Dealers urged to combine MOT and vehicle service alerts

Marketing Delivery have urged dealers to combine MOT and vehicle service alerts to help maximise aftersales conversions.

It follows after a new survey commissioned by the company revealed that 77% of UK motorists would be more likely to book their car into a workshop that found a way to a way to combine MOT and service work into a single visit.

Marketing Delivery said the findings are consistent with the experience of Marketing Delivery’s dealer partners.

Jeremy Evans, managing director at Marketing Delivery, said: “The consumer research and our own data illustrate the growing importance of well-targeted automation in digital comms.

“Reminders are clearly critical for driving workshop utilisation, but they create a big administration burden for the aftersales department. Automation takes that pain away, but that is just the start – dealers need to devise campaigns where messages are personalised, timely and maximise convenience for the customer.”

Motor retailers need to maintain the digital momentum they had accelerated during the pandemic to avoid potential lost sales at a time when the market is constricting, Evans will advise attendees at the 2022 Automotive Management Live show.

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The company evaluated conversion rates from its automated email aftersales marketing campaigns from January to September 2022 and found that messages intended to encourage an MOT booking had an average conversion rate of 12%, while those for a service had an average 35% conversion.

However, when the automated messages were timed to facilitate MOT and service work into a single visit by the customer, the booking conversion figures increased to an average of 42%.

In Marketing Delivery’s new consumer survey, which polled 1,000 motorists across the UK, those aged 18 to 24 were the most receptive to the idea of a combined appointment for both MOT and service, with 85% saying they would be more likely to book with a workshop that made that possible.

The survey also found that the majority (59%) would prefer to be reminded about service and MOT work between three and four weeks before it is due. Only 13% said they would not be likely to book a car in for aftersales work with a dealer or workshop that provided reminders.

Franchised dealers who fail to sell cars with service plans are losing one-in-five customers to independent garages for servicing work, research by JudgeService has revealed.