We are practically living in emergency circumstances and even during a pandemic, every company website should take care of some very important aspects. Businesses that are equipped to promptly respond during an emergency situation gain the benefit of clear communication with the clients and prevent the spread of misinformation. In times of crisis, every company must know how to quickly adopt an appropriate marketing strategy that shares updated information with the people.
This is the time when being perceptive and responsive is important and this can be done by updating the factors like operations and the marketing strategy.
Here is a list of factors that every business should amend and display during the times of crisis:
#1 Update Your Website
The first place where people will go to for getting information about your business is your website. Therefore, it is highly important that your website should provide the most relevant information about the changes in your business. This includes the changes in the business hours and the changes in the products and services if any. Your website should be updated with this important information so that people can approach you accordingly. You can include information about business operations and the health and safety measures that are undertaken in your office. You can also create a new landing page for featuring the latest information about your company or services.
Related : How Can You Improve The Trust Of Your Visitors On Your Website?
#2 Modify The Menu/Navigation Of Your Website
In order to make it easier for the people to find the important content, it is recommended to add the relevant links in your main navigation menu. You can also add the links in an alert bar that is positioned above the navigation menu. These links should quickly take people to the important pages on your website that they might want to check out or to a landing page that you have specifically created for the critical time of crisis. Make sure that the title of this new navigation item is very short. Also, irrespective of a pandemic situation, it’s always a great idea to make the relevant updates to website navigation in order to keep it up-to-date.
Related : Website Navigation Improvement : What Should You Do?
#3 Use Pop-Ups Or Banners
Using pop-ups or banners is one of the most convenient ways to grab the attention of your clients for providing them the latest updates. It’s a quick and easy way to spread a word about any changes in the working hours, limited inventory, delays in shipping or any new changes made to service availability. Ensure that your pop-ups immediately grab the visitors’ attention.
#4 Re-Visit The Online Listings
Along with your website, online listings should also portray the right information about your company. If someone looks up for your company name on Google, that person should get the right information about your business operating hours. If your business hours have changed following the recent pandemic, it is important to update the new working hours on your Google listing as well. Your online listings must feature the most useful and up-to-date information as it is a great platform for your business to receive and respond to any feedback by your clients.
#5 Edit The Social Media Posts
Your social media accounts help people in gaining an insight about the purpose and mission of your brand. All your social media accounts are easy ways for the people to access updated information about your business brand and they also provide you a convenient way to communicate with your clients and general public. In case of a crisis situation, you can slow down your posts or publish the right posts with the relevant information and the right tone. All your social media posts should contain the appropriate messages and they should be sensitive about the people who are suffering. It is important to ensure that you respond to any messages and comments received on your social networks.
Related : When Is The Right Time To Post On Social Media Currently (COVID – 19 Outbreak)?
#6 Re-Create The Email Campaigns
It is true that emails are a direct medium of communication with the customers; however, you need to re-analyze your emails during critical situations. Make sure that you are not overloading people with a lot of emails, you must communicate only when it is necessary. The information communicated in your emails should be beneficial and informative. You can include information like the closing of the store location or discount offers that are still available. You can also include information like – what your customers can expect from your business during this time.
#7 Set The Customer Support Expectations
We are all humans and all our struggles are real and we are all going through a difficult time of this pandemic. In case you are in the travel or hotel industry, you might have received an overload of messages through emails, phone messages and live chat regarding cancellations and refunds; this might be true for companies operating in any other industry as well. As many businesses are operating remotely, the customer support representatives might have a difficult time in terms of dealing with all the messages, tickets and chats. You can turn off the live chats in case you won’t be able to manage it and request all the people to send in the queries through email. A good way is to add a banner on the home page or add a post in your FAQ that states the steps for cancellations and refunds.
Related : 7 Brilliant Ways To Stay In Touch With Your Customers During The Lockdown
#8 Update People About Cancelled Events
Conducting a physical event is not possible or if it has to be conducted then it must go according to the restrictions laid out. If you have organized any conference or community event and in case there are any changes in the structure of the event or if you are planning to host the complete event online, your customers, clients, colleagues need to know about it well in advance to avoid any confusion. This information can be updated on your events page, on your website home page or in your blog, you can also share this information through your social media accounts. Let people know that they can attend your events from the comfort of their homes. In case you have completely canceled an event, you should send messages about this update or you must update the information on your website. If you had earlier put up information on various hosting websites, remove the information from those sites and if people have paid to attend your event, you need to initiate the refunds as well if you are not arranging the event in some other way.
Conclusion
A global crisis demands boldness and learning, as a business that is connected to the community, you must be thoughtful in all your updates. Your customers look up to you for getting important information for connecting with your company and you must make sure that all the necessary information is easily accessible. Small steps go a long way in keeping the customer’s trust intact. When the crisis period ends, you can modify the information given on your website to something that’s more appropriate according to the latest updates of your company but in any case, keeping your customers and prospects updated is of prime importance.
