As Millennials get older, they become an increasingly important fixed ops customer segment to retain. A recent AutoLoop study found that currently, Millennials make up approximately 18% of all service appointments. And that number continues to steadily increase year over year. In fact, as shown in the graph below, Millennials and Generation Z continuously increase their appointment rate each year, while other generations either stayed the same or declined.

Ensuring Millennials show up

Our study also showed that Millennials have a lower show rate than other generations. However, that show rate increased considerably when they were able to book online. Other factors affected Millennial show rate as well. For instance, those driving import brands had the lowest show rate among Millennials, while domestic and luxury brands are more likely to show. Fascinatingly, these trends held true for the other generations as well, which means that Millennials take after their parents in this regard.

Online scheduling: a natural fit 

Interestingly, we found that Millennials book online more than any other generation, including their younger counterparts, Gen Z. On average, Millennials account for 25% of all appointments booked online. Their online booking rate has increased by 6.5% in the past 3 years, with no signs of slowing down. And while this trend of increased use of online schedulers can be seen among all generations, Millennials have been the quickest to adapt to the technology.

Summary

As Millennials continue to make up more and more of the auto-service customer segment, it’s essential for dealerships to adapt the experience to meet their needs and expectations. Implementing an online scheduler is a great opportunity area to ensure more Millennials choose your dealership for service.

Kate Spangler
Strategy Consultant