We have all had our Basil Fawlty moment with a car - and the best way to avoid it is to get your car serviced regularly.
This week I decided to look at car repair shops. This was mostly motivated by the fact I have to get my car fixed and I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. I think I am becoming addicted to service design and have to admit that by just looking at everyday businesses and industries I am learning a huge amount about the wasted opportunities on the web.
So, what do we expect to be able to do when we visit a car repair web site? I guess it is to ensure that we can book our car in to be repaired as soon as possible….but what about the other things you could or should be able to do? Get updates for your sat nav software, order parts, arrange a test drive of their latest model? Well, lets look at a few different examples and see what you can actually do!
Veho are the chain of car sales and service outlets that I bought my Honda from. They are are really professional outfit and I have to say that I have been really happy with the service I have received from them over the last four years. The first thing that strikes you when you arrive at their site is a large advert for a new car and a kind of matrix approach of car brands on the left, locations on the top and sections on the site below - lots and lots of potential places to click here. Do I click Honda? Do I click Espoo? Do I click Huolto (which means service in Finnish)?
I click Huolto and am then asked to confirm the brand of the car and the location I am interested in. This then displays a reservation calendar that in this case shows that there is no space available. I have to click "Next Week" to actually see where there is space. The approach is good, but would be smoother if they just took you to the page where the free slots are.
To select a slot I click it, then I am presented with form to complete to tell them when I will drop off the car, pick it up and what sort of service it is. One really good aspect here is that they have really thought about some additional services that you might want and allow you to book them at the same time. Good upselling technique here!
One rather annoying thing though - I bought my car here, and I have always taken it to them for service, but I still have to give them all my basic facts again - registration, make, model, year, KMs. One final nice touch is how they send the confirmation (by either email or SMS) and that they send you reminder a day or so before the appointment. I think this is really smart on their part - but you have to wait for the confirmation - a shame given how slick the overall experience is.
Overall the experience here is really quite good, but lacks the immediate confirmation and a few simple touches that could make it better - such as why don't they look at my record and suggest that I come in for a service when they have a free slot…I for one would do it. They could also use the SMS feature a little more, but this is a good effort.
Good: availability calendar, smooth process, SMS integration Bad: waiting for confirmation, not using my profile effectively
Lochrin Autos claim to be a "One Stop Vehicle Repair Shop" and the first thing to say is that their site is super, super slow to load. Mind you, that is not why we are looking at the sites, but it does impact on the quality of service you expect from that point forward. At first things look reasonably OK. There is a MY ACCOUNT button at the top, then the NEWSLETTER and below that in the menu ONLINE BOOKING. Once again, I really think that whoever designed the site forgot that the one and only thing you are likely to be doing here is trying to book your car for repair, so I would have had it as the the top item.
Clicking the online booking form does something rather terrible - it displays a pop-up. Dun Dun Dun!!! The online booking system is in fact just a form that you fill in and submit. On completing the form I am told "Thank you for your request. Your request is being processed and a confirmation e-mail will be sent to you within 24 hours". So once again I have no idea if I have actually booked anything…and the worst thing is that closing the pop-up does not return me to the web site.
The MY ACCOUNT button looked promising, but once again was a disappointment. It simply tells me I can track any order for tyres that I might want to make. Not really helpful when the most likely thing I go to Lochrin Autos for is to get my car serviced.
Lochrin Autos are trying to do the right things, but the execution is poor and the experience is bad. They are missing opportunities to sell more by not up-selling to me during the booking process and by not letting me see whether they have availability I might as well resort to the old-fashioned telephone.
Good: Right ideas Bad: Poor execution, use of pop-up, missed opportunity of "MY ACCOUNT"
Automobile Association, New Zealand (www.aa.co.nz) New Zealand
The AA has a long and admirable history in New Zealand. Founded in 1903, the AA has grown from a pioneering automobile club to an organisation that offers motoring advice, insurance, finance, maps and travel guides. It is regarded as the leading advocate for New Zealand motorists and their interests. One of those services is now a network of AA Auto Service and Repair Centres across New Zealand and when you arrive at the site you can click to "request a car service online" - does not sound promising at all.
The AA site is really busy and the link to the next step is actually quite small, so it required me to scroll-down and read quite a bit until I found it. One good point, however, is that they are open about their pricing on the front page and tell how much the service is going to cost - although it is connected with a fairly esoteric "Type of Service" choice, where the options range from Bronze to Platinum. Again this needs some thought, as I really do not want to have learn what each service comprises in order to selection one. A particularly poor aspect was the inability to see an availability calendar. You cannot even suggest a date - you have to select morning or afternoon, on a particular weekday in a particular month - very strange.
Once again, a missed up-sell opportunity and no information immediately available about whether I actually have a booking. Could you imagine going on the telephone and not knowing after the call had ended if you actually had booked your car in for service?
There is so much information on the AA NZ site that it is somewhat overwhelming. It might be cleaner and simpler to break the service section of their site out to a separate site that is a little less busy, or de-clutter the site. There are also a myriad of potential up-sell opportunities from joining the AA, to acquiring insurance to advanced driving courses. All of these might have been interesting to me - and with some thought, the AA could be using my booking as a way to offer me these.
Good: well presented, comprehensive set of services Bad: no availability information, lack of up-selling, no confirmation, no information on how and when I get confirmation!
Service Summary
As you can see from these three examples, there are a range of good points and bad points that we can use to help construct a better overall service concept. For me, the ideal service would:
allow me to make a service booking from the front page
let me see when the next available slots are
remember me based on, for example, my car registration number
give me immediate confirmation that the booking is complete
offer me relevant additional services (hire car, car cleaning, etc.) as I book
remind me to book a service and remind me to go there
save a history of what has been done to my car
let me pay for the service online so I do not have to wait in line to pay and to pick it up when I get there
A smart car repair shop would go further and could perhaps:
push available appointments to previous customers with a discount for booking
provide hints and tips on keeping the car in good shape before and after the service
offer test-drives connected with service days (what they loose in car rentals they might make up in sales!)
Once again, there is no perfect service here and all of these businesses are missing opportunities through poor service design. When the service starts online, it really has to be just as good as in person. If your online service is so bad it makes someone want to call, then you know you are in trouble. So, if you have a view on how these services could be better, drop me an email to [email protected] and let me know.
Mark Sorsa-Leslie Managing Director Mark thrives from great ideas and immensely enjoys spreading the word about HammerKit. He loves playing the drums and spending family time at his lake side cottage.
Veho are the chain of car sales and service outlets that I bought my Honda from. They are are really professional outfit and I have to say that I have been really happy with the service I have received from them over the last four years. The first thing that strikes you when you arrive at their site is a large advert for a new car and a kind of matrix approach of car brands on the left, locations on the top and sections on the site below - lots and lots of potential places to click here. Do I click Honda? Do I click Espoo? Do I click Huolto (which means service in Finnish)?
Lochrin Autos claim to be a "One Stop Vehicle Repair Shop" and the first thing to say is that their site is super, super slow to load. Mind you, that is not why we are looking at the sites, but it does impact on the quality of service you expect from that point forward. At first things look reasonably OK. There is a MY ACCOUNT button at the top, then the NEWSLETTER and below that in the menu ONLINE BOOKING. Once again, I really think that whoever designed the site forgot that the one and only thing you are likely to be doing here is trying to book your car for repair, so I would have had it as the the top item.
The AA has a long and admirable history in New Zealand. Founded in 1903, the AA has grown from a pioneering automobile club to an organisation that offers motoring advice, insurance, finance, maps and travel guides. It is regarded as the leading advocate for New Zealand motorists and their interests.
