Hollie Tudor-Smith of Dragonfly Creative outlines the importance of marketing during these challenging times, with some tips on enhancing your customers experience online. This follows the first article in this series which looked at tips for boosting a company’s social media presence.

The global pandemic of COVID-19 will be one of the most memorable events of 2020 and likely of the whole decade. The virus will have implications that could potentially change the way we work, socialise and even spend money. For example, TNS data showed that during the SARS outbreak shopping for non-essentials dropped, especially at shopping centres and department stores, with the most severe negative figures in Taiwan (-44%), but also in China (-38%) and Hong Kong (-30%).

With this in mind, UK consumer spending is already increasingly moving to online platforms. Statista previously noted that by 2021 roughly 93 percent of UK internet users are expected to do online shopping, the highest online shopping penetration rate in Europe.

A business’ relationship with its customers should be based on an understanding of their journey so that their experience and the outcome for the organisation can be maximised. From the moment a customer looks at a company’s products or services to the moment they physically purchase them, they should experience a simple, easy and supportive process. Forbes has noted that ‘companies with a customer experience mindset drive revenue 4-8% higher than the rest of their industries.’

This is a great time to work on online customer and user experience. It is very important that an audience is able to engage with a brand name, your brand values, and a product or service easily and quickly. This will enable customers to build a lasting relationship and trust in a company.

In addition, an audience will be more interested if a brand is offering a unique user experience. Customers no longer just base their loyalty on price or product, but instead stay loyal with companies that offer a good experience. These are eight things you should consider when trying to boost your online business:

1) Interact with customers on multiple channels
In a report by PWC, the number of companies investing in an omni-channel experience has increased from 20% in 2010 to more than 80% in 2020. It is good practice to ensure that a  business is easily found on multiple social media platforms, via a website and in business directories.

2) Ensure your website is mobile friendly
It takes 05 seconds for a user to form an opinion about your website that determines whether or not they like it and whether they will stay or leave. 50% of users will not bother to use a website if it isn’t mobile-friendly.

3) Use images
Visual data is processed 60,000 times faster by the brain than text. Using photos and images is essential to set the tone of a brand, keep people interested and get a message across quickly.

4) Keep your website content short.
Users spend an average of 5.94 seconds looking at a website’s main image. Communications should be clear and to the point.

5) Listen to customer feedback and react
It is important to ensure that on all your online channels customers have an opportunity to provide feedback. For those customers who provide feedback, responses should be provided within a short period in line with any commitments on addressing feedback that you make.

6) Clearly show all contact channels
88% of consumers who search for a type of business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours. There is a chance that businesses could be missing out on custom because contact deals are not clear and highlighted.

7) Be consistent
Nearly all customers have multiple channels and devices available to them when researching or buying a product online. In the UK, more than 60% of online adults use at least two devices every day and nearly 25% use three devices. It is important to be consistent on all platforms, ensuring they all use the same branding guidelines and have identical messages.

8) Constantly maintain and up-date information
Customers should be updated about a business regularly. This engages them, raises a company’s profile and keeps clients interested in your brand’s news.

While these are just a few ideas, it is important to be mindful that 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience. In conclusion, everything tells us that bad website design, outdated aesthetics and low usability are major credibility killers.

To further enhance a user experience, why not send out a survey to loyal customers and find out how you can help them have a better experience with your brand online.

This article on customer experience is the second in a series of marketing tips, prepared by Hollie Tudor-Smith of Dragonfly Creative. If you have any questions or need support during this difficult time, then please contact Dragonfly Creative.