Car owners have a lot of options when getting their vehicles washed and cleaned. They can do their cleaning themselves. If they don’t have the time or energy to do that, they can drive their auto to the nearest car wash.
If you’re running a small car wash business, you’ll need to up your game to attract customers. Some car wash facilities, for instance, use high-quality tools and equipment, such as a water containment mat for car wash and mobile detailing, spinning brushes and high-pressure water jets, to thoroughly clean a vehicle and come out of the wash looking like new.
If you don’t have the money to buy state-of-the-art car washing equipment, don’t fret. You can attract customers to your car cleaning business without breaking the bank.
Here are a few easy and actionable tips that entice clients to have their car or vehicle cleaned at your service center:
- Engage in Cross-Promotion
Get excellent promotional exposure for your car wash business by partnering with other businesses and organizations.
You could, for instance, collaborate with the diner in your local area or a well-known car dealership in your neighborhood. When someone purchases a vehicle from that dealership, for instance, you could offer that prospective customer a free car wash or detailing for a limited period.
- Offer Freebies and Discounts
On top of cross-promotions, make sure that you offer freebies to existing customers driving to your car wash business. Offering fantastic deals to your customers will make them loyal to your business.
They’re also likely to spread the word about your car wash center. After all, who doesn’t want a discount or a free product?
When offering a freebie or a discount, make sure that you tie this to a specific service. If a customer wants to take advantage of your optional interior car cleaning service, for example, you could offer a 10 percent discount or a free microfiber cloth the next time they arrange an appointment with you.
- Stay Open Late
Some car owners don’t have the time to drive their vehicles for washing and cleaning on weekends. They may, however, have time to bring their auto after working hours.
As a car wash business owner, you’ll want to cater to these consumers. This means extending your hours of operation to satisfy the needs of your customer base.
If you have a fully automated car wash, you could probably stay open 24 hours a day without any issues. If your business, however, is run by attendants, think about your demographic and find out the ideal business hours that will meet customer needs.
- Encourage Customers to Refer Your Car Wash Business Their Family or Friends
Word-of-mouth advertising is effective at attracting more customers to your car wash business. Individuals tend to put more faith in reviews that come from those they trust and know instead of corporate entities looking to sell their services and products.
So leverage word-of-mouth marketing by encouraging your loyal customers to refer your car wash and cleaning services to friends, family members and colleagues at work. You could make this worth their while by providing incentives for their referrals.
- Introduce a Prepaid Car Wash Program
This program does two things: it helps you establish long-term, loyal customers, as well as boost your revenue quickly upfront.
Provide prepaid programs to your car wash each time they come to your wash. You can use these programs to drive customers to your wash quickly if you have workers selling them business-to-business or door-to-door in the area.
You don’t have to incur a large start-up cost just to implement a prepaid car wash program. You could offer coupon books, punch cards or peel-off coupon cards. Choose whatever works for your car wash business.
- Launch a Digital Loyalty Program
A good alternative to the prepaid car wash program is the digital loyalty program. A lot of people use a smartphone these days. You can use technology to your advantage by offering a loyalty program that customers can access using their mobile phones. You can offer digital stamp cards to attract new customers with promotions, discounts, freebies and special offers. What’s more, you can offer the same cards to benefit existing customers.
- Encourage Customers to Post Online Reviews About Your Car Wash Business
Prospective car wash customers will look for reviews on the web before choosing where to spend their hard-earned dollars. As a car wash owner, you can attract some of them if you have glowing online reviews about your business.
Encourage your existing or loyal customers to post honest reviews about your car wash services. You could reward these customers with a discount on their next wash. These seven suggestions will help you draw more customers to your car wash. Give these tips a shot to rev up your revenue.
