In this 3-minute read:
- Constant and accurate communication
- Continue to offer online and curbside services
- New promotions to consider
- Keep up your marketing efforts
As state and local governments initiate reopening measures for businesses in their areas, small businesses face a unique challenge: how to get their customers to come back, when they’re reluctant to go out in public at all.
Reopening measures are taking place in phases, meaning that different types of businesses are opening at different points in the reopening process. This is to help prevent a second wave of the disease from spreading, and it’s likely that customers are still going to be wary of that fact.
So what can you do to attract customers back to your business as you reopen?
With Womply Email Marketing, you can turn customers into regulars and get more repeat business with targeted emails that send automatically when customers transact with you. Learn more when you sign up for Womply Free!
How to attract more customers after COVID-19
The biggest thing to keep in mind as you reopen your business is that COVID-19 has not been eradicated. It’s still a looming concern in most parts of the world, but as cases start to decline, officials are taking measures to keep the economy moving forward.
So start slowly and encourage safety and hygiene best practices in your employees and customers as you reopen your business.
Communicate with your customers
The most important thing to do to bring your customers back and to attract new customers during this time is to communicate with them. Get active on social media, update your website, send out email marketing campaigns, whatever you need to do to make sure your customers know when you open up your business again.
Please follow state and local guides for when to open up your business as each state has different requirements and time frames for their reopening processes.
Make sure your customers are aware of the active precautions you are taking to ensure their safety and limit the further spread of COVID-19, including:
- Wearing masks and PPE when necessary
- Frequently disinfecting surfaces that come into contact with people
- Not allowing employees to come into work sick
- Taking employee temperatures as they arrive each day (if you choose to do so, or if it is required in your area)
- Encouraging social distancing guidelines
Continue to offer online services
COVID-19 has been a driving force behind many businesses taking their services online. Don’t let it stop just because your business gets to reopen.
Continue to offer online, remote, curbside, and/or delivery services to encourage those that do want to continue to maintain social distance to keep doing business with you. The world was already moving online before COVID-19 and it’s likely to continue moving that way long after.
Need help setting up an online store for your business? Check out this article: How to get your business started selling online during COVID-19 / coronavirus.
Start up new promotions
As your business gets closer to reopening, it’s the perfect time to create a new promotion to attract customers. Offer new discounts, BOGO offers, and more.
If your business isn’t quite to the point where it can open yet, create some online promotions to encourage your customers to shop with you in the future. Sell gift cards or send out coupons that don’t expire until the end of the year.
Some stores have started selling punchcards or package deals for future products and services at a discount, which improves your cash flow now and gets customers excited about spending with you in the future.
Continue to advertise and get the word out there
Even though money is super-tight right now, you really need to keep up your marketing efforts. This is going to be extremely important as most of your competitors will likely be reopening at the same time as you.
Post on social media, create radio ads, and do whatever you need to do to make sure your customers know that you are in business.
If your marketing budget is nonexistent, here’s an article with some great free advertising tips: 3 free advertising options for local businesses.
Go deeper: Why email marketing should be your number-one priority this year
Need help getting more customers? Womply is here for you!
As your business reopens, it’s important to actively focus on attracting more customers. One thing that can help is making sure your business has a good online presence, including good online reviews.
Womply’s reputation management software allows you to remind customers to leave you online feedback, and you can even respond to all your reviews from all the major platforms right from your dashboard in the software.
Plus, With Womply Email Marketing, you can turn customers into regulars and get more repeat business with targeted emails that send automatically when customers transact with you. Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!