In today’s AMN Executive Interview, we hear from John Boyer and Brandon Kight of Airtex, following the recent launch of the brand’s new FuelPumpU.com online training portal. John Boyer (JB) has been with Airtex Fuel Delivery Systems for seven years, and currently serves as the vice president of sales and marketing. He oversees all sales and marketing functions at Airtex as well as product development and cataloging. Boyer has more than 25 years experience in the automotive industry, in the traditional, retail and dealer channels. Brandon Kight’s (BK) automotive aftermarket career started in 2007 with AFCO Racing Products and Dynatech Headers, where he served four years in the roles of art director and marketing director. In August of 2011, he was appointed to the position of director of marketing for Airtex Fuel Delivery Systems, where he focuses on overall brand management and content marketing strategy/management for the company.
Airtex has always been extremely proactive in its approach to technical training for customers, with tech lines, training videos and in-person training. We understand you have just taken that up a notch. Tell us about the new FuelPumpU.com.
JB: First off, I’d like to start by saying how excited everyone here at Airtex Fuel Delivery Systems is about FuelPumpU.com and the amount of technical information we’ve been able to pack into the site. Counter people, technicians and do-it-yourselfers now have a one-stop shop to learn about “everything” fuel pump related. The site provides the latest advances in diagnostic and procedural information and technical support for fuel pump replacement and is the only site of its kind for the category.
BK: Fuel Pump U offers on-demand educational assistance as well as continuous customer service with current and in-depth information and fuel pump replacement support. Technicians can visit the website for technical service bulletins, instructions, tips, myth-busters and an unbelievable amount of the latest how-to videos on diagnostics, application specific installations and fuel system issues. In fact, through the site’s Vehicle Search there are more than 8,600 video links covering more than 1,500 fuel pumps in 212 million vehicles in operation.
Why did you decide to focus the new website specifically on fuel delivery education and technical support?
JB: The site was created in response to the void in comprehensive information about today’s complex fuel systems, leading to misdiagnosis and overall difficulty during repair work. We wanted to provide the best resource possible to help our customers keep up with the evolving technology and alleviate these pain points. Our constant research and development as a fuel pump manufacturer provides us with up-to-date knowledge on today’s changing vehicles. We felt it was important to share that knowledge and provide a place where technicians, counter people and DIYers can go to get the answers they need when they need it. Long, tedious searches for help are simply not an option when a vehicle won’t start and a customer is left without means of transportation.
How is the site intended to be used and by whom?
JB: The site is intended for anyone who needs help or wants to know more about fuel pumps or fuel delivery systems as a whole, but I would have to say that the resources on the site starts at a level best suited for mid- to high-level DIY consumers on up to the most seasoned repair technicians. I think the experiences are going to be quite varied, depending on the visitor’s overall knowledge set.
For example, a mechanically inclined do-it-yourselfer will be going to the site to watch the installation video for their particular vehicle to get step-by-step instructions or to simply see just how difficult the job is and whether or not they have the proper tools to do the job right. On the other hand, a repair technician is more than likely going to go to the site to find out info on the more difficult applications or to keep up with technical info and/or tips and tricks on the newest fuel delivery systems out there, like some of the new pulse width modulated systems.
Is the new site mobile phone and/or tablet friendly?
BK: Yes, absolutely! That was one of the first things brought up in the early development discussions for the site. We’ve received an overwhelmingly positive response from our Airtex Mobile Tech Resources Site (m.airtexproducts.com), so it was imperative that we continued down the mobile path for any new technical support platform. By developing it for web and mobile, we are able to reach people in whatever way they prefer to interact with technical information. In that way, FuelPumpU.com is really just the evolution of our mobile tech resource site.
Our focus at Airtex is on delivering exceptional quality and unmatched support. So, as we started looking at the first few months’ results from the mobile tech resource site, we realized there was a definite need for technical resources in the category, but that we really needed to “up the ante.” The idea was to take our more than 75 years of expertise and pass it on to support the people who need the information day in and day out to do the job right the first time.
What kind of feedback have you received so far from the launch?
JB: So far, we have been extremely pleased by the amount of positive feedback we’ve received about the site. Our distribution partners have shared the comments they are receiving from customers, both commercial and retail. The overwhelming majority are amazed by the amount of quality information that is freely available on the site, particularly the amount of application specific video content.
BK: So far, in just over four weeks, we have had more than 20,000 video views, nearly 10,000 page views, with the average visitor spending close to four minutes per visit. These are encouraging numbers considering how new the site is.
What, if any, plans do you have to expand the site or content offered?
JB: Our ultimate vision for FuelPumpU.com is for it to be a “living, breathing” website. We want it to be constantly changing with new and relevant content. Our ASE-certified technical service team is very involved with the site and helped provide most of the technical data. They spend each and every day helping technicians with fuel delivery issues, making it easy for them to identify trends with certain OEM applications. We lean heavily on them for advice on what technical content to add.
BK: We also want to get the end-user involved. We’ll be reaching out to our Fuel Pump U eNewsletter subscribers to ask them what they want to learn about, as well as conducting polls on the Fuel Pump U blog to see what specific type of technical info we should shoot a video on next. That’s really what it’s all about … helping technicians, counter people and DIYers solve the problems that they come across.
