Case Study: How Joe Hudson’s Collision Center Increased Reviews, Star Ratings, and Foot Traffic

Joe Hudson's Collision Center is one of the top 5 collision brands in the US. Founded in 1989, with storefronts across eighteen states throughout the Southeast, the brand delivers white-glove service to customers who need collision repairs, auto body painting, dent repair, and rental car services. With a lifetime warranty on all structural repairs and metalwork, Joe Hudson's has built its reputation on making sure customers are safe and happy.

In 2022, on the cusp of significant growth, the brand invested in the Yext platform to help clean up, unify, and manage its digital presence as the company acquired 100+ new locations. Meanwhile, those locations had hundreds of favorable reviews and star rankings, so it was critical for Joe Hudson's to fold them into their digital presence while resetting brand information, NAP data, and other key content.

As Heather Rossi, Joe Hudson's Social Media Marketing Manager, reveals, "When I first joined JHCC in 2023, about 75 online store profiles hadn't been linked or synced. I conducted a massive cleanup while onboarding over 100 new locations. I was recruited explicitly because the company had purchased Yext, and I had significant experience with the platform." (Fun fact: Rossi's been a Yext customer, user, and fan for almost 15 years now, including while working at other top US-based retailers.)

Today, Joe Hudson's Collision Center trusts Yext to manage brand and location information and reviews for 255 locations across 16,000 listings and 82 publishers. They count on Yext to keep location information accurate and up-to-date everywhere customers are searching. They're also using Yext to drive clicks for driving directions and calls, as well as to manage over 40,000 online reviews.

As Rossi attests, "The Yext team and tools make my job so much easier every day."

She continues, "Our brand reputation matters to us. Reviews REALLY matter. We don't have a social media 'team'. It's just me. Yext is my team." As part of their commitment to customers, every location must maintain at least 4.3 stars. Yext helps the brand operate with transparency, flexibility, and responsiveness, so when a customer rates a location below the brand's expectations, the company responds quickly to address the feedback.

With over 50,000 Google reviews for 250+ locations, and counting, protecting their brand reputation is no small thing. Over the past 12 months, they have utilized the Yext platform to respond to over 12,000 reviews, resulting in a 4.6-star rating (+4% year-over-year).

How does Rossi make it work? "Honestly, I love using Yext's built-in AI and automation to respond to reviews. I might respond to 50 reviews every day, and it's one of my favorite features. It's easy to tweak the language so I can respond sincerely — but with variety (like replacing "we're 'thrilled'" with 'delighted' or 'pleased' and 'so glad', etc).

As Rossi affirms, "I don't want to use anything else. There aren't any other companies that have as many of the applications and tools that Yext has all in one place."

In the past 12 months, Joe Hudson's Collision Center has maintained a 4.64-star rating (+4% YoY). They are now responding to almost 100% of reviews, increasing their response rate by 18% year-over-year.

As the brand manages 255 locations across 16,000 listings and 82 publishers, Yext has automatically updated its information 6,550 times, while discovering, suppressing, and removing 750 duplicate listings or instances of fake data.

Joe Hudson's Collision Center locations are listed on 89% of the relevant platforms (and possible) for their business. This extended network is making a significant and lasting impact on discoverability and engagement. Over the past 12 months, Joe Hudson's Collision Center has:

• Received 3M impressions on Google Search

• Received 703K engagements on their digital presence

• Received 256K engagements for driving directions

They've also seen that 65% (623K out of 960K) of all Google impressions have been unbranded queries, which means, thanks to Yext, Joe Hudson's Collison Center is consistently front and center, reaching new customers and earning their trust.

To learn more about Yext's offerings, book a demo today.

*data from March 2024 to March 2025