Email Marketing for Auto Repair Businesses - a New ARI Feature

You Can Now Send Bulk Emails to Your Entire Auto Repair Client List

As of ARI V9.8+, you are now able to create email marketing campaigns that you can then send to your entire client list. The sending service will be provided by ARI so we can ensure high delivery rates. For each successfully sent email, we will subtract 1 credit from your account. Try the new functionality in ARI by clicking the Marketing icon!

Is Email Marketing Still Effective for Auto Repair Businesses?

Although not as effective as classic marketing, email marketing remains the most cost-effective way to attract new leads for your auto repair business in 2021.  On average, every dollar you spend on email campaigns converts into an estimated $42. The best part is that it takes very little time to set up and send emails, especially if you use ARI’s new Marketing function.

What Kind of Emails Should You Send?

There are several types of email campaigns every auto repair business should send to their clients in order to ensure a successful campaign.

Welcome Emails

Keep these brief and to the point. The whole idea behind a welcome email is to thank your auto repair client for sharing their emails with you. Tell them what they can expect from you in the future (eg. occasional discounts, promotions, etc.) and ask them to save your phone number in their contacts in case they need emergency services!

Connect Emails

These emails should also be kept short and to the point. The main goal is to invite your clients to bookmark your website or visit your social media. This is also a great opportunity to share with them your online booking link where they can easily book an appointment with you.

To get your online booking link, search for your business in our auto repair shops directory and then add the link to your email campaign. If you can’t find your business in our directory, then make sure you open your ARI app, navigate to Appointments, go to More, and click on Online Booking Link to find your unique link.

Promotions

Are you running any seasonal promotions for your auto repair business? Maybe you’d like to offer some discounts to particular clients? All this can be easily achieved with an email marketing campaign.

Furthermore, you can use ARI’s Coupons feature where you can create discount coupons and assign them a code. You can then attach that code to your emails. Once the client presents this code, you can insert it into the Discounts section on the Invoice page and the system will automatically apply the discount.

Email Marketing Tips for Auto Repair Shops

Although these tips apply to any type of email marketing campaign, they are specifically important when dealing with auto repair clients. In general, people don’t expect emails from their mechanic, so you need to make sure your messages aren’t too intrusive or spammy, or else they will never read them.

• Keep it simple: There is no need to write stuffy emails that noone reads. Go straight to the point and convey your message clearly and rapidly. The most successful email campaigns contain less than 100 words of text!
• Never Spam: Most email services such as Google, Yahoo, AOL use smart filters to determine if your email is SPAM or not. If they mark your content as spammy, then your email will end up in the SPAM folder or will not be delivered in the first place. To avoid this, make sure you always sign your emails and never use spammy words such as “money”, “saving”, “free”, etc.
• Always Use Your Valid Email Address: The best way to ensure the successful delivery of your email campaign is to use your company’s email address, especially if you already had a previous email exchange on that address with your clients. If you use the wrong email address, then there’s a very good chance your emails will end up in SPAM or never be delivered in the first place. Also, keep in mind that some of your clients may want to reply to your emails, so it makes sense to use an active email address.

How to Send Email Campaigns?

There are many tools out there that auto repair business owners can use to send marketing emails in bulk. Here are some of the most common ones!

• MailChimp Great for big businesses but can be quite expensive.
• SendGrid Very powerful but requires technical knowledge to set up
• ARI (Auto Repair Software) Designed specifically for Auto Repair Businesses with smooth integration and affordable prices for email marketing.

How To Send An Email Campaign With ARI

Log into the ARI app and then click the Marketing button. On this page, you will see all the email campaigns you’ve sent so far. Since this is the first time you create an email campaign, you will see no records yet. Click on the Plus button to create a new campaign and start filling out the required info

• TO: Select the list of email addresses you want to send your campaign to. The system will automatically import all your clients who already have an email address recorded. You can also Add New Records in case you want to add more emails. Once you’re ready, select the list and click the Save Changes button. You should see a message saying how many Valid Email Addresses have been selected.
• FROM: This is the email address that your clients will see when receiving your emails. It is also the address they will reply to. It is very important that you use a valid address here so that clients know who they receive emails from. The system will automatically append your email address in the From field.
• Campaign Name: This is for your reference only.
• Email Title: Make sure you use a short and engaging email title so that clients are intrigued to open up your email and read your message
• Email Body: Feel free to use the editor tools in order to format your message in a way that looks professional and up to your business standards. Remember to keep your message short and to the point. Focus on one thing only and sign your email so that clients know who’s emailing them.

Once you’re ready, click the Send Now button to start the sending process. We use ARI’s internal sending servers in order to increase delivery chances. You can also save your campaign for later.

Credits

ARI’s email Marketing is a paid feature that works on credits. Basically, you need to purchase credits in order to send your campaign. Each paid plan comes with a certain number of credits included but if you need more, you can easily buy from the app. Just click on the Remaining Credits button, select the number of credits you want to purchase, and then proceed to payment. The credits will be added automatically to your account after a successful transaction.