In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses around the world are facing dilemmas due to quarantine restrictions, travel bans, event cancellations, and more. While the fates of many businesses have yet to be determined, many establishments are using this trying time as an opportunity to maintain relationships with customers by re-engineering their digital presence to include solutions to help them continue to get the products and services they need.
In an effort to help reset or maintain their marketing and promotions, businesses can implement various solutions that will not only add to their existing web presence but also aid with visibility and provide a better customer experience during this time.
Landing Page
One thing that businesses can do to enhance their web presence is utilize a landing page to fulfill conversion goals. Landing pages can facilitate a number of conversion actions. A few examples of things businesses may want customers to do on their landing page might include:
- Sign up for email lists or newsletter subscriptions
- Click to call
- Live chat
- Complete event registration
- Complete a lead generation or contacts form
- View inventory or service offerings
Each of these types of actions lead people towards becoming paying customers, which is one of the primary goals of a landing page.
Landing pages also serve as a common tool in internet marketing campaigns, as they aim to optimize the user’s experience by directing them down a specific path without offering distractions. This is most important for users visiting a site for the first time.
Splash Page
Similar to a landing page in the sense that it can deliver important information to the user, a splash page differs in its presentation. It is a window used to promote a product or service before the user enters the website to view the rest of the pages. A splash page, often serves as a company’s first introduction for their website.
Electronic Gift Cards
Similar to physical gift cards or certificates, electronic gift (a.k.a. eGift) cards serve as a convenient alternative to cash for purchases at a particular store or related business. This can be very useful for both businesses and customers when in-person transactions cannot be completed.
Electronics gift cards work just like regular gift cards; however, instead of the user receiving a physical card, the user receives a “gift code,” and this code is usually sent to an email address. Typically, gift codes can be used both online and in brick-and-mortar stores.
Online Ordering
Adding online ordering functionality to a business’ website will not only add to the customer’s experience, but also it can also benefit the business in the long run.
Online ordering is often found to offer the customer a certain level of convenience they would not ordinarily have when physically visiting a store or restaurant. Online ordering often meets the needs of the customer, which can lead to repeat purchases, therefore deepening the relationship with the customer. Businesses often find value in this as they are able to gain valuable insight regarding product performance.
Online Bill Pay
Similar to online ordering, online invoice payment, or “bill pay,” is a convenient tool that helps both customers and companies save time on making transactions. It can also reduce transaction costs and the amount of paper involved in the billing process.
Direct Communication Tools
Communication can be thought of as the lifeblood of any business. In an effort to maintain communication with customers during times when face-to-face interactions are not possible, businesses may want to consider investing in direct communication tools for their website. Direct communication tools often help the business owner not only understand their customers’ needs, but they also help the customer better understand the business’ product and service offerings and its capacity to deliver on the request. Useful direct communication tools can include:
- Live chat and messaging tools
- Video conferencing and screen share platform integration
- Integration of collaborative docs or forums
- File sharing tools
Hopefully, this crisis will end soon; however, it is important to emphasize that strengthening online marketing efforts may not only help to minimize risk and improve a business’ overall position, but it can also enable many businesses to maintain a sense of normality while giving them a competitive edge over competitors who are slow to react.
Interested in learning more about how you can make your site functional? Give Compulse Integrated Marketing a call at 844-821-2154 to connect with us now.