This year, 2020, has been a unique year for us. It has brought us a global pandemic, a divisive election year, and an economy that has taken a dive. We also face the coming colder months which will force most of us inside. The last thing we want to be thinking about is the holiday season. However, we need to start planning for it now, if we haven’t already started.
According to the National Retail Federation, the holiday season amounts to about 20% of annual retail sales. It is a significant part of the year’s revenue. Your business depends on maximizing the potential of the upcoming season.
Operational Strategy
We should survey the environment and use analysis to determine our strategy. While this can get complicated, we can see that the holiday season this year will likely be filled with uncertainty due to COVID-19. Many experts are expecting the flu season to cross with the pandemic. This could exasperate an already complicated situation. Consumers may not want to be in public buildings, if they remain open. As a result, we need to maximize the efficacy of remote shopping.
It is important to make sure that you have the processes in place to meet and exceed consumer demand. It will make the difference between doing well and not doing well this year.
What We Can Learn From Amazon This Holiday Season
Large competitors like Amazon already do this very well. Most of us already know how easy Amazon makes it to buy almost anything online. Amazon already has a large segment of the market share since customers know to shop there for ease, price, and a wide range of products.
Maybe you are already partnered with Amazon and sell your products through their site. Whatever your relationship is with them, it doesn’t mean that you can’t try to emulate them. You want to make the purchase process with your business smooth, convenient, and pleasurable.
You and your business are unique and can offer things that Amazon cannot. Customers want to shop with you! Here are some basic things that you can do to make the remote shopping experience memorable. Some of these you may have already implemented.
- Establish an ecommerce section on your site, or go through your existing interface to make sure it is clean, efficient, and easy to shop.
- Review your back-of-house operations. Once the orders come in, do you have the right people with the right process in the right places? Are you set up to fulfill the orders quickly and efficiently?
- Make sure your product assortments and correct inventory levels are managed. This will allow you to make sure you can capitalize on every sale opportunity.
- Get creative! Do you want to offer local same-day delivery in-house? What about offering curb-side pick-up? Do you want to offer some of your products or services remotely? Outdoors?
These are a few ideas. What is important is to make it as easy and safe for customers to shop your business this holiday season. Make your business stand out! Customers can shop anywhere. You want them to shop with you and there is no better time of year to do it than the holidays.
This leads us to another area where you can make a huge impact…
Customer Service
I know, I know. Everybody talks about customer service. Well, there are good reasons for talking about it. There are a lot of metrics out there which highlight the importance of customer service when it comes to deciding where to spend money. Salesforce compiled a nice list for us to look at. It doesn’t matter where you look, the statistics say the same anywhere you find them. We will cover a few of the basics here.
- Positive customer interactions matter. 80% of customers say that their shopping experience is as important as the products or service. Customers are four times more likely to shop at a competitor if the problem they experience is from customer service.
- Bad experiences make an impact. There is a majority of American customers who have decided not to make a purchase because of poor customer service. It can take 12 positive customer experiences to remedy one bad experience. Not to mention that 62% of customers say that they share their bad experiences with others!
- It’s cheaper to keep customers than attract new ones. It can cost 6-7 times as much to attract a new customer than keep an existing one.
- You may not know that a customer has had a bad experience. It was reported in this survey that 91% of customers who left unhappy from a business did so without complaining! This can be a huge problem because you wouldn’t even know it. Your sales could appear to be slumping without any noticeable reason why.
We know that these statistics can be scary. But we can all relate in some ways. We are customers ourselves. It is easy to be turned away from a bad experience. The good news is that many of these are very controllable.
Steps to Take for Improving Your Customer Service
So what can we do? If we want to capitalize on this holiday season we need to look at the details to make us stand out.
- Hire the right people. This is easier said that done, but it’s essential for the reasons listed above. Do you have the right processes in place to vet candidates? Make sure you have the right outreach to find them? Do you offer the right pay or benefits/incentives to attract the best talent?
- Train them well. Now that you have the right people, do you have the right training programs in place? Do they know how to handle customer interactions? Do they know how to manage and escalate a problem so that they customer does not wind up with a poor experience? As we’ve seen, most of the time customers will leave without complaining. Knowing how to “read a room” is an important trait.
- Put them in the right places. Most employees will have strong character traits in some areas but may be a little weaker in others. If you have the flexibility, put the employees in areas that cater to their talents to get the most out of them. This is especially important if they are seasonal help because they won’t be on year-round.
There are so many things that we can talk about with regards to customer service. Remember: good experiences will help you stand out, bad experiences will hurt you. Providing the right experiences for your customers is never more important than in 2020. One of my favorite sayings is “retail is detail.” This can be applied to areas outside of retail, but the point could not be any more clear. The businesses that succeed pay close attention to the details. The 2020 holiday season is right around the corner. By planning and executing a sound strategy, it will help you maximize that 20% of your annual revenue potential this season.
Advertising and Marketing Through Social Media
It is a changing world, and we need to change with it. We need to find new alternatives to how we used to do business. We need to focus on the methods that make the most sense. In today’s world, people are staying home and want shop from the comfort of their living room. So how do you take advantage of this situation?
The first step is to put yourself into the shoes of your customer. They are at home behind their home computers. Most folks have social media and are likely perusing there. This is a point of entry you can take. You want to reach them where they are. They won’t be in your physical store, but they will be at home.
With the holiday season comes new challenges. It is the busiest time of the year for shoppers. How do you compensate for this in this “new normal”? You want people to know you’re prepared for the season. Yet you also want to “grab their attention” so they know they can trust in you. There are two major aspects you should pay close attention to.
The Copy is Important
Pay attention to the words you are using. Well-written copy is essential to grabbing the attention of your customers, especially on social media. On social media you will have limited space to get your message across. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but count on the mantra “less is more.”
Try to use positive language. Using positive language will get your customers more engaged in what you have to say. Connect with them on a personal level whenever you can. Let them know you understand how difficult it is right now, and how you want to help them.
If you use this strategy you can then lead them into whatever promotion or other special update you want to communicate. In fact, the promotion should be tied in with the personal connection.
Make sure you proofread everything to ensure it says everything you want it to. Gear your message toward your potential customer. Remember: put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself the question: “What would I want to hear from this company?”
The Visual Components Tell a Story, Too
You know the old saying (a cliché at this point), “A picture is worth a thousand words.” It is a true enough statement, and one you needn’t forget. Copy is half the puzzle. Using the right graphic design elements can elevate any campaign.
Using the right visuals will allow you to connect with your customers in a way words cannot. You can “show” them instead of telling them.
Using images and visuals that compliment your copy. You want these two elements to work in harmony. When they work in harmony is when they are most effective at reaching your primary audience.
Colors are very important. Dark colors will affect your customers far differently than lighter/brighter colors. Soft edges will affect them differently than hard edges, and so on. The key is striking a balance. Tell a story with your images. It will make all the difference.
Conclusion
These are just three aspects to look at this holiday season. There are many more you can look at. The key is to focus on what you can do this year, and what you’re probably already doing. 2020 is unlike any year we’ve experiences, so making adjustments accordingly is what will keep you afloat.