Even though the Covid-19 virus still lives among us and may be here for a while, the economy has begun to slowly open up and people are venturing out of their homes. And although there may be setbacks, closings, and re-openings, eventually this will pass, and life will get back to “normal.” Will there be a new normal? No doubt, at least in the short term. What will that look like? Hard to say right now, but there are some certainties.
Buying habits have definitely changed. The convenience of online shopping was already growing, but it has now accelerated even faster. How will this directly affect brick and mortar retailers? The need for better Internet marketing, faster communication and a more user-friendly website and e-commerce store will be critical.
So, how do you turn these market and buyer changes into opportunities to grow your business? I suggest you start by reviewing prospect expectations. Some are the same as they were before Covid-19 like good customer service while others like curbside pick-up, didn’t even exist 6 months ago.
7 things that your customers expect now:
1. Finding what they’re searching for faster on their favorite search engine
2. Locating current and reputable sources of information they need to make informed buying decisions
3. Faster response times from sales and service
4. Better and more varied forms of communication that fit their needs, lifestyle, and time frames
5. Improved shopping convenience and delivery speed, both online and in-store
6. Worry-free and easy-to-navigate websites and e-commerce stores
7. Buying with confidence
Let’s go through each expectation in more detail:
1 – Finding what they’re searching for faster on their favorite search engine
With more people sheltering in place or working from home, Internet usage and shopping from home has skyrocketed. People are spending more time searching the Internet for products and services than ever before and that includes pools, spas, saunas and many other backyard or indoor exercise, health, or family entertainment options.
That’s why it is more important than ever that your business show up on page one of Google. According to some studies, up to 90% of people searching for products and services on the Internet never search beyond page one. That means that for all practical purposes, if you’re not on page one, your prospects will never find you! And if they can’t find you, they can’t buy from you either. To make matters worse, look at all the time, money, and resources you’ve already spent creating that beautiful website that 90% of your prospects and customers may never see.
Although there are many strategies that you can deploy to help you achieve page one status, I suggest you concentrate on these 4:
On-Site SEO
On-site search engine optimization (SEO) are the things that you do on your site or to your site to make it easier for the search engines to find your business.
On-site SEO involves implementing a lot of little things that over time add up to something much bigger. It can involve optimizing your site for specific keywords, updating titles and descriptions to be sure that you are telling Google what every page on your website is about.
Organic Off-Site SEO Internet Marketing
Off-site SEO many times referred to SEM (search engine marketing) involves inbound Internet marketing strategies using properties other than your website that you manage like YouTube and Facebook. SEM can also involve press releases and directories like Houzz. These strategies are designed to appear in the organic section of the search engine results, and in some cases rank high for months or even years, I suggest that dealers move some their PPC budget into these organic strategies.
Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)
Creating an effective Google AdWords campaign can not only get you to the top of page one within an hour, if done correctly, can help you drive more traffic to your website and generate a ton of leads. Understand however that PPC does not help your organic rankings and your ads will stop showing as soon as your daily budget is used up (another reason to do organic off-site-seo).
Google My Business (GMB)
Optimize your Google My Business page with a powerful description, generate reviews, update photos and videos and post regularly. Doing this will not only improve your chances of ranking higher in the “3 pack” but directly affects your Google Maps listing and your Google Knowledge panel (the vertical description of your business that appears on the search results when you type your company name into Google).
2 – Locating current and reputable sources of information they need to make informed buying decisions
Don’t make the mistake of devoting all you content development to just creating ads. Ad attract “now” buyers found at the bottom of the sales-funnel, which is obviously important, but what are you doing to attract future buyers just looking for information at the top of the sales funnel?
Education Based Marketing (EBM) is about helping prospects or customers better understand something, while engaging them just enough to find out where they are in the buying process. EBM reduces fear and distrust, establishing a relationship that encourages a willingness to buy. The more you educate your prospect, the more you build a relationship of trust and respect, the more likely they will take another step in the customer journey.
Buyer’s guides, stats, blogs, infographics, and videos are just a few types of information you can provide to prospects to help them better understand the benefits of using your products and services.
3 – Faster response times from sales and service
In today’s hyper-competitive market, responding quickly is essential. Responding in real time via phone or chat is ideal and always preferred, but the reality is you can’t always do that and run your business at the same time. When real time responses are just not possible, using automation to bridge the gap is critical.
Prospects requesting simple information like brochures and buyer’s guides can easily be handled using a Call to Action (CTA) form on your website that automatically sends them a download link using an autoresponder. You can also use CTAs to set up consultations, give price quotes, set up service calls and even virtual tours. Autoresponders like Infusionsoft, Mailchimp and Emma can handle this for you.
Using an automated chatbot is another great tool for providing requested information and answering questions on your website and Facebook. Answer to frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be pre-written and delivered when asked using a chatbot. Good chatbot strategies always give the user an option to call or message the business directly.
