You don’t see as much of your customers as you used to. Of course, it’s not their fault any more than it is yours. The COVID-19 pandemic and the past few months of lockdown have driven a wedge between you. You’ve scrambled to change your operations in order to accommodate their needs without letting any members of your team go. And while you’ve done this with great aplomb, their confidence may still be shaken. Don’t take this personally. They don’t trust you any less than they trust your competitors. Nonetheless, it’s safe to say that consumer confidence has been rattled of late, dropping to its lowest since 2008.
Image by Norma Mortenson via Pexels
But that doesn’t mean that you can’t win them back. You just have to make sure they know that you value their safety. And this means more than just using proper sanitation and insisting that your employees wear face coverings. You’ll need a comprehensive approach to your operations and security to give them the reassurance that they need. Here’s how…
Don’t be afraid to make your expectations of them known
Many business owners feel nervous about addressing customers by establishing their expectations. Especially with videos of customers responding with outrage and anger doing the rounds on social platforms. Nonetheless, most customers genuinely value you taking the time to explain the protocols you’ve set up to keep them safe. And they want to know that you’re committed to enforcing them.
Do what’s in your control to keep them safe
While a lot of things related to COVID are out of your control, you can manage your own business’ response and put all of the necessary safeguards in place to keep customers safe. This can include a regular COVID saliva test for your employees so that you’re limiting the spread to customers. Follow guidelines regarding cleaning and distancing too to make sure your business is operating responsibly.
Make visible and invisible changes to on-site security
Every person on your premises who’s not accounted for is a potential health and security risk. So you need to make visible and invisible changes to on-site security to keep customers safe. This might include upgrading your locks to use a MT5 key with a magnetic strip that can only be created by the supplier rather than a conventional locksmith. Or adding each customer’s details to your track and trace list to ensure that they will be notified immediately if an infected party has been found on your premise.
Double down on your cyber security
The unfortunate truth is that a growing number of cyber criminals are using the current climate of fear, suspicion and panic to their advantage, targeting businesses of all shapes and sizes with malware, phishing and DDoS attacks to bring businesses to their knees, compromise their data and damage their reputations. Don’t believe the cyber security myths. Your business is not too small to fly under their radar. Make sure your operation is protected on and off site, especially if you still have team members who are working remotely. Migrating your infrastructure to the cloud where possible and using a VPN can work wonders for protecting remote workers.
Actively invite their questions, comments and concerns online
Finally, as busy as you are, you gain nothing from burying your head in the sand on social media. Be sure to respond promptly, confidently and definitively to customers’ questions and concerns on social platforms. Retweet or quote tweet customers’ fears so that others can see you allay them. Pin customer questions and your responses at the top of your Facebook page. Where possible, you may want to extrapolate these into an FAQ to place on your website.
When you have customers’ trust, their business will follow!