Short answer:
Ensuring your borrowers have an enjoyable trip in your car will pay dividends with great reviews, repeat bookings and awesome word-of-mouth advertising for you. Creating a good customer experience is as simple as communicating clearly, working to solve problems quickly and effectively and building strong relationships with your borrowers.
Clear communication
Clear communication starts by creating an appealing but honest profile of your car. Your car’s description needs to tell them everything they need to know before they book. If there’s a quirk about your car; an errant squeak or a light that never goes off – tell borrowers about it. Matching expectations with reality is key.
To help borrowers get on the road and have a great trip without having to call you, provide all of the information they'll need in your car profile. Explain how to find your car and lockbox, and give really clear instructions about where to park the car on return.
Provide enough information to create confidence, but don’t overload. Borrowers will be busy and keen to get on the road quickly. Providing these details through the our app is a great way for Borrowers to be able to access the information when they need it.
Problem solving
One of the great things about building a car share enterprise is the potential for it to be a relatively hands-off investment - but that doesn’t mean it’s set and forget. Like any business, running a car share business requires you to meet the needs of your customers, which from time to time means problem solving.
Although you have 24/7 access to our customer service team, being accessible to your borrowers to sort out any problems quickly and easily can turn a potentially negative experience into a positive one. Respond quickly to messages and let your borrowers know you’re there to help them.
Experienced car share veteran, Steve, sets aside a small percentage of each trip to ensure he has the financial means to quickly and easily solve any problems that may arise for his Borrowers by offering a discount or a refund. This goes a long way to ensuring his borrowers have a great experience.
Build relationships
It’s common for borrowers to return to cars and owners they feel comfortable with, so your effort to build rapport with your customer will be rewarded.
Like any business, repeat customers are ideal. They’re familiar with your car and location and already know how you operate and communicate. They’re also more likely to recommend you to their networks.
Building relationships with borrowers can be as simple as welcoming them personally before their trip (you can set a welcome message for each car in the app) and sending a quick thank you message at the end of their trip.
Some owners offer discounts or incentives to repeat borrowers to encourage them to continue using their vehicles. You will need to apply a discount manually by changing your car’s prices for the borrower’s trip and then changing them back again – each trip is billed at the price that was set at the time the booking was made.
Keep your car clean and tidy
Taking the time to regularly check over your vehicles and ensuring they are clean and tidy adds to the overall experience your Borrowers have using your vehicles and keeps your reviews positive.
Borrowers are required to return the car as clean and tidy as when they picked it up, but busy cars will need an extra deep clean about once a month to keep them in top condition.
If you can't keep on top of this, consider scheduling a regular clean with a mobile cleaning service.
Added extras
Added extras such as phone charging cords and hands-free cradles, and hand sanitiser will help borrowers feel more comfortable using your car and more likely to make repeat bookings.
Over time, things that are left in your car could get broken or misplaced - so don’t leave high-value items there, and budget for the occasional replacement rather than stressing if they go missing.
Pro Owner Experience
Fleet owner Steve considers customer experience his number one priority.
“In a busy month of bookings, there could be one or two that don’t go to plan: a flat tyre, bit of rubbish, minor mechanical issue, that kind of thing,” says Steve. “Because I budget to deal with these small issues as they arise, I can sort the problem out quickly by offering a discount or refund and still give the borrower a great experience.”
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