The COVID-19 Pandemic has led businesses to decrease their in-store capacity significantly. Companies were hit with the perfect storm, as Covid-19 lockdowns funnelled more inquiries to call centres while also constraining the number of employees available to field them. People are lining up outside clothing stores, parlours, hospitals, offices or auto repair shops, as consumer waiting areas are closed to reduce the virus attack. People are anticipating longer and more frequently for a variety of services.
Social distancing, while good for public well-being, is terrible for most online businesses. Foot traffic has dwindled steeply since the coronavirus outbreak as more and more consumers stay home and self-quarantine. Many business proprietors are concerned that the impact of COVID-19 will be more profound and more long-lasting than expected. As a result, exporters in every business are looking for solutions to manage their customers throughout the lockdown. Here are some suggestions to keep your employees and customers engaged and happy from a distance.
- Provide options: Try to provide alternative sources to satisfy your customer’s needs, that can be in the form of an intuitive eCommerce site. Online chat functionality can help reduce capacity constraints by enabling service agents to handle multiple queries concurrently. Even a precisely formulated and well-organised FAQ set can help some customers avoid the queues and get responses to basic inquiries.
- Set an Accurate wait-time: It’s strange but true that “Known delays feel shorter than unknown delays”. Only by establishing an accurate wait time expectation, you can earn your customers trust, and therefore consumers will feel better about the act of waiting. For instance, post regularly, update chats or call wait times on your page so that people comprehend what they’re getting into before reaching out for help or compensation. Consolidate the same message into an automated greeting. This will help you to keep your customers relaxed and happy.
- Communicate Periodically: Your consumers will be full of uncertainty in this situation and will be looking for the corporations they rely on for direction and certainty. The best way to alleviate stress and anxiety is to communicate periodically and convince them how your company responds to the Pandemic and how it will help them. When interacting with clients about your business’s actions, it’s important to practice empathy and express your company’s collective support to your client’s home.
- Social Media to the rescue: Being connected, reaching out to your customers will help to have a healthy connection with your clients or consumers. With the help of social media, automated marketing, and an active website, you will keep communication channels open, discuss your community’s needs, and stay in touch till our lives get back to normal, and it’s business as usual. Go digital with your services to continue to provide access to your consumers. Teachers, personal coaches and therapists are available virtually. So use a free tool like Google Hangouts, Skype or Zoom to extend your services remotely and make your customers engaged and happy.
