Your website is often the first line of communication between you and a potential customer. Making sure your website is effective and easy to navigate can determine whether a customer chooses you over a competitor.
FenderBender spoke with marketing professional Danielle Wallace from Danielle Branding LLC to find out what unique elements you should include to ensure your collision repair website is effective and how to avoid a cluttered mess.
When designing your website, there are two things that every page should have. The first is an up-to-date list of your hours. The next is a clear link to schedule an appointment. Without these elements, your website is practically useless.
“In reality, [your website] only needs to provide a place for people to learn about your shop and schedule an appointment,” says Wallace.
While these basic features may be most important, adding in additional information can help show how your shop is unique.
Build Trust
Taking the time to include photos of your business can help increase the legitimacy of your business. Getting an inside look at the shop they have chosen can help reassure customers and remove any concern they may have on their way to the shop.
Photos of employees can help begin to build trust and put a face to a name should they have to contact the shop for any issues. This gives you the opportunity to present your shop and staff in the best light and establish trust before the customer even steps in the front door.
Another trust-building element is your shop’s rating on Google. Wallace surveyed her staff and they agreed that having positive Google reviews heavily impacts where they decide to service their vehicles.
“Testimonials provide social proof that real people had a good experience at this shop,” says Wallace. “People like these people can relate with that.”
Listing awards or special certifications can also help your shop stand out from competitors and reassure potential customers that you provide service they can trust.
Prepare Your Customers
Taking the time to let your customer know what to expect before they arrive can help ease nerves that may come with visiting a shop for the first time.
“A lot of people are afraid to look stupid when they take their vehicle in for service because it's unfamiliar territory,” says Wallace.
Help make your shop feel accessible by providing detailed instructions for how and where they should drop off their vehicle. Another source of uncertainty comes with repair cost.
Adding a feature for customers to send in images of their vehicle or describe what repair is needed and receive a generic estimate lets them know what cost to expect and gives them the ability to price shop to find the best shop for their budget.
Keep it Clean
Adding detailed information can help legitimize your shop and build customer trust, but it’s important to know how much is too much. Checking in throughout the year to make sure your information is concise and up-to-date helps prevent information overload and highlight what’s most important.
“What's most important is that the website should be very clean and clear language and very easy to navigate,” says Wallace. “I think a big thing is if the website is not clean, if there's too much information, people don't know what the directive is or where they're supposed to go.”
Organizing your information helps clean up your homepage and direct customers to your appointment scheduler, getting more customers in your shop.
“Take a look at all the information that you want to include and create a hierarchy for that information of what's the most important,” says Wallace. “Not everything is going to make it to the homepage. Have your call to action front and center. Those two things are really important.”
Final Takeaway
Whether you are redesigning an old website or starting one for the first time, having it be well-organized is crucial. Update your website frequently to make sure you are providing accurate information to your customers. Listing any promotions you may be running and making sure you have up-to-date hours and photos helps present your shop in the best way possible. Your website is your virtual storefront, so make sure it’s something you can be proud of. You could be one click away from finding your next customer.
