How to Win Over Female Customers to Your Auto Repair Shop

About 1.4 million women carry driver’s licenses, and 45% of new car purchases were by women. Perhaps most notable: on average, women tend to keep their cars significantly longer than men. As a result, their cars usually require more maintenance over time.

Therefore, it only makes sense for auto repair shops to gain female customers. Unfortunately, the auto repair industry has a reputation for being a men’s club, frequently excluding women and leaving them feeling lost. Fortunately, there are a few ways to turn your auto shop into a place where both men and women feel welcome.

Foster a female-friendly culture and space

Many women appreciate seeing friendly faces and a warm, welcoming reception area. Have your team create a sense of mutual respect by striving for excellent customer service, reliability, and safety. Invite women to learn more about their cars. Take the time to answer their questions and showing them what needs to be done with their cars. By creating friendly relationships with female customers, this shows that you can be a reliable, trustworthy business.

Your auto repair shop should be a clean environment: create a family-friendly area for children; arrange your reception room with comfortable chairs, tables, coffee, and snacks; set up reliable WiFi; clean your bathrooms; and put out a diverse number of magazines and newspapers. The service area should also be orderly and organized. Your auto shop does not need to be spa-like, but it would be great for women to be able to relax in pleasant surroundings and know their car needs are cared for while waiting for their cars.

Be active in social media

Women also like to find out more information about local businesses by going online. Indeed, more women use social media and the Internet in general than men. According to the Pew Research Center, 75% of Facebook users and 43% of Instagram users are women. Women also spend more time going online on their phones compared to men. Auto repair shops can make themselves more visible to women by engaging with them through social media and the local community.

It’s important to first develop a social media strategy for your auto repair shop. Devote time and planning into executing your social media strategy. You should first start on one social media platform such as Facebook to become more comfortable. Later on, see if going on other social media platforms like Instagram or YouTube would be appropriate. There are a number of ways you can engage with your customers online. You can create videos, feature star staff members, and promote offers on your chosen social media platform. You should also learn how to manage online reviews.

After you complete your repair services with customers, you can ask them to leave reviews on Facebook and Yelp, especially when they seem satisfied with your customer service and know-how. Glowing reviews from happy customers are great at attracting more customers. If a customer was not satisfied with your services and leaves a negative review, be able to apologize and offer to fix any issues. Women tend to be more vocal when it comes to posting online, so take care of your auto repair’s online presence.

Get involved in your local community

Women are much more likely to refer others businesses.Positive referrals and word-of-mouth reviews are ideal for gaining businesses. Another way to gain visibility among potential female customers is by community involvement. Join your local chamber of commerce. Attend local business seminars; talk with local car dealerships; and meet other business leaders at networking events. Be open to almost anything that gets people to talk about you and your auto repair shop. You can even offer promotions such as a free oil change or an introductory offer for new customers at these events.

Support local organizations that help girls and women such as your local Girl Scout troop or Women’s Club by offering sponsorships of their events and conducting workshops on car maintenance and how cars work. On your social media platforms, showcase your auto repair shop’s support by posting videos and pictures of their events. Your support of women’s groups and organizations sends a strong message to your community. Community involvement offer chances to gain a greater, more positive visibility in your community that can entice more potential customers.

Creating methods to have more women come into your shop can pay off in consistent customer loyalty, good online and word-of-mouth reviews, and a positive relationship with your local community. The added bonus to making your auto shop more engaging to women is that you will also reach and retain male customers at the same time.