We all know that customers are the lifeblood of any business, which is why it is important to engage with them. This means helping your customers rather than just selling your products and services. The more contact you have the more likely they are to buy again and to recommend your business to their friends.
With the current Covid-19 crisis crippling the majority of businesses, it is more important than ever that you engage with your customers to ensure that they remain loyal to your brand. Here are 8 key ways in which you can engage your customers.
1. Get Creative
People are stuck indoors. They are bored. They are being driven crazy and they need something fun to do. Incorporate your products and services into that. For example, we are recommending makeup and beauty brands encourage men and women at home that just because they are stuck indoors with their partners it doesn’t mean they can’t keep the romance alive. Plan a special date night for each other, get dressed up, open a bottle of wine and make the best out of a bad situation.
2. Spread Positivity
Show your customers you care about them. Thank your staff for working hard and for their support. Share positive statements, funny messages. We’re advising restaurants to share some recipes tutorials with their favourite customers off the menu so they can still enjoy fine dining.
3. Get Customers Thinking About the Future
We have no idea how long this pandemic will last but it doesn’t mean we can’t look to the future. If the travel industry wasn’t so busy dealing with refunds and re-booking stranded tourists they could be running competitions that give lucky families a dream holiday to a luxurious destination the second travel opens again. This would have built them a massive audience list that they could use to email, to retarget on Google & Facebook and to build similar audience lists from. We also recommended business selling face to face courses and training consider the fact that job losses are going to happen, people may want to re-think their career choice based on how their companies handled them during this time.
4. Generate Awareness
Physical locations are also hard hit by the pandemic but they can still be generating awareness. We encouraged an escape room business to keep people stuck at home occupied with any kind of fun family puzzles they can produce online for them, brainteasers, riddles, etc. Once the pandemic is over people will want to embrace life.
5. Show Concern for Safety & Support Them
People are scared right now, some more than others and there worried any surface they come into contact with could have the virus. This means even if you are an eCommerce business delivering products reassuring customers about the precautions you are taking to keep their products safe and clean is important. It needs to be more than a Facebook post, it should be on your website too, an email should go out to existing customers, etc. Supporting customers means putting them before your profits. The best gyms proactively let their customers know they would freeze their payments without customers having to ring up worrying about it and are even putting on live workout classes to help people stay fit and healthy.
6. Be Open & Transparent
It’s been a Push value for years but now more than ever companies being open, honest and responsible matters more than ever. Let customers know about the decisions you have made, why you have made them and it’s ok to ask them to support you during this difficult time. Let them know what you are doing to keep yourselves going as a business and personally because what’s needed now is to build communities and for people to feel we are in this together.
7. Don’t ignore the topic on everyone’s mind
A very subjective one but globally no one can escape what is going on. There is an argument that you don’t want to remind people of the doom and gloom but you can still think twice about the content you are sharing. We recently quizzed a money transfer service customer on their reasoning for posting an article about the top reasons to move to a particular city, with an image of three happy women with shopping bags. Emotive messages about staying connected with loved ones would have been far more appropriate and there would be no need to mention anything negative.
8. Add an Overlay to your website
It’s crucial that you have a clear statement on your website that indicates your Coronavirus policy and how you will continue to support customers. An overlay should quickly inform your customers on every page that you’re open for business or if there are changes to service and how you can be contacted.
To support our customers through this difficult time we are offering free overlay set up. Please get in touch with your account manager today to take advantage of this offer.
