Express service key to customer loyalty
Filipino car owners have become more time-sensitive and offering express maintenance services has boosted customer satisfaction and loyalty amid declining vehicle sales, marketing information services firm J.D. Power said.
Results of the 2018 Philippines Customer Service Index (CSI) study showed that more customers had been offered express service year on year, to 55 percent from 17 percent previously and that overall satisfaction was significantly higher (820 versus 793 on a 1,000-point scale) for those who chose the express option.
“Given the decline in new vehicle sales this year, dealerships have been trying to maximize their service revenue and improve capacity utilization,” J.D. Power country manager Sigfred Doloroso said in a statement.
“The retention of existing customers through systematic service reminders, notifications for due service, faster service turnaround and improved customer experience is the key to business viability,” he added.
For the second year in a row, the J.D. Power survey found Honda to be the top-ranked automotive brand, scoring 823 in the 1,000-point scale and described as “among the best.”
Of the five factors comprising overall satisfaction, Honda was said to have scored high in terms of service initiation, service advisor and service facility. The two other factors are service quality and vehicle pickup.
Nissan was second (822 and also “among the best”), followed by Mitsubishi (816, “better than most”), Toyota (814, “about average”) and Isuzu, (812, also “about average”).
The industry average score was 812 and falling below this were Ford (810, “about average), Suzuki (806, “about average”), Chevrolet (805, “about average”), Kia (802, “the rest”) and Hyundai (787, “the rest”).
More customers were making service appointments, the survey found, with their number rising to 82 percent from 47 percent last year. Dealerships were also more active in notifying clients about service schedules as 87 percent of customers reported receiving such this year from 66 percent in 2017.
Other key findings from the survey, which polled 2,455 new-vehicle owners who purchased a car between
February 2015 and May 2017 and took their vehicle for service to an authorized dealer or service center between August 2017 and May 2018, were the following:
• Customers prefer transparency on work carried out on the vehicle (the number who had the chance to observe rose to 32% from 15 percent).
• Engagement builds trust as speaking with a mechanic made a customer more likely to agree to additional work recommended by a service advisor.
• Young owners want more control and transparency, with customers 29 years and younger more apt with using digital channels to schedule service appointments and more likely to speak with technicians.
FROM A REPORT BY ANNA LEAH GONZALES
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