If you are a small business owner concerned about your online presence during COVID-19, you can rest assured that there are efficient and simple ways to keep earning consistent revenue. This unprecedented pandemic may have caused a loss of customers because these are uncertain times, where people are losing their jobs and holding on even more tightly to their savings. However, there are plenty of opportunities for e-commerce businesses to take advantage of. Here are some ideas to help you boost your online presence in 2021 to increase leads and sales.
Upgrading your E-commerce Website
Your website gives customers their first peek into your brand and what it represents. Therefore, you should always aim to provide the best impression to avoid people from clicking away or abandoning items in their cart without checking out. COVID-19 led to a 25% increase in global digital buyers in 2020, and this figure will skyrocket further this year because lockdown measures are still in place. Despite news of vaccines dominating headlines, this is a slow process, and most people still want to do their shopping online to stay safe and healthy.
Your website should always provide the best customer experience to keep people browsing through your product pages. If a customer is interested in buying your product or service, ensure that your website’s design is efficiently optimized for mobile use and does not keep glitching or taking too long to load. Otherwise, people will be tempted to abandon the site and spend their money elsewhere. Provide clear photos and descriptions of all your products to entice consumers and build their trust by using an eye-catching design that is not filled with distracting pop-ups and clutter.
Include YouTube Videos
People spend billions of hours watching YouTube videos, especially when they want to know how to use a product or compare it to others in the market. If your company sells a vacuum cleaner that puts Dyson to shame, you should create a YouTube video to highlight its features and embed it on your e-commerce website. In this YouTube video, you can show people how to use the product and what the end results look like so that they may be persuaded to buy from you and not spend money on your competitors. Pictures say a thousand words, but videos tell an entire story. With a YouTube Business Account, you can tap into a younger generation of consumers by creating engaging videos to showcase your brand’s values creatively.
Build an Email List
Email lists are the holy grail for e-commerce businesses because you can directly access customers to pitch your products and sales announcements. On your website, you can set up and build your email list by using plugins like MailChimp. This is an automated service that is recognized as an industry leader to set up mail lists, and you do not need to be an expert to get this up and running. To get people’s names and email addresses, offer your customers a 10% discount for subscribing to your email list. Then you can interact and connect with them on a personal level to send your company’s latest announcements directly in their inbox. You can also use this opportunity to let people know the steps your business is taking to keep them safe throughout the pandemic. For example, airlines have been sending emails to frequent flyers letting them know how cabins and seats are being thoroughly sanitized before and after each flight. These little steps and kind gestures show customers that you care about their well-being and are generously willing to go the extra mile to make them happy, no matter which industry you are in.