4 Ways to Grow Online Customer Loyalty During COVID-19

Many retailers have had to expand online in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. With social distancing and quarantine regulations in place, a brick and mortar store must evolve to meet their customer needs in the digital space. Here are four ways that you can grow and maintain online customer loyalty during COVID-19

1. Comprehensive Storefront

You want to make sure that all the inventory in your online store is up to date. There’s nothing worse for a customer than finding the perfect item, only to discover that it’s out of stock or backordered.

While you can manually update your site from day to day, there are a number of inventory monitoring and updating extensions and plugins you can use, too. Here are some of the top inventory management tools for the most popular e-commerce platforms.

WordPress

●       WP Inventory Manager

●       TradeGecko

●       ATUM Inventory Management

●       WooCommerce Rapid Stock Manager

●       Z Inventory Manager

BigCommerce

●       BrightPearl

●       Stitch Labs

●       Order Desk

●       Pulse Commerce

●       SKU Labs

Magento

●       Aitoc

●       AppJetty

●       MageStore

●       Amasty

●       Wyomind

Shopify

●       Simple Inventory

●       Stocky

●       StockSync

●       ShipHero

2. Personalize the Shopping