Breaking Down a Bad Customer Experience and How to Overcome It

Dozens of customers enter your dealership every day to get their vehicle serviced. During this experience, they may be facing an array of emotions. Unfortunately, some of those may be negative due to a poor experience getting repairs done in the past or maybe they are stressed about the unknowns (how much it will cost; when will the work be done, etc.). Whatever the reason, these emotions may affect your bottom line and put your reputation in jeopardy. Let’s walk through a few scenarios that might cause frustrations to rise and how you can overcome them.

First Impressions

Steve needs the air conditioning fixed on his car and thinks your dealership is the one for the job. He wants to book an appointment, but he finds the process extremely cumbersome. To even get to your online scheduler he had to click through four different pages and close the test drive pop-up. He finally gets to input his details and schedules for Monday at 8:15 a.m. The online scheduler didn’t allow him to request a loaner or shuttle, so he had to call the dealership anyway to ask if that was an option.

Although a bit frustrated by the process, Steve feels good about his appointment.

Monday morning, Steve arrives ready to drop off his vehicle, grab his loaner, and head to work. But instead, he ends up waiting in line while the greeter figures out who his appointment is with. Then, it turned out Steve was double-booked with the advisor and he and the greeter made awkward small talk while waiting for the advisor to finish with the other appointment. To top it all, the loaner vehicle he arranged wasn’t ready. After what felt like eons (about 15 minutes) of waiting and repeating his online process, Steve is finally able to head to work.

I’m sure you can agree this wasn’t a great first impression for Steve. A poor check-in process and longer wait times are driving customers to look elsewhere for service. Among these customers, 35% will choose non-dealership service centers because of the ability to be helped right away. Don’t let check-in wait times be the reason your customer heads to that mom-and-pop shop down the road. Consider what it would be like to offer a self-led, check-in option that 90% of customers prefer while also making sure to bridge the gap between anything done online when they come into the store.

Distrust With Additional Recommendations

In a recent study, over 75% of respondents didn’t trust the dealership to be honest. What does this mean for Steve and the dealership doing his repair work? When the tech uncovers additional work that needs to be done, Steve is going to be skeptical and guarded. He likely won’t even consider the opportunity. He might even feel like he’s being taken advantage of, because of his lack of car knowledge, making him feel vulnerable.

Not to fear; you can overcome this obstacle! If you provide proof of additional repairs that need to be made, like actual photos or videos of the consumer’s vehicle, this can ease the customer’s fears and help them understand the true need. According to J.D. Power, dealerships who provide photos and videos build a higher level of trust with their customers. Providing detailed descriptions of a needed repair and the impact it could have if not fixed can also help the average Joe better understand the repair. All of these can help the customer feel more comfortable making a buying decision in the additional recommendation process.

Putting Your Reputation at Risk

While Steve was at work, his Service Advisor tried calling him multiple times to get the additional work approved but couldn’t reach him. Fast forward to 5 p.m., when Steve comes to pick up his vehicle. He receives terrible news. The part needed to fix his car isn’t in stock and won’t be available until the next day. Steve was looking forward to driving home in the summer heat with his A/C blasting. Now he’s upset, car-less, and has to make other arrangements.

Emotions are high at this point and Steve feels the need to warn others about his experience at your store. Now that he has no car to drive home, he had to have his brother pick him up from your store. During the 35-minute drive home, he rants about how awful his experience was with your dealership. Word of mouth is impactful, and if Steve shares his poor experience with others, it may turn them away from doing business with you in the future. Keeping your customers in the loop is essential for customer retention. Being able to text updates throughout the process and have an ongoing dialog is an easy way to keep your customer informed and provide transparency.

Perfecting the Customer Service Experience

Though there were some bumps in the road throughout Steve’s journey, (and there are probably similar bumps in your service process too) there are ways to prevent them from happening in the future:

• Ensure a seamless transition from online experience to in-store experience.
• Reduce wait times by ensuring accuracy with appointments and maybe even implementing self-service options.
• Utilize photos, videos, and detailed (non-jargon) descriptions to help educate during the recommendation process.
• Text your customers frequently throughout the process to keep them up to date and remain transparent.

Nothing beats a happy customer. In fact, satisfied customers are more likely to boost customer referrals and increase your CSI score with their glowing reviews. Deloitte states, “customers referred by other customers have a 37% higher retention rate.” That means your happy customers are more likely to return to you next time, and so are the people they introduced to your dealership!

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