Why are my auto shop's Google ads not bringing in jobs?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
An auto shop's Google ads fail to bring in jobs for one of three reasons: the ads show for searches the shop doesn't serve, the page they land on doesn't make calling easy, or the calls and forms the ads produce go unanswered. Check the phone first. It is the leak owners look at last.
Where do the ads go wrong?
The search terms are the first place to look. An ad for brake repair can show to someone looking for brake parts, a dealership recall, or a shop two towns over. Each click costs you, and none of them was ever going to book.
The second is the page. If the ad promises a same-week alignment and the click lands on a home page about the shop's history, the driver has to hunt for the phone number. Plenty of them will not bother.
How do you tell whether the phone is the problem?
Compare the calls the ads produced with the calls somebody answered. Your phone bill or call log shows calls by time of day. Line it up against when the counter was slammed, when the shop was closed, and lunch.
- Calls during the morning drop-off rush, when the advisor is writing tickets.
- Calls at lunch and after closing, when drivers are free and the shop is not.
- Calls on Saturday, if you run ads all week and open five days.
- Web forms that sat until the next morning.
What should you fix first?
Fix them from the bottom up. Get every call answered and every form replied to quickly, then send each ad to a page about that one service, then cut the searches that were never yours. Fixing the ads first only sends more drivers to the same unanswered phone.
How does Margin handle ads and the phone together?
Margin runs both halves. The ads are built and run for you on Google, then Facebook and Instagram, in an account you own, each with its own booking page. Mia, the AI receptionist, answers the calls they produce, every call or only the ones your counter misses, and books the car in.
Bookings land on the portal calendar and your office is told. Missed callers are texted back within a minute once carriers approve your texting number. If you already have an agency you like, Margin can do only the answering side.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Ads on Facebook and Instagram, in an account you own
- Mia, the AI receptionist, on every call
- Missed calls texted back within a minute
- Booking onto your calendar
- Your portal: every call, text and booking
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for auto shopsSee the portal with a sample business
Related questions
Are Google ads worth it for an auto repair shop?
They can be, when the auto repair shop answers what they produce. Do the sum with your own numbers: what you spend, how many calls came from the ads, how many booked, and what a new customer is worth over the years they stay.
How do I know if my ad agency is doing a good job for my auto shop?
Ask to see what the ads produced in booked jobs, not clicks or impressions. A fair report for an auto shop shows calls, how many were answered, how many booked, and what each booked job cost in ad spend.
Should auto shop ads send people to a phone number or a form?
Give drivers both. Someone with a car that won't start wants to call an auto shop now, and someone at work would rather book or send a note. Whichever they pick, the reply has to come quickly.