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• ProntoWash Website Example: "The landing page welcomes a visitor with a full-screen hero image illustrating the type of services right away. This is quite a smart design solution for an express car wash — you can simply hit a single button and get what you need without being forced to scroll through the company values, special offers, and testimonials first."

Content

• According to insights published by AP Digital, an advertising firm, it's important for auto-repair sites to use authentic images on their website and try to stay away from stock images. Doing so helps to immediately foster trust among the viewer and helps them envision what to expect when they visit your shop in person. According to AP Digital, "Internet users search for companies because they want to know more about what you do, but also about who you are. Everyone knows a stock image of 'collision repair' when they see one. If you’ve got a picture of a guy in bright blue overalls, holding a wrench, with a stock image smile on his face – you’re not fooling anyone. People want to imagine what it will be like to actually visit your facility. Your website is sometimes your first opportunity to build trust and confidence in a potential customer. Show a picture of your front lobby (on one of the days you cleaned it, of course) with your Office Manager or Estimator standing behind the counter, with a big smile on their face. On your 'Collision Repair' page, show your technicians, in their cleanest, company branded uniforms, using the advanced repair technology and tools you’ve invested so much in."

On-Website Sales Tactics

• 75% of customers report looking for a loyalty program before making a purchase. These programs help customers feels like they are getting the best deal. An example of a loyalty program for an auto-repair shop is a free oil change after so many changes, or a special discount after a certain price threshold is met. Advertising the loyalty program directly on the auto-repair website is not only an excellent way to boost customer acquisition, allowing users to sign up for the program via the site doubly serves as a way to capture customer data, which can then be used for marketing purposes in the future. In a nutshell, putting a loyalty program sign-up form on the auto-repair website can help to both capture and nurture leads.

Case Study: D&I Body Shop

• To increase their search rankings and traffic, D&I Body Shop implemented various SEO tactics on their website. Most suitably, these tactics encompassed a geo-focused organic SEO strategy. All of the company's website content was re-optimized for SEO in addition to all URLs and meta data. Video SEO, link building, and local SEO citations were also used. As a result, the company's organic search traffic increased 309%.

Consumer Sentiment

• One of the biggest complaints of auto-repair consumers is that their repairs didn't hold up and they had to bring their car back (18%). One possible way to approach this is to provide any guarantees or processes for handling these issues upfront on the auto-repair website, or create a form for recent customers to fill out in case they have any questions or issues post-repair.
•  30% of female survey takers said they stopped using a shop because they felt taken advantage of due to their gender. Given this, an auto-repair shop could attempt to capture some of these customers by creating a code of ethics page on their website which outlines their shop's customer service standards and includes testimony from previous customers who felt they were treated fairly.