Hello, everybody! Welcome to a new episode of our Give me 5! series, where we share 5 useful eCommerce tips that will help improve your strategies and get you on the road to success.
In this episode of the series, we’re going to share five tips that will help you keep your sales strong during a crisis.
Your business must always be prepared for uncertain times, as you never know the exact moment when a significant challenge may arise. In other words, while you are working on plan A, make sure you have a plan B as well.
We’ve rounded up some tips to help you come up with that plan B that will help you navigate business crises more easily.
1. Keep your business active online
Assuming your business is already digitized – something already mandatory these days – we recommend you keep communicating online with prospects and customers, stakeholders, or partners. It’s important to stay transparent, as this will instill credibility and will make it easier for you to start conversations with your prospects. Consider hosting webinars in place of face-to-face meetings or presentations.
Being upfront about what you are dealing with and the measures you are taking to overcome tough situations will only benefit you in the long run, as people will perceive you as being a reliable business partner.
2. Provide impeccable customer service
Your clients and potential customers will reach out to you, so be ready to answer any question they might have. Being accessible for all your customers or prospects is especially important during challenging times.
Make sure you meet your customers’ needs on all communication channels:
- social media
- your website
- mobile
- live chat
- in-app
- call center
Let customers know how they can contact you to place orders, provide a list of Frequently Asked Questions, and go out of your way to show how willing you are to help. Automate responses if needed to help you reply faster, or have some answer templates readily available.
3. Look for opportunities in existing customers
And speaking of your existing customers, they could also be your brand advocates, so it makes a lot of sense to turn to them in times like these. Maintaining strong customer relationships and delivering on every point promised brings you the opportunity to earn repeat business, helps increase social proof, and heavily impacts overall business growth.
By being there for your customers, your acquisition expenses could also decrease and you’ll pave your way towards lasting business partnerships. This will make it easy to ask them to endorse you in discussions with potential buyers.
4. Offer flexible pricing options
Most crises come with financial challenges as well. You should consider stepping away a bit from a fixed pricing model and try pay-per-use, per-feature pricing or a combination of multiple pricing models. Flexible payment terms and contracts are more than welcomed, especially when they come along with extended free trials.
Also, if you are not yet offering a freemium version of your product, now’s the time to consider doing so. It might be harder to persuade customers to upgrade but it’s a great way to attract new users to try your product while removing potential barriers and obstacles in your acquisition process.
5. Create Intelligent Acquisitions
Offering promotions is a great way to increase the perceived value of your existing pricing plans. Given consumers’ current price apprehension and shifting priorities in a restless market context, there’s never been a better time to communicate the value and discount appeal of your offering. Try discounted multi-year deals, upsell- and cross-selling techniques, features or product bundles, or add premium services to your products or offer small discounts.
Focus your efforts on those customers who’d be most inclined to consider a promotion. Look at customers who aren’t using your product enough and who may be on the verge of churning. In the end, you may just be collecting more revenue per visitor and you may even gain some brand ambassadors in the process.
To conclude, remember to be patient, have an optimistic perspective, and take things one day at a time.
Thanks a lot for watching, we hope you enjoyed this video! Feel free to share any suggestions or other tips in the comments below, and we’ll see you next time, with more awesome content!
Want some extra tips that will improve your customer retention strategy? You can watch our previous “Give me 5!” episode here!
