information.
Demandforce is not an automotive company. They started as a dental appointment reminder & follow-up system and grew laterally. They were purchased by Intuit (Quickbooks) and are continuing to grow laterally. They are big and slow at progressing.
What is talked about very little in customer follow-up is accuracy of data. The EAutoClub system has a sophisticated algorithm to find key terms from a service record. It attempts to understand what service was performed and forecasts a vehicle needs for the customer.
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