What Does Customer Value the Most in This Pandemic?
How the things consumers value have changed during the pandemic. And what brands can learn from these trends.
A lot have been done by major brands towards the contribution of relief during the times of COVID19. Government, health specialists, doctors, companies, and many more have shared efforts in contributing to fight against this pandemic.
Companies with high brand value recognized the need for providing greater value to their loyal customers, especially what customers themselves referred to as ‘value’ during this pandemic. The pandemic affected the business markets worldwide and thereby worsening the situation of retail markets. It impacted the in-person business opportunities. The only way for businesses to engage was through digital platforms- engaging with customers emphatically to create hope in customers and try to keep the brand loyalty, planning of new ways to gain customers or resort to the trust that the customers have upon them.
The Pandemic caused a worldwide lockdown, forcing companies to take up various platforms like social media marketing and email marketing to get to back to their customers, to interact and engage with their customers digitally. They asked customers to narrate their experience during the pandemic, issues related to the brands and tried answering all their queries, etc.
These digital ways of communication with customers should be done in a way that it feels like the brands want to support and value the emotions of their customers during this crisis, and also try keeping them updated on the current business scenario.
Before talking about what the customer values, it should be noted that these values are based on how well companies manage their brand to provide and showcase themselves. This interaction is undoubtedly inclined to emotion, humanity and CSR activity as a whole.
3 THINGS THAT CUSTOMERS VALUE DURING THIS PANDEMIC
Producing and Providing Essentials
Basic necessities are what the customers value the most at the times of this crisis. People got to know the actual worth of food while facing the scarcity of it due to worldwide lockdown. Companies, governments, millionaires, billionaires are all trying their best to provide basic necessities to everyone.
Many companies decided to come forward and reach out to the people in order to serve them with essentials. AI and Technology play a substantial role in the fight against Covid-19.
Procter and Gamble (P&G) installed a new manufacturing line and produced 40000 litres of hand sanitizers every week, and supplied it to many health organizations and relief funds.
Healthcare departments of Ford and GE(General Electric) got together and started the production of ventilators and respirators to help the patients suffering from Covid-19. Many Fashion brands have also contributed by converting their textile manufacturing parts to produce hospital gowns.
Serta Simmons supplied 100,000 mattresses to hospitals dealing with Covid-19 patients. Manufacturers like HP, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, Royal DSM, and others took the initiative to tackle equipment shortages due to high medical demand.
AB InBev used its vital ingredient to fight against the virus by transforming the raw alcohol into hand sanitizers. Pfizer has recently decided to outsource it’s medicine production to contract manufacturers to focus its full attention towards the development of a vaccine to stop Covid-19. Pepsi Co. distributed 50 million meals to the population worldwide and donated enough funds to help in the testing, screening, and other medical facilities.
Being Connected & the Subsequent Reduction of “Gap”
Due to the pandemic employees and businessman aren’t able to fly to specific meetings abroad and aren’t able to attend physical meetings. Customers aren’t being able to meet people in person. Support centres are already closed, and everything physical seems to have come to a halt. This is the Gap we are talking about. The gap of social distancing, as well as the gap that has again reinstated borders, created a divide between businesses and customers and broke down the world into chunks.
Its time to digitalize everything from sending contracts, reports, through the internet to digital signature, webinars, teleconferences, online exhibitions, online trading, virtual interviews.
Many companies had already started working towards bringing people together in a digital platform. AB InBev teamed up many museums and art organizations to offer virtual live shows. Coursera, an online learning programme, provided free access to over 3800 courses from authentic Universities and companies to help students learn in any field of their interest.
Zoom, a platform for video recording and sharing, was made free for the teachers and students of various schools & universities to bring them together.
Amazon made the child and family-friendly content free including HBO shows and Warner Bros. movies as well as CBSN (CBS News).
Effective Communication and the Words of Peace
In days of the pandemic, it is of the highest importance to make your communication meaningful. Communication with customers should be assuring, with empathy, and avoiding anxious talks about the crisis. It should be creative and positive to the people.
The customers should be updated with a productive and improvised plan for the future to create hope in them. Brands should focus on educating not only customers but also society as a whole, and make them learn about how to take preventive measures to control the spread of the virus. Brands and companies should try updating customers with all knowledge possible and also discuss solutions concerning the words and values of peace.
Unilever’s Dove brand communicated through a video on social media, illustrating proper washing hand techniques. Customers of today want to hear from health specialists, doctors or nutritionists, and not from actors, celebrities, social performer, etc. in this pandemic situation.
Google and many other IT companies are coming together to provide online education to students and the community. Governments are also taking the help of translators to create awareness about social distancing and preventive measures among villagers in their local/different languages.
It is the time to keep all the grudges, biases, politics away and take up a step towards the unification of the world as one.
Customers today are focused on mainly surviving. This gives rise to significant opportunities for brands to transform the ‘Survival’ into ‘living with home-based technology’- everything from necessities, entertainment, education, and to work provided digitally. Customers don’t want luxury but will stick to the essentials; they don’t want to meet face to face but want to be connected with the help of latest technology.
