Quarantine has affected the eCommerce industry a lot. Even giants like Amazon and Facebook are suffering, despite the spikes in Internet usage.
The product delivery has stopped, and customers are staying indoors. Social Distancing might be useful for health, but it is not suitable for the health of the businesses.
However, it does not mean that you cannot stay connected to your customers and staff.
Tip #1: Make a detailed Guideline for Working from Home Staff
This is necessary.
If your staff is working from home, you must have a guideline to keep them productive.
Set your team up for success:
- Set up the daily measurable tasks
- Discuss the challenges and issues in virtual work and solve them
- Keep the regular check-in meetings with the staff
- Give them all the tools necessary for their job
- Urge them to set up a workspace
- Establish communication method so they can always be responsive
- Be clear on your expectations and employees responsibilities
The more clear everyone’s tasks are, the easier to measure how your employees are performing working from home.
Tip #2: Inform the customers as soon as possible
Don’t leave your customers stranded in the dark, and tell them clearly how you are tackling this pandemic.
A blog post, newsletter, or social media posts, you can use any digital medium to inform your clients that you are active and still working.
- Give the updates to the client about the ongoing project
- Tell the customers if their order is canceled and when will the refund arrive
- Update them about your Work from Home Team
- Inform them how you are helping fight against the COVID19.
It is not necessary to enter into their mailbox for every message. There are other ways — A Blog post or Social Media Posts works excellent for such messaging.
Tip #3: Terrific time for Social Media
“We’re just trying to keep the lights on over here,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the New York Times in an interview. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
People staying indoors are looking for distractions. Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, all the social media platforms are getting huge traffic spikes.
Now is a great time to leverage the power of social media. You can make social media following as people are actively searching for content that caters to them.
From the findings of TheManifest:
People and brands can use social media to connect; 74% of consumers follow brands on social media, and 96% of these consumers interact on social media with the brands they support.
Create relevant content and use it to create a following, and that following would be helpful to you when the crisis ends.
Tip #4: Use Social Media Ads to Create Subscribers
The majority of ServerGuy clients are online store owners, and many of them have reported that Facebook CPM is down. And we can see that despite so much traffic, the revenue is not increasing much. Facebook has disclosed it in a blog post.
Similarly, Instagram and other social media sites are offering low CPM now. As most of the eCommerce store that sells physical products have pulled off their ads from the platforms, the lower ad rates seem plausible.
You can take advantage of the situation by running ads to generate subscribers. Potential customers.
Process:
- Create a lucrative digital product around your business.
- Example: Book, Guide, Planner, Curated Content, How-To, Listicle, Games, Course, etc
- Promote the product on Social Media
- Collect Mails in exchange for the freebies
Later, you can target these mail subscribers to promote your services and products.
Tip #5: Coupons, Gift Cards, and Discounts
Discounts and Sales are always remarkable leverage in the shopping industry. Analyze your business and find a way to offer a discount to the customer, so it benefits you in the long run.
You can dish out the outdated stock in discount, with the condition that the product would be delivered when the lockdown ends.
Or you can sell the Coupons at a discounted price to be used later by the customers.
Then there are ways to collaborate with the other companies to give the customer more benefits.
Like, if you are into athletic niche, you can provide gym membership card to the customers when they buy your product.
Also, there are many subscription-based eCommerce stores, like Bewakoof.com. You can sell the membership and offer membership discounts to the buyers.
Tip #6: Go live, Organise Webinars and Events Online
This is another way to interact with your customers and being a part of your customer’s life even when they are indoors. The best part of going Live or having an online event is that it becomes a 2-way communication, and the visitors can also participate.
Many platforms have Live Features: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat
Many brands are frequently coming live on their Instagram profile. Not a single day has gone in the past few weeks without 4-5 brands going Live between 5-7 PM.
Organizing webinars could also be a great way, but you have to stay relevant. People need distractions, but they do not want to get lectured about anything.
Online events, webinars, and going live are all excellent unless they are not interesting.
Tip #7: Best Tip for Merchants: Make Plans
Yes, the business would be low compared to usual. However, instead of sulking, you can utilize the time to make a strategy for your business for the better time.
- Analyze your resources
- Check out your strength and weakness
- Do the SWOT analysis of market and competitor
- Look for more opportunities to expand your business
- Research more about the marketing strategies
Wrapping Up
The quarantine is giving you time and opportunity to create a connection with your customer that lasts long.
Maybe it is not a good time for selling online, but it is undoubtedly a good time for creating that connection.
This helpful tips for merchants will help your brand to come out stronger than before.
