Acquisition Source: Know Where Customers Came From
Every repair shop owner has a guess about where their customers come from. Almost none has the proof.
That guess is expensive. You put up signage, run ads, pay for content — then conclude at month end that “Maps seems to bring the most” based on a handful of people who happened to say so at the counter.
Acquisition Source turns one line of small talk into data. When a new customer arrives and you open the repair or sales form, a single choice appears: how did you hear about us? The front desk picks one, and that is that.
Three things keep it from becoming a burden at the counter. First, once per customer, ever — answered means never asked again. Second, optional — there is a Declined to Answer option for customers in a hurry, and choosing it still closes the question. Third, existing customers stay blank — nobody guesses to fill an old gap.
The value only appears months later, and possibly not where you expect: not in the source that brings the most people, but in the source whose people spend the most. They are rarely the same — and knowing the difference is usually worth more than that month entire advertising budget.
Before you start
- The acquisition source list is filled. New shops already receive a default list of twelve common sources.
- Front desk staff understand the question is optional — pressing customers to answer is not the point.
Steps
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Open Settings then Contacts then Acquisition Source
A new shop receives twelve entries: Google Maps, Meta Ads, TikTok, YouTube, Friend or Family Referral, Banner or Signage, Passing By, Marketplace, WhatsApp Broadcast, Canvassing, Other, and Declined to Answer.
The default list already holds twelve common sources. -
Rename them to match how your shop talks
Every source name can be changed — the app recognises each row by an internal marker, not by its name. If your shop calls it "Junction Banner", write that; reports will use your wording.
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Ask when a new customer arrives, on the repair or sales form
The question appears on its own, and only for customers with no repair invoice and no sales invoice who have never been asked. Existing customers are never bothered with it.
The route picker sits at the foot of the customer form. -
Add a short note when the choice asks for one
Friend or Family Referral and Other ask for a single line. For a referral, write who referred them — that is what turns a referral programme into something provable rather than merely believed.
Two choices ask for a short note; the rest do not. -
Pick Declined to Answer rather than leaving it blank
Choosing Declined still fills the answer, so the question is not repeated on the next visit. Leaving it empty means that customer will be asked again later.
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Read the result in Customer Analytics, not in the customer list
What matters is not one person answer but the spread: which source brings the most people, and which brings the biggest spenders. They are rarely the same source.
This is where answers turn into advertising decisions. -
Correct a wrong answer through Edit Customer
The first answer wins, so a typo is not overwritten by the next visit. Fix it on the Edit Customer page rather than by repeating the question.
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Archive sources you no longer use instead of deleting them
A source still attached to customers cannot be deleted — and that guard is right, because deleting it would punch holes in last year reports. Archive it so it stops appearing in the choices.
What you end up with
Every new customer carries a record of where they came from, gathered without adding real work at the front desk, and readable as a spread of acquisition sources together with what those customers spend.
If something goes wrong
The question does not appear for a customer I am sure is new
It only appears for customers with no repair or sales invoice who have never been asked. If that customer was invoiced before, fill the answer through Edit Customer instead.
All my existing customers have an empty acquisition source
That is by design. Guessing sources for old customers would pollute the report with invented data. Leave them empty; the spread still reads correctly for customers arriving since the feature went live.
I tried to delete a source and it was refused
Sources still used by customers cannot be deleted. Archive it instead: the row stops appearing in the choices while older period reports stay intact.
Customers registered by a canvasser get a source automatically
That is correct and deliberate. Customers created from the canvasser app are recorded as arriving through the Canvassing route, because that is genuinely how they were found.