After customers have been reluctant to leave their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have had to develop ways to stay at the forefront of their customers’ minds. Maintaining a loyal customer base can help businesses stay open during and after the pandemic. No matter what type of business you are operating, you can be creative in maintaining customer loyalty.
It is important to showcase all that you do for your customers and employees. You can do this with good-quality content on your social media sites and your website. You shouldn’t try to brag about what you do, but showcase your incentives and ideas with integrity and grace. As you do this, honor the people who are working for you each day and the customers who continue to frequent your business.
1. Financial Businesses Can Offer Start-Up Loans
Small businesses are the ones hurt the most by the COVID-19 shutdowns. These small business owners can benefit from start-up loans to get going and to keep going. When financial institutions help out the little guy with start-up loans, their customers will take notice and remain loyal.
2. Offer Necessary and Timely Products
If your product isn’t flying off of the shelves because it isn’t relevant right now, it might be time to start offering products that are timely and necessary. Consider what people aren’t doing during the pandemic and make changes so you can stay open. For example, companies that normally make various liquors changed to making hand sanitizer. Others that made expensive clothing began making masks instead.
3. Take Care of Your Employees
Businesses that take care of their employees show their customers that they care about people. If your employees have to work on-site, taking care of them means you provide them with personal protection equipment and you pay them for their time. You might even pay them a little more than usual if you can. You do everything that you can to keep them safe in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. Offer Specials for Loyal Customers
If you already have a collection of loyal customers, you do everything that you can to keep them interested in your products. For example, restaurants that have loyal customers can offer them take-out specials that are only accessible to them. If you have a financial institution, you can offer your loyal customers special hours or thank you gifts for remaining loyal. They can even offer special rates on start-up loans.
5. Create A Customer Loyalty Program
If you haven’t already begun a customer loyalty program, now is as good a time as any. You might want to start small with a physical punch card or by collecting phone numbers as a way to track visits and points. It might be worthwhile to access a start-up loan if you want to use an app or other more complicated loyalty program. Make the rewards worth your customers’ time and energy of keeping up with the program.