Using autoresponders and chatbots can get prospects some of the information they need quickly while freeing up your time to handle other aspects of your business.
4 – Better and more varied forms of communication that fit their needs, lifestyle, and time frames
What’s the best way to communicate with a prospect? The way they want to communicate, and the more options you can give a prospect, the more likely it is you’ll generate a lead and start a conversation. Business owners want all prospects to pick up the phone and give us their name, phone number, model selection and of course credit card (LOL).
But the reality is that only a small percentage of prospects will actually do that, at least on their first interaction with your company. And since a high percentage of customers and prospects will visit your website before they interact with you, the more options you give a prospect to contact you the more likely it is that they will. So, it just makes sense to offer at least these 6 options:
1. Website Chat
2. Facebook Messenger
3. Facebook Chat Bots
4. Text via a mobile phone
5. Phone
6. E-mail
5 – Improved shopping convenience and delivery speed, both online and in-store
Savvy retailers are making it easier than ever before to cater to the wants and need of today’s buyers. So, if you want to compete, you need to adapt as well.
Ever heard of BOPIS? It stands for Buy Online, Pick Up in Store. In addition to BOPIS, there are other buying adjustments you should consider. Take your que from retailers outside the pool and spa industry and see what they offer. Some of these ideas include:
• Special hours for seniors, first responders – open 30 minutes early (grocery stores are doing that)
• Free Delivery – just set reasonable distance limits
• No touch/curbside pick-up – the buyer pulls up to your store front, calls you, pops the trunk and you drop in the water care or accessory products
6 – Worry-free and easy-to-navigate websites and e-commerce stores
Stop putting it off – get your online store done now, then start promoting it. If you’re like my other clients, it will more than pay for itself and increase your cash flow almost immediately. Need help or advice on setting up your e-commerce site? Give us a call.
If you’re going to start selling products, services, and accessories online, you’ll need to have a secure website to accept payments. This means https versus http. Talk to your webmaster on what is required to get this done.
Speaking of e-commerce, you may want to consider additional forms of payment other than traditional credit cards, cash, or check. This includes things like PayPal and Venmo.
7 – Buying with confidence
Other than price and salesperson, what criteria do prospects use to decide to buy from you versus your competitor? It usually comes down to product warranties, after the sale service and of course dealer reputation and reviews.
Product warranties is mostly set by your manufacturers, but after sale service and reputation are definitely things you can control. Great dealers know that having a responsive and well-trained service department is critical, so I am not going to spend any time writing about that here. What I will concentrate on is improving your reputation and generating more 5-star reviews.
Having plenty of high-quality reviews from a variety of review sites can make the difference in a prospect buying from you or the dealer across town. Now, you may be thinking, “Why do I need more reviews? I already have 58, 73, 118, etc.” The answer is, no matter how many reviews you have now, it’s never enough.
BrightLocal conducted a survey that asked consumers for a typical local business, how recent does an online review need to be to be relevant. 69% of the respondents said within two months.
So, the conclusion is that you need to constantly get new reviews. The fact that you have 143 positive reviews is good but if those reviews are over a year old then they’re not as effective as they should be.
From what I’ve seen, most retailers don’t have a formal system in place to either ask for or promote reviews. Traditional ways that dealers “ask” customers to leave a review is just by adding a “Review Us” button somewhere on their website. Although this is certainly “better than nothing,” it is a very passive method and the results are usually “ok” at best.
And even though most every business at some point gets positive reviews, many owners don’t realize the huge sales and profit potential they are missing by not having an active reviews marketing system in place.
We suggest that you implement a system to help you generate more reviews. The past several years has seen a variety of review system “pop up.” We developed the Dealer Automated Reviews System (DARS) (https://DealerAutomtedReviewsSystem.com) for our clients and it has been very effective.
Conclusion
The pandemic has already changed the way consumers buy products and services both online and in-store. Your customers now expect more buying and delivery options as well as faster service. Business owners that “get” this and adapt quickly will generate more sales today and gain continued loyalty well into the future. Implementing systems and automation can help you achieve your goals faster and more efficiently all at a nominal cost.
Stay positive, stay strong, stay safe, stay healthy ?
About David Carleton
David Carleton is a Local Business Marketing Consultant who specializes in showing small business owners how to spend less and get more from their marketing and advertising using low cost strategies in local business marketing, lead generation and conversion, Internet marketing and social media.
Dave was Vice President of Dimension One Spas for 6 years where he developed sales; marketing and training programs that helped hundreds of dealers in 30 countries around the world generate leads, increase sales and enhance their overall marketing effectiveness.
Need help? Feel free to call me anytime. We can discuss how to improve your website, your current led gen strategies, Internet Marketing – it’s up to you.
