Online Service Appointments: Funnel Revenue to Your Fixed Ops

Online Service Appointments: Funnel Revenue to Your Fixed Ops

A mobile app can increase revenue to your Fixed-Ops with Online Service Appointments.

Speed and convenience are big winners in a crowded marketplace. Car dealerships are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to connect with their customers. As a car dealer, you will come across all kinds of people. 

Some might not even have a smartphone. However, it’s important for you to make sure that you embrace digital technology and provide services that are useful not just for your customers, but also help you grow your company.

Online service appointments are an excellent choice. Every day, many customers will bring their car to your dealership to get them serviced. 

It’s a common way of making sure that your car remains neat and clean. It’s also a big cash cow for dealerships themselves. Therefore, you will have to make sure that you provide them with a convenient method for booking their appointment.

Throw Tradition Out the Window

The older, traditional method for setting up service appointments is incredibly boring. It creates a lot of trouble and is generally very difficult to manage. You have to individually write down appointments and then manage them altogether. However, with online service appointments, things become much easier.

Adoption can be a bit difficult. You have to make sure that you get more and more people to adopt the online model, and this is going to pose quite a few challenges. There are several things that you can do to promote this business concept and get more people to start using your online appointment scheduling on your new Mobile App.

  1. Highlight the Benefits of Online Service Appointments

Instead of simply promoting, you need to really show and tell your customers the advantages. One of the main reasons why so many customers like to stay away from technology is because they simply don’t understand how it works. 

Most people are so comfortable in booking their next service appointment over the phone, so they don’t want to try anything else.

However, what these people don’t get is that online service appointments can be incredibly simple to manage. They can simplify matters to a considerable degree by providing a basic platform through which users can book their next appointment. 

The next time a user visits your dealership, show them the process and walk them through it. If they get the basics, they will easily book online.

  1. Know Where to Find Customers

If customers aren’t using social media or any other platform, you won’t be able to target them via email or other methods such as social media. Instead, you will have to take a slightly different approach to really reach out to them. It’s going to require a bit more patience, but it’s definitely going to be effective.

If you have a consistent group of recurring customers, talk to them in detail face to face and explain the features. It’s important for you to highlight the main features right off the bat because many people might not stick around for the full lecture.

This might be your only opportunity, so it’s important that you market it as a really big thing.

If a customer likes what you have to say, they will show more interest, and this is your opportunity to grab their attention. Once you do, it shouldn’t be difficult to highlight the benefits.

  1. Start with the Tech-Savvy

Tech savvy people are generally quite willing to adopt new platforms and simpler ways of doing business. If you have a platform for service appointments, they won’t really mind jumping on to it. It’s so much easier for you to focus on these people in the beginning.

For instance, start by offering a discount to customers who book online. Almost immediately, you will notice an increase in the number of people who jump on the platform. It’s important that you entice your customers by offering them something of value. Once you are able to hook them in, you can then offer recurring bonuses or create a loyalty program of sorts.

  1. Build a Relationship

Dealerships are known for their service standards. If you don’t create one, it’s going to be virtually impossible for you to have them stick around for a longer period of time. By offering an online chat option and giving them a platform where they can connect with you, it’s a great way to establish a rapport.

That’s not all; you will also need to make sure that you show up at the time of their appointments.

  1. Build Partnerships

Finally, you can also offer additional promotions by partnering with other businesses. This is another excellent way to improve your adoption rate quickly. It will immediately increase the number of service appointments dramatically.

 

If you want, you can schedule a demo of our mobile app service that is focused on car dealerships, and will help you get more customers through online bookings!

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How Much Does It Cost to Make an App? The Expensive Way vs the Practical Way

How Much Does It Cost to Make an App? The Expensive Way vs the Practical Way

How much does it cost to make an app? This is such an open-ended question that finding the right answer is often difficult.

