FIND your SILVER LINING
Bain & Company reported that countries, which have recently gone through a lockdown situation have an unexpected boom in website traffic and online shopping. I predict that the same will happen on our shores as self-isolated customers will idle their time away browsing online, uninterrupted by distractions while they wait for life to return to normal.
MAKE IT EASIER TO BUY ONLINE?
If you currently have an online store, make sure that it can accommodate a more considerable amount of traffic as more and more customers will turn to the world wide web for solutions to their needs and wants. Hire a professional web designer to correctly configure your online store settings to ensure that customers experience a seamless online shopping experience. This is not the time to risk a website crash when analysts are predicting the next 3 weeks to offer the best eCommerce spike for 2020, similar to that of Black Friday 2019.
MONETISE YOUR SERVICE!
When you hear or read the phrase, “selling services,” you may not see how it applies to you. Perhaps you associate it with subscription services, or the service industry itself. But you don’t need to be a Netflix executive or a sommelier to sell services. That’s because when your skillset is a product of its own, it’s a service. Coaching, consulting and designing are all services.
Make it easier for your customers to still enjoy your services by setting up an online interface on your website where potential customers can essentially buy your time and skill set. For example, I’ve heard of a music teacher who sells piano lessons by the hour to her students on her website and then practices with them via Skype, Zoom or the like. Now is the time to get creative as customers propensity to experiment and trial new ways of purchasing your services via alternative means will be at a welcome high! Hire a website designer to help you set up the best way to monetise your service.
KEEP CUSTOMERS UPDATED
With so many false stories making the rounds on social media, make sure that you own your business news by staying at the forefront. Be proactive and make an effort to keep your customers up to date about your business operations through your website. Hire an experienced web designer to develop a newsroom page for your website where you can share news as and when it happens with your customers. Alternatively, have a web designer create a pop-up alert for your website that offers to the point updates with the option to subscribe to a company newsletter for uninterrupted updates.
Remember that a lockdown doesn’t mean a shutdown! So, sit down and evaluate your business and identify ways to reach the self-isolated customer with oodles of time to spare with innovative out-of-the-box website strategies. Covid-19 doesn’t need to be the death of your brick-and-mortar store – in fact, it can be the kick in the pants your business needs to get online and capture the market you desperately want to tap into.
