Time to re-engage with customers

The last year has been very difficult for some companies, to say the least. Most businesses have had to deal with some fallout from Covid-19 and some had to close completely, deemed as non-essential during the pandemic.

To compound this, some firms stopped communicating with their customer base completely, as marketing and sales staff were put on furlough.

Some businesses were fearful they may communicate the wrong message and appear insensitive for being seen to carry on as usual. It was a difficult balancing act for sure, especially during the first few months of the initial lockdown.

For those who have not engaged or reduced communication with their customers, it’s time to give your marketing a boost and re-engage with your audience.

Statistics from the economic recession of 2008 show businesses that invested in sales and marketing actually came out much stronger.

Over the coming months, you need to stay in close contact with customers, monitoring their buying behaviour, getting feedback, understanding what’s important to them as restrictions start to ease.

We are going through a period of dramatic change. People are changing their buying behaviour. They want to have strong confidence in their buying decisions and answers to their buying questions lightning fast.

Customers also want to feel connected to the businesses they buy from, they want to feel part of that community.

The psychological impact of the pandemic has been huge, with a massive rise in people reporting feelings of loneliness, anxiety and exhaustion.

If you don’t allow customers to get under the skin of your business and understand what makes you tick from a human perspective, you are missing a trick. Be real, be human, be transparent and have fun, goodness knows we all need a bit of that at the moment.

Video marketing has been increasing over the last few years. This is nothing new but during the pandemic more time at home has meant more time on our screens.

Trends show the average person will spend 100 minutes a day watching video in 2021. Mentioning the word “video” in your email subject line boosts open rates and embedding videos on landing pages can increase conversions by up to 80%.

Also, as customers move to purchasing even more products online, which is only set to grow, people want to see more evidence of real customers in your marketing and social media.

Again this is nothing new but stats show 66% of online customers are more likely to purchase a product if the website has social media posts with pictures and videos from real customers.

They are also seeking it out themselves. A quarter of customers report searching for photos or videos of real people using a product or service. Customers expect and want to see authentic visual user-generated content.

Businesses had to make some tough choices in 2020 and the pandemic has changed the way customers buy and engage. Some of those changes are here to stay.

If you would like to give your marketing a boost, join the MHA Henderson Loggie marketing team on May 4 at 11am.

Details can be found on our website: hlca.co.uk

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE: Jacqueline Watson says customers want to feel connected to businesses they buy from.