When a shop sends a service reminder, the next step may seem fairly straightforward. The customer receives it, decides whether to act and hopefully schedules an appointment.
In practice, those messages often create questions. Can I come in Saturday? What did you recommend at my last visit? For many customers, the easiest way to ask is the same way the reminder arrived: by text.
That matters because customer communication is changing. Texting is no longer simply another way for businesses to push information out. Customers increasingly expect it to give them a way to respond too.
Comfortable Communicating by Text
Texting already has a strong place in the automotive service experience. J.D. Power's 2025 U.S. Aftermarket Service Index Study found that 56% of oil change and tire customers prefer text updates. The same pattern shows up in satisfaction scores. Customers who get updates by text score 34 points higher than the study average.1
A separate 2026 survey asked consumers why they opt in to business texts in the first place. Appointment and reservation reminders topped the list, cited by 76% of respondents.3 That's exactly the kind of message a service shop sends.
The preference makes sense. Text messages are easy to see, and they're already part of how people communicate throughout the day.
But convenience is only part of the story. A 2026 consumer survey found that 64% of consumers want the ability to text a business back. When they have a question or need customer support, 33% prefer texting. That beats email (28%), website live chat (21%) and a phone call (18%).2
For auto service shops, that creates an opportunity to think differently about what happens after a message is sent. A maintenance reminder may prompt a question before the customer is ready to schedule. A customer who's gone quiet for a few months may be more willing to text back than call.
What a Click Can't Tell You
Clicks, appointments and return visits are all valuable measures of customer behavior. But a response can add context those metrics sometimes miss.
A customer might say the timing is wrong, that they've moved or that they no longer own the vehicle. Someone else might want more information before scheduling, or simply have forgotten what was recommended at their last visit.
Those responses help the shop understand what's happening behind the behavior. They also make the next interaction more useful. The shop now knows something it wouldn't have known if the conversation had ended with the first message. It's another source of customer insight.
Shops spend a great deal of time trying to understand why customers return, wait or disappear altogether. Not every answer will come through a text conversation. But giving customers a simple way to respond can fill in some of those gaps. Campaign reports alone don't always explain everything.
More Touches Aren't Better Communication
Marketing reports naturally track activity: messages sent, campaigns completed, customer touchpoints. But the danger comes when activity becomes the measure of success.
A customer who receives six messages isn't necessarily more engaged than one who receives three. What matters is whether those communications are useful enough to prompt a response, and whether customers keep welcoming them.
A 2026 survey offers a useful reminder. When consumers were asked why they unsubscribe from business texts, 55% said being texted too frequently was the top reason.2
For shops, unsubscribe rates deserve the same attention as response rates, clicks and appointments. They're feedback too. If opt-outs begin to climb, the issue may be frequency, relevance or the type of content being sent. The total number of touches still provides useful context. But whether customers feel good about them shows up in engagement, not volume.
Sending more is easy. Understanding which communications customers value takes more thought.
Two-Way Communication Needs a Plan
Customers tend to notice texts quickly. One 2026 survey found that 74% of consumers check text notifications within five minutes.2 That immediacy is part of why texting works so well, but it also raises expectations.
If customers can respond, the shop needs a plan for who answers and where those messages land. It also needs to know when a conversation should move to a phone call. A question about Saturday hours may take seconds to answer over text. A complicated service question may be better handled by an advisor on the phone.
The goal isn't turning every text into an extended conversation. It's making it easy for customers to get an answer without forcing them into another channel.
Pay Attention to What Comes Back
The right measure of engagement depends on what a message was intended to accomplish. An appointment reminder serves a different purpose than a maintenance recommendation. So does a message meant to reconnect with a customer who hasn't visited in months.
That's why reporting should look beyond how many communications went out. Did customers respond, click or schedule? Are they still engaging over time, or opting out?
Taken together, those signals show whether the shop's communication is helping the relationship, or just adding noise to the inbox.
For years, customer communication strategy has focused on reaching people with the right message at the right time. That's still important. But the next step is giving customers an equally easy way to respond when they have something to say.
The shop may start the conversation. What comes back can be just as valuable as what was sent.
Footnotes
1. J.D. Power, 2025 U.S. Aftermarket Service Index (ASI) Study, April 29, 2025.
2. SimpleTexting, SMS Marketing Report: New Business Texting Statistics for 2026, May 26, 2026. Survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers and 400 U.S. business owners and digital marketing managers conducted January 7–28, 2026.
3. SimpleTexting, SMS Marketing Statistics 2026: Consumer & Business Trends, 2026.