A simple bare-bones mobile app can cost you less than a thousand dollars, but the more features that you integrate into the app, the more it’s going to cost you eventually. Having a mobile app is critical to the growth of your business. With revenues going up in billions for mobile apps, it’s easy to understand just how much potential there is for businesses that want to grow by building their own mobile app.

While many developers will claim to make an app for you at a lower fee, you should know that it’s going to be severely lacking on features as well. After all, you will only get your money’s worth. But, in general, how much does it cost to make an app? In the following paragraphs, we will break down the costs associated with building a mobile app into separate phases.

How Much Does It Cost to Make an App? Breaking Down the Elements

There are three major elements that you need to focus on: app development, design, and startup costs. The average cost of an app ranges between $80k and can go as high as $250k depending on the type of features you want to integrate.

The first stage is app development, in which the front end and back end of the app will be developed. Extensive testing will have to be carried out to iron out the creases and make sure that all of the included features are working properly.

Once that is done, the app will move into the design phase, where the visual design of the app will be configured. This includes working on the UX and the UI of the app, along with the design, logos, and other features. Copywriting services will be required as well to create the app’s content.

Once that is done, the next step is the startup costs. Marketing the app is going to be critically important. Without adoption, it’s going to be virtually impossible for the app to sustain itself. As a result, a significant amount of the budget is going to be set apart for marketing.

Then, there’s support. Problems with the app will need to be catered to, so appropriate support will be provided. An office will be set up to hire staff who will run the office and manage issues.

Now, how much does it cost to make an app? Here’s a brief summary:

  • Simple apps can cost a maximum of $80,000
  • Basic database apps can cost as much as $150,000
  • Apps with advanced features can cost as much as $250,000
  • Gaming apps can cost even more than that depending on the quality

However, there are other things to understand as well. App development is usually an ongoing process. Once the app has been built, it’s going to be refined and reworked over and over again, and all of this is going to require money. For instance, car dealers are going to need an app that allows them to show off their inventory easily.

Requirements for Car Dealers

There are several key features that you are going to want to include in your app for car dealers. You need to start by figuring out the number of platforms on which you are going to make the app available, and then determine the complexity of the app itself. Certain design elements are also going to play a role in the overall build.

Now, let’s take a look at these requirements separately for car dealers.

Platform Requirements

You can either create a native app for iOS or Android, or you can create a cross-platform app that is available on both platforms. As a car dealer, you need to understand that both iOS and Android are incredibly popular platforms. To allow more potential customers to view your inventory and access the app, you need to make sure that you develop apps for both of these platforms.

Cross platform apps are slightly more expensive, but they are definitely worth the money. You are going to have to pay a bit more, but it will also allow you to access a greater number of customers.

How Much Does It Cost to Make an App? The Expensive Way vs the Practical Way
How Much Does It Cost to Make an App? The Expensive Way vs the Practical Way

Design

How do you want the car dealer app to look? There are a few design elements that you need to include. For starters, the car dealer app should have an aesthetically appealing design. The look and feel should be in line with the aesthetic at your dealership for creating brand consistency.

That’s not all; you will also need to work on the user experience to make it as seamless as possible. Essentially, you have to understand that you will be listing plenty of cars on the platform. It’s important to allow for fluid navigation and lots of high-res pictures so that people can check and make a booking easily. They should also have an option to set up an appointment.

Complexity

This is a slightly confusing part, but one that plays an important role. You might need to add integration for accepting payments online as well, especially if you are going to offer in-app purchases to your customers. Obviously, as a car dealer, this is a fantastic feature to add, but you may have to spend more money.

That’s why it’s important for you to evaluate whether such a feature is necessary or not, especially considering your target market. Most people will want to visit before they decide to buy a car.

If you want to avoid going through the traditional way, you should consider getting in touch with DealerApp Vantage. Our mobile app platform that allows you to build an app tailored for car dealers within minutes, without having to pay over the top. It’s a fantastic option for people who quickly want to build and launch an app to separate themselves from the competition.

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