Written for automotive service businesses. Part II of a Multi-Part series.
Openbay is a subscription service platform and an online marketplace that should be part of your daily business operation. Openbay focuses on delivering a frictionless and pain free end-to-end experience for drivers seeking automotive repair and service. Your business should be on the delivery side of this experience.
Part 2 focuses on the Openbay marketplace
In Part I of this Multi-Part series, we discussed two important tools for your customer acquisition toolbox: Openbay Profile and Openbay Service Advisor. Two must have tools. In Part II, we will discuss another important, must-have tool: Access to the Openbay marketplace.
There is a tool for every job and every business goal
When automotive service centers advertise their business, they are focused on a clear goal: drive more customers to their place of business in the most cost effective way. Period. Campaigns are designed to create awareness and engage consumers with a hook to take action. When designing customer acquisition campaigns its important to understand the journey of the consumer when selecting a business to perform a service on their vehicle.
When you think through the series of events that need to occur to get a consumer through your door and their vehicle into your garage bay, it can be challenging. Your business needs to be well positioned across many different online channels to create awareness, have the right message or hook to engage the consumer. And that is just the starting point. Next is to be well positioned and capable of touching the consumer at every point along the customer journey to help in their decision making process.
Openbay marketplace is another “tool” for consumers to connect with your business
The Openbay marketplace is a 2-sided platform where consumers go to connect with automotive service professionals. Once your business is approved, you will gain access to a platform that has a steady stream of consumers in need of service. The platform focuses on mechanical repair, not collision or auto body services. It is capable of handling any service from oil changes, routine maintenance and check engine light diagnosis to more complex repairs such as drivetrain, engine and transmission.
How the Openbay marketplace works. 
Similar to the customer journey, customers describe their service needs or the problem they are experiencing. Selecting a service can be accomplished by searching for a service (see image right, top) or picking the category of service and then drilling down into all the available menu items.
Once a service is selected and submitted to the platform, Openbay automatically generates and delivers a service quote to the customer on behalf of your business. And it does this around the clock. The platform does not require any manual intervention on behalf of your business during the consumer’s decision making process unless they have a question about your business or the service quote that was generated. Openbay may be in a position to answer their question on your behalf too.
Openbay generates its service quotes based on a Service Writer algorithm developed internal to Openbay. It leverages your business model margins for aftermarket and OE automotive parts, your labor rate, and several other “variables”. From there it generates all your service pricing automatically. Of course you’re able to test it and fine tune the service quotes getting delivered to prospective customers.
Ultimately, the customer selects the service center that best meets their needs. Based on internal data, this typically is based on the consumer’s proximity to the shop. For more than 70% of the transactions on the Openbay platform, the customer did not select the lowest price. Once the customer selects the business, they book their appointment and get their vehicle serviced. All the payment processing is handled by Openbay.
Yet another tool for your customer acquisition toolbox.
Learn more about the Openbay marketplace by applying to become a member of Openbay today. Speak to a Openbay representative:
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