CLEARWATER, FL – January 3, 2016– AutoLoop LLC, the leading provider of auto industry marketing and customer relationship management solutions that successfully drive the Sell, Service, Repeat cycle, today announced that Nissan of Chesapeake, the largest volume Nissan dealership on the East Coast, has grown its service business by 66 percent. This growth occurred after the dealership switched from a pen and paper system to AutoLoop Book™, a 24/7 online customer scheduling system; and SmartLane™, a robust, wireless check-in and walk-around tool.

According to Brian Doctor, Nissan of Chesapeake Owner Loyalty Manager, the dealership was looking for new programs to help grow parts and service business and came across AutoLoop’s service lane solutions.

“Previously, the service lane was run with a clipboard and pen and paper. In 2014, we switched to a tablet-based system with AutoLoop, and using our Wi-Fi, it works like a breeze. Now the check-in process for the customer is very easy. Upon arrival, all their information populates in the tablet for the advisor to view. It gives our customers a ‘wow’ factor,” said Doctor.

“The Service Advisor knows who the customer is, what was done on the previous visit, any declined recommendations, the OEM recommended service and any notes the customer mentioned when scheduling the appointment. We are able to better balance the work in our service bays as we know in advance how many appointments we have and can perhaps get a tech to come in on their day off, which allows us to book eight more appointments a week in advance. This is why our service business has increased by about 2/3 over the past year,” Doctor added.

The process starts when the customer schedules an appointment. With Book, customers can schedule online, view OEM recommendations, see historical service records, review maintenance reminders and respond to special dealer offerings. Good/Better/Best menus and any special recommendations are built into the program.

When the customer pulls in for service, SmartLane enables the service team to quickly look up customer information and make any needed notes. It immediately links to the vehicle’s service history and notifies the advisor of which recommended services were recently performed, as well as which were declined.

According to Doctor, the system provides the information the Service Advisors need, right at their fingertips. “We are a very high-volume Service Department and can have long customer lines, so this system is wonderful for us. Now, everything is done right and we can see it all at a glance. No more waiting, no more clipboards, no more being tied to a computer. When you have all the information the customer is put at ease. They know up front how long it will take and how much it will cost so we can better manage their expectations,” said Doctor.

The platform also takes advantage of iPad technology, including the ability to scan in a VIN, take a photo of a damaged area and even get an electronic signature from the customer. When the technician is done with the inspection, the recommendations are immediately entered into the system and the advisor can text or email them to the customer right from their tablet or desktop computer. “No more phone tag, it is so easy,” Doctor commented.

When the customer leaves the dealership, the platform’s full integration with AutoLoop Essentials^™ advanced marketing platform ensures continued customer engagement with messages such as appointment reminders and overdue service notifications. The platform also follows up missed appointments by email and/or voice communications.

Over 30 automated messages can be preset to customers—each tailored to be relevant and timely. Text and voice options can be set for personalized messages, reminders, holiday announcements, relevant couponing, and OEM-recommended support services. More than 2,500 templates of highly- tested, relevant and brand-specific communications are provided to entice customers to action. Each template features design elements which can be tailored or completely customized as needed.

“Essentials is a great marketing platform that we use to stay in touch with our customers and keep them engaged. One of our most successful marketing campaigns is service appointment reminders, which have generated an additional $134,896 in service profit since the beginning of the year,” said Doctor. “Scheduled maintenance is another one which has produced $91,281 in additional revenue since the start of the year. And a fun one we send is a message to the customer on their vehicle anniversary. This has added over $67,000 in Service Department revenue since January. The platform makes it really easy as the customer simply opens the email and clicks right on a link to make an appointment, which goes right into the Book system.”

Technology is important to the dealership as it works hard to provide an exceptional customer experience and constantly upgrades so as to better service customers.

“AutoLoop recently helped us incorporate Apple Pay and Google Wallet so customers can use their phone to pay at check out – they are blown away and currently approximately 25 percent of our customers choose this option. The whole process from beginning to end is designed to provide an exceptional experience and engage the customer. If you want your service business to run smoothly and wish to see huge growth in customer pay, warranty work and retention, you need this application,” Doctor commented.

To learn more about how to optimize the Sell, Service, Repeat cycle though AutoLoop’s full customer engagement suite, call 877-850-2010 or visit AutoLoop.com.

About AutoLoop:
Since 2005, AutoLoop has helped automotive dealerships nationwide increase sales, improve client retention and achieve overall higher customer satisfaction ratings throughout the Sell, Service, Repeat cycle. With the AutoLoop Customer Engagement Suite—an all-encompassing platform that includes everything from CRM and automated messaging to equity mining, service scheduling and more—AutoLoop is the industry’s first and only single-vendor, end-to-end marketing and engagement solution. An Inc. 500 company with nearly 50 million names in its database and over a billion individual communications initiated, AutoLoop is passionate about being America’s best customer retention partner for progressive dealerships.