According to the results from a recent poll from Harris Interactive, US adult Internet users are now going online for an average of 13 hours a week. Some of these hours are being used for searching for local business information. These individuals have grown up in the Internet age and they rarely consider traditional offline resources for finding resources in their local area that could fulfill their needs.

A research conducted by WebVisible and Nielsen also shows that consumers are increasingly relying on the Internet for local business information. According to the research, 63% of consumers turn to the Internet first for information about local companies. 78% of the sample said today, they use Internet more to find local business compared to 2 years ago. On the contrary, 52% of the same individuals said they use telephone directories less for finding local business information. 86% said the Internet was vital to their lifestyle. Among this group, 90% had used the Internet to search for a local business from which to shop. Furthermore, 25% of consumers use the Internet to find a local business once or more per week. Interestingly, only 44% of small businesses have a website and half of them spend less than 10% of their marketing budget online.

The Internet is also becoming more important for auto repair business. In 2006 and 2008, WebVisible asked consumers their experience using the Internet for finding local services. Per the 2008 survey, 33% of the respondents said they used the Internet for searching for automotive services, an increase of 1% from the 2006 number.

One aspect of the Internet that needs to be carefully taken into account by auto repair businesses is its role in facilitating word of mouth marketing, the most important marketing for this business (read Word of Mouth Marketing in Auto Repair Business). Currently, there are many websites that allow consumers to review and rate local businesses and share their experiences in real time. These ratings and reviews are non-traditional form of word of mouth marketing and sometimes can be more powerful and effective than the traditional one. According to WebVisible and Nielsen, 60% of 18-24 year olds and 80% of 34-64 year olds read online consumer reviews. From 2008 to 2009, usage of consumer ratings and reviews increased to 27% (+5) among general Internet users. Furthermore, 53% of people who use social networking sites for local business information use consumer ratings and reviews and they rely on them for almost 57% of their business selection process.

Due to the importance of the Internet for consumers for finding local businesses and selecting a company to do business with, repair shop owners/managers should seriously consider it as a component of their marketing strategy. With the growing use of social networking, local business review, online market place, and automotive focused websites, more and more consumers will go to the Internet first to find local businesses, including trusted, qualified repair shops. Due to their wide availability and reach, online consumer reviews and ratings will become very important, even more important than offline word of mouth marketing. Building a good reputation in the Internet is not something that can be done overnight, the sooner repair shop owners/managers start their online marketing is the better.

AutoSally can help repair shop owners/managers to start building their online presence in the Internet. Using AutoSally, repair shop owners/managers can:

1. Create an online profile for their shop and highlight their shop’s credentials
2. Upload and distribute their coupons
3. Provide an easier way for their happy customers to recommend their shop and share their coupons online

All of these features are available for free for repair shop owners/managers. In addition, by providing high quality services to customers they get from AutoSally, repair shop owners/managers will be able to build their shop’s reputation online.

Click here to visit AutoSally.

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