If you don’t do this, you’re risking losing that customer and them going to a competitor because that competitor is giving them the reassurance and the information that they need to go ahead and buy whatever they’re looking to purchase.
Hey everyone, as things open up and more retail businesses are allowed to open and operate, it’s important for you to properly educate and inform your customers on what’s going on at your retail location. If you don’t do this, you’re risking losing that customer and them going to a competitor because that competitor is giving them the reassurance and the information that they need to go ahead and buy whatever they’re looking to purchase.
Some of the information that you need to provide to your clients or your customers includes, whether you’re open or not. What kind of delivery delivery options do you have? Are you open just for curbside pickup or are you open for in-store visits? If you’re open for in-store visits, what do your hours look like? Are they different from your regular hours? You need to clearly communicate that to your clients. For those of you that are offering curbside pickup, notifications are super important.
Curbside Pickup Notifications
What do your notifications look like? Are you telling customers that they can expect their orders in a certain amount of days? Certain amount of hours? If not, you need to do that because people may not want to buy something if you have to wait a week or if they don’t know how long they have to wait for something to come and be ready for curbside pickup or, delivery to their homes.
Properly managing their expectations for curbside pickup and then notifying them on-time (example: order received, order being prepared, order ready for pickup, etc…) These are notifications that you need to be sending out on time, effectively and clearly so that there’s no confusion on the customer side on what they can expect.
In-Store VisitsIf you’re open for in-store visits, let customers know what to expect. What has changed with your staff or what has changed in your retail location to make things safer and to comply with guidelines that are set out by the government?
What You Expect from Customers
At the same time, inform customers of what you expect of them when they visit your store. Do you want your customers to wear a mask when they come into your store? If so, provide them with this information so that they don’t get surprised if they do show up at your store and find out, well, you need to wear a mask inside and “oops, I didn’t bring a mask, what do I do now?”
Ensure that you’re informing them on what they need to do; things like, are you guys requiring people to be spaced out? Are there rules or paths they should follow when they navigate your aisles? All of this information needs to be conveyed to your customers.
If your competitors beat you to it, those customers that are on Google looking to go buy whatever it is they’re looking to buy are probably going to follow the path of least resistance and go to the business that’s giving them the information that’s answering their questions proactively.There’s two areas where you need to focus on when you’re considering conveying this information to people right now. Your website and your Google My Business profile listing.
Make sure your website’s up to date and make sure you log into Google My Business and update your COVID-19 note if you have one, update your store hours and any other notes that you have shared for people there, because a lot of people will bypass your website and just go to your Google Maps profile to find somewhere to buy something and just go from there.
If you have any questions on how to do any of these things or want to talk a little bit more about what you can do to improve your customer experience in light of these changes that are happening, please feel free to drop a comment below or give me a call.
