How to Rev Up Your Brand Loyalty
Tips for your auto business to drive loyalty through personalization
By: Emma Vaughn, Local Outreach Rep
Whether it’s liking a customer’s comment on a Facebook post or replying to a customer review on Yelp, today’s consumers don’t just appreciate a response from your business — they expect it. Building relationships with customers online can turn them into loyal customers offline! So, let’s talk about how to drive loyalty with your customers through personalization — starting with customer reviews.
We recently teamed up with Podium for a webinar on this topic, tune in here, or scroll down to watch below!
Personalize Your Review Responses
Address people directly when you respond. When someone writes you a review, it’s important to respond in the most personalized way possible. Including the customer’s name at the start of your response is a great way to show that you are paying attention and care about each individual that you interact with online — which in return — boosts customer loyalty.
Notice that in the response, the owners (Gary and Chris) are very personable. They reply using Paul’s name and pull out specific information in the review, “We’re glad you and your father have both always been happy with our service.”
If a review contains details about the customer’s experience or a particular aspect that stood out to them about your business, work that into your response, too. The more personal the better — it shows that you’re listening, that you value customer feedback, and that you took the time to craft a response that speaks to their concerns.
Whether the customer’s feedback is positive or negative, it’s important that you thank your customer for taking the time to reach out and offer it. After all, constructive criticism is the most effective way to find out what you can be doing better to improve the experience your customers have at your business.
Remember to respond publicly. These review responses are not only for the benefit of the reviewer. By responding publicly, every consumer that visits your review page will have a chance to see your response and get insight into your customer service in-house. Review sites are a great opportunity to increase customer loyalty!
Steer Your Content in the Right Direction
Cultivate brand trust and authenticity by sharing personalized content on your social channels that tells a story vs. selling a product. This kind of content can include team member spotlights, educational tips and tricks, feel-good stories, and engaging polls and questions. Using this kind of posting strategy will help position your brand an expert in what you do.
Highlight Your Team
One of the biggest factors for car owners when picking an auto shop is whether or not they can trust the mechanics who will be working on their car.
Posting photos of your team on Facebook is a great way to start building trust with potential customers and solidify trust with current customers. These kinds of posts work great on Instagram, too. Here’s a great example from Ashby’s Auto & Tire:
Post Educational Information
As a business owner, you’re an expert in your industry. Boost loyalty with your customers by sharing your favorite tips and tricks with your customers on social media. This educational information will help keep your customers informed even when they’re not in your shop. Dan’s Auto Repair posted a great photo and a tip using the hashtag, #TipTuesday:
FUN FACT: Using relevant hashtags in your caption will get new eyes on your business’ Instagram content and help you boost your engagement.
Cross-Promote Positive Testimonials
Why cross-promote positive reviews? Reviews are important to potential customers and cross-promoting the awesome reviews your business gets on Yelp and Google on your social media pages is a great way to show your followers that they’re in good hands at your business.
In fact, only 10% of consumers say they never look at online reviews before they buy, and nearly half of consumers say they are more likely to choose to visit a business that has a positive reviews. So, it’s crucial that you ask your valued customers to share all their experiences at your business on your review pages!
The simplest way you can do that is by sharing a positive review to remind your fans and followers that you have a presence on review sites and would value their feedback.
Share a positive review by taking a screenshot and posting that to your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages. You can also just cut and paste the text of the review on your social pages with a “Thanks!” to the reviewer.
Amplify your post by using sites like Canva to make quick graphics with the text from a customer review — adding a visual element to your post can increase engagement and interaction with your post!
Sharing these types of content will help you build and strengthen relationships with new and loyal customers alike.
Check out our full webinar with Podium here!
Emma Vaughn leads Main Street Hub’s local business outreach. She hosts educational workshops and webinars to help businesses get more word-of-mouth and referrals on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and Instagram.
She has cultivated partnerships with industry leaders such as SCORE Los Angeles, SBA, California Restaurant Association, Long Beach SBDC, and various chambers of commerce. Check out some of Emma’s upcoming events here!
Other recent posts by Emma:
3 Steps to Use Social Media to Attract New Customers to Your Salon or Spa
