As of Monday 4/20, there are now over 770K reported Coronavirus cases in the US. With unreported cases, it’s probably triple that, meaning that roughly 1 out of every 150 Americans has already contracted COVID-19. That means there’s still over 99% could get the virus. Justifiably, your customers are hunkered down and waiting for a vaccine or treatment to get this virus more under control and to ‘flatten the curve’.

For your business though, that means that they’re not coming into your store. For many businesses though, you can still reach your customers but in new ways. Let’s explore what you can do. Here’s a few options that we came up with. As you read this, hopefully you’ll come up with other ideas that’ll work for you too!

  • Launch an online store: You don’t need to go through a web design company for this. If you’re just looking to get a menu online, or your inventory online, we recommend using either Square or Ecwid. Both are super easy to use and you’ll have your store up in no time. With square, you don’t need an existing site and with Ecwid, you’d plug it into your existing site. If you need help setting up either of these, just contact us.
  • Virtually meet your customers: There are plenty of online streaming services that allow you to virtually meet with your customers, either through their computer or by phone. Zoom is especially popular right now but Google Hangouts and others can work well too. Let your customers know that this is an option. If you’re a service provider, you could offer diagnostics online, online counseling, or workouts for example.
  • Offer shipping: As part of an online store, you can offer shipping. Or you can invite customers to call you with their order and you can ship it to them.
  • Drop off & pick up: If you’re a repairman, offer drop off and pickup services where your customers could drop off their equipment to be serviced and they’d call you to arrange payment, or accept payment through Venmo or Paypal. Or, you could add a payment form on your website. Then when you’re done working on their equipment, you let them know when they can pick it up.
  • Gift cards: If you need to shut down all your services for now, sell gift cards through your website or social media. Square does a great job of this.
  • Connect through social media: Community right now is huge and a lot of people are on social media. Use this to your advantage by posting what your company is doing during the shutdown and how your customers can still purchase your products and services, or to buy gift cards.
  • Build email lists: This is also a good time to build email lists. While customers can’t physically come to your business, you can share tips and tricks through email. Promote discounts and freebies on social media and your website if they sign up for your mailing list. That way when we reopen as a society, you’ll have a list of interested customers that you can email to let them know that your doors are reopened.
  • Beat out competition: If you’re hiking with a buddy and a bear is chasing you both, you don’t have to outrun the bear, you just need to outrun your buddy. It’s survival basics. Seriously though, staying relevant right now is crucial.

These are just a few ideas. We’re here if you need any help from us. Together, we can all make it through this!

 

 


X-Wing