Less Disposable Income? Small Business Recovery: Answers to your COVID Questions
How should I engage customers in this environment, knowing many of them have less disposable income?
It is true that many people have taken big pay cuts, have lost their jobs, or have proactively scaled back spending in anticipation of trouble ahead. That said, just about everyone still needs to access goods and services. The good news is, more than ever, the need and desire to get things from local businesses is greater now than it has been in recent history.
No one wants their local businesses to fail. They know the health of small businesses overall is an essential part of keeping the economy running. But they also know that the owners and employees are more often their neighbors. So, in an effort to support the community, many would be happy to forgo some of their reliance on Amazon to bring business locally wherever they can. You need to capitalize on this.
It’s also important to note, if you just wait for things to go back to normal, once things start to open up, your clients will be bombarded with sales, discounts and other messaging from competitors and you will get lost. Now is the time to get out there and communicate with your clients and prospective clients when there is less noise.
BUILDING FUTURE LOYALTY
As a business owner, showing your commitment, flexibility and accessibility to customers and the community through this crisis could very well have an outsized impact on your business as we emerge from the lockdown. The ways in which you stay connected, over-communicate, and bend to the realities of the situation today will create deep connections for loyalty tomorrow.
Your customers want to help, but where do they start? It’s important to be connected to them. The businesses that don’t will undoubtedly fall off their radar. Start with your current customers/clients, those who already value your offering on some level. That means emailing, calling, and posting to let them know what services you are currently offering; how you’ve adjusted your business to make it easier for them to work with you; and equally important, how you are contributing to your community.
BE SENSITIVE, THINK LONG TERM
Since many people do have less disposable income, think about running special programs for your loyal current and past clients. Goodwill created now will come back to you. It doesn’t necessarily mean slashing all prices, but loyalty programs that include short-term discounts or certain dispensation (flexible payments, deferrals, credit, etc.) will be appreciated for the long term.
For any clients that have been unable to stay with you, providing future financial incentive to come back will deepen the strength of the relationship. Providing discounts to clients who buy future services now, and allowing for deferred payments ensures you have guaranteed revenue in the coming months. Rethinking your loyalty program (or creating one if it doesn’t exist) so you can stay connected and build incentives that are right for what people need today (free home delivery, free online classes, deferred payment options, etc). Any way to reward them with discounts or make it easier to interact with your business will be hugely important.
RETHINK YOUR EXPERIENCE
If you pivot your business to something more virtual, another marketing tip is to look honestly at how your clients are able to interact with you online or or through mobile. If you’ve been focused primarily on a face-to-face or brick-and-mortar business, and have neglected the user experience online, now is the time to address that. Seriously, NOW IS THE TIME. No business should come out of this crisis thinking an online experience isn’t critical to how they connect or function.
Make this an easy, clear, and pleasant experience for them. Of course, this varies greatly from industry to industry, but you should be asking friends (or even better your customers) to go through the process of trying to engage with you via your website, social media, e-commerce, or any other places you exist. Get them to do it on their desktop and through their phones. Find out what works, what is confusing or hard, or what doesn’t work at all. Rethink all of it and make this a priority moving forward. Smart businesses will use this as an opportunity to make these experiences better, and this is one of the most important things to tackle now.
