Get ‘Back on track’ with Schaeffler essentials pack
Published: 21 May, 2020
Garages reopening and ramping up for greater customer demand as lockdown eases are being provided with useful items via a Schaeffler ‘Back on Track’ essentials pack.
The pack includes a floor sticker and tape to mark out the reception and workshop area into two metre blocks. There is also some personal PPE, a washable mask, hand sanitiser and hi-vis vest, along with A2 posters and mirror hanging air fresheners to remind both staff and customers about guidelines.
Schaeffler’s REPXPERT UK team observed: “The pack and posters are visible tools to make vehicle owners feel safe. The hard work will be in getting them to book their cars in. A key message here is that the six-month MOT delay does not mean that the car is roadworthy. Garage owners and technicians have a duty of care to make sure that all vehicles leaving the workshop are in a legal, safe and roadworthy condition. Drivers could get fined with non-functioning lights and wipers, or if tyres don’t meet legal requirements. If a vehicle isn’t roadworthy, the driver also may find that their insurance is invalid if they have an accident.
“Workshops could promote free visual safety checks with any repair, using every available channel to reach current and potential customers. Emails, text and social media are sure-fire ways to maximise reach while lots of people are still at home. Alternatively, placing an old-fashioned ad in the local paper saying that your workshop is safe and open for work again can only help.
“Off the back of the free visual check, garages can also offer ‘enhanced’ safety checks for a small charge - including fluid top-ups, a battery condition check, plus a visual check of all drive belts and the steering and suspension system.
“It is vital that all garage staff are invested in following the current guidelines; Minimise contact with customers and suppliers. Use new disposable gloves, seat covers and mats for every job. Wipe down all contact points as you go. Try and keep access to each car to just one technician. Turn off all climate control systems. Respect high risk customers by setting up a no-contact drop-off and collection system. All these actions will help customers see the care and attention workshops are taking in providing the best safe and professional service possible.”
The Schaeffler REPXPERT team will b, distributing the ‘BACK ON TRACK’ workshop essentials and poster packs to selected garages from June.
REPXPERT members will receive an email with a pack request link, or they can visit the news page at www.repxpert.co.uk and follow the link from there.
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- Does your paid search strategy need a MOT?
Globally, 97% of advertising professionals in the automotive industry say they are using paid search as an advertising channel. It makes sense when you consider that 97% of customers looking to buy, fix, or customise a car start their journey online.
However, many businesses are investing in this medium without properly assessing how much of their spending is delivering a return. With the UK automotive sector expected to have spent almost £2 billion in digital advertising in 2021, marketers must be asking how much of their paid search spending is truly effective, and how much is going to waste.
A deeper analysis of existing campaigns may reveal surprising insights which can trigger immediate corrective action. For instance, one study of 2,000 PPC accounts found that that the average account is producing all of its sales from just 12% of its keywords. Going further, paid search strategies should be based on a more sophisticated understanding of customers and how they are shopping, rather than treating every customer in exactly the same way, as if they are entirely new to a brand. Only then can businesses begin to identify where paid search is relevant and likely to be effective.
So how big is the problem? At Go Inspire, we conducted a series of control tests with customers between 2018 and 2020, covering the behaviours of over 500,000 consumers. The control tests were able to demonstrate typical proportional savings on paid search spend. We then used the results to estimate how much businesses in the UK automotive sector could be saving by intelligently optimising their paid search strategies. A conservative estimate is that automotive businesses could be saving £81.6 million of their paid search budget. What does this mean in practice? At Go Inspire, we’ve put together key pointers to help marketers bring their paid search strategies up to speed.
1: Build a 360o customer view
Where does paid search fit into a customer’s purchasing journey? The only way to answer this question is by having a holistic view of customer behaviour, linking both online and offline activity. This should then start to reveal the typical customer journey and triggers. It will also allow customers to be segmented by their preferences, value, loyalty and future potential. This analysis will reveal at what point paid search advertising is most effective, if at all. Though there are many tools available for companies to build this 360o customer view, they are still heavily under-used.
2: Review brand name bidding
One analysis suggests that almost half of traffic for online automotive content comes from organic searching. Without an understanding of customer behaviour and therefore intent, companies may be wastefully presenting paid search advertising to customers who are already looking for them organically. Paid search should be used to capture the attention of lapsed customers or those looking for a competitor.
3: Stop marketing to phantoms
Phantoms are mostly customers who accidentally visit a page, leave and don’t come back. Delivering marketing messages to unresponsive phantoms can lead to quality scores dropping, as these scores are based on click-through rates. This in turn increases your cost per click. However, companies should identify which phantoms have previously engaged with their brand and take the opportunity to entice them back.
4: Keep refreshing messaging
Once marketers have a holistic understand of their customer segments, they must continually revisit their strategies and optimise campaigns. As we emerge from the pandemic, behavioural segments are continually changing. Businesses must be able to flexibly adapt to any changes, to gain the best possible return from their investment, and grasp emerging opportunities.
To read Go Inspire’s report, ‘Which bit’s not working? An estimate of current wastage rates on paid search advertising’, go to: www.goinspire.co.uk/whitepapers/which-bits-not-working/
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