A “Book Online” button for vehicle servicing available to motorists straight from Google search and Google Maps is being offered to garages through the 1link platform.
Retail Link means anyone using the ubiquitous search engine to find a garage – shown either in a listing or map – can send a booking to participating garages using technology underlying the industry standard 1link Service Network.
The process works similarly to an online restaurant reservation. The user enters their details and those of their vehicle with the garage confirming the booking and cost as soon as possible.
A refundable £10 deposit is taken to inhibit false bookings and bots while the garage online diary also shows dates when availability is low.
“We already have almost 9,000 garages using 1link Service Network and we believe Retail Link could double that over time. Not only does it provide these businesses with a much-enhanced online presence but allows out of hours booking.”
Charlie Brooks, vice president, strategy, growth and data at 1link, said: “We have been trialling Retail Link with around 100 garages and the initial level of bookings has been very encouraging. Based on our initial data we estimate that each garage could potentially see a revenue return on investment of approximately 30 times the subscription fee.
“We already have almost 9,000 garages using 1link Service Network and we believe Retail Link could double that over time. Not only does it provide these businesses with a much-enhanced online presence but allows out of hours booking.”
Key enhancements are also in process for introduction later this year to allow direct booking into the workshop diaries of half a dozen leading garage management software (GMS) systems.
“These GMS links will mean motorists can reserve their exact slot with the garage from Google in real time, providing genuine 24-7 service booking. It has the potential to be a massive advantage for the businesses taking part in terms of customer reach and workshop utilisation.”
Retail Link has been created by the 1link team in partnership with Caura, the vehicle app designed to handle all motoring costs in one place.
“Caura have also produced a guide that is available to all participating garages showing how to maximise the presence of their profile on Google. Even without that, simply having the ‘Book Online’ button means that your SEO rankings improve considerably.”
1link Service Network is used by UK fleets to process over 20,000 company car, van and truck service, maintenance and repair job sheets every day from fleets totalling 4.9 million vehicles working with almost 9,000 garages.
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