From sweet discounts to referral rewards, we're spilling the beans on the best shop incentives you can offer. Building customer loyalty is necessary to succeed in the automotive industry. People can go almost anywhere to get their vehicle services repaired. The objective is for you to give them the right incentives to spend their money at your shop.   

That’s what customer loyalty programs do—give customers added reasons to patronize your shop instead of going to a competitor’s business. Retaining loyal customers has many benefits, including creating a competitive advantage, increasing revenues, expanding your customer base, and broadening the variety of upsell services and products customers purchase from you.

An auto repair loyalty program delivers each of these advantages. There are several incentives shops can offer to reap these benefits. 

Best Shop Incentives

There are so many different incentives shops can provide their customers. It’s important to gauge how they differ from each other and what specific value each one brings. Some involve discounting prices, while others are based on referrals. The most productive incentives include:

  • Partnering with Charities: Shops donate funds to local or national charity organizations for this incentive. Doing so typically involves giving a percentage of earnings to a good cause that customers care about, which motivates them to patronize the shop. This incentive is excellent for improving a shop’s reputation and helps with brand awareness.

  • Referrals: By creating a formal program for managing customer referrals, shops can boost the lifetime value of their customers and the rate at which they convert prospects to paying customers.

  • Points Systems: Implementing a points system for customers as part of customer loyalty programs is a great way to reduce churn and ensure long-term patronage of your shop. This incentive is based on allowing customers to earn points for each visit they purchase parts or services.

  • Promotional Discounts: This incentive is good for attracting and retaining customers, particularly first-time ones. It’s based on the concept of either discounting or throwing in a service for free—such as throwing in a free tire rotation with an oil change. 

Implementing Effective Strategies

There are a variety of ways to execute these incentives for an auto repair loyalty program. Some of the key points of consideration for each involve:

  • Partnerships: The success of this incentive depends on how well it’s promoted. Social media channels are optimal for spreading the word about which charity and what percentage of the shop’s earnings will go to it. A dedicated web page about this incentive is also a good idea, which links to your website or social media channels. An alternative for this incentive is to partner with any local business in the area and offer discounts to customers at one shop after purchase from the other.

  • Loyalty Program: A referral-based customer loyalty program is effective when both the referrer and the referred customer receive discounts, which can be as much as 20%. Alternatively, shops can discount only one of the parties involved. Referral cards can be utilized to streamline this incentive. These cards are distributed by shops, allowing customers to write their names on them and pass them on to those they refer. The referred individuals can then present these cards to the shop when they visit.

  • Frequent Customer Program: Shops can select how many points they give customers for different services—the more expensive the service, the greater the points allotted. Similarly, shops can set different rewards for different amounts of points. For example, with 100 points, you earn a 25% discount, 200 points a free alignment, etc. Plus, Shopmonkey’s customer loyalty program software can keep track of points.

  • Promotions: A best practice is to issue this incentive for necessities like tires, which people are prone to get during the winter. Discounts like buy three tires and get the fourth free work well. Discounts on A/C are effective in the summer.

All in All

Overall, shops need to build up customer loyalty with incentive programs to stay in business. Charity partnerships, referrals, points systems, and promotional discounts are time-honored incentives that resonate with customers. They increase brand exposure, minimize churn, expand your customer base, and fatten the bottom line.    

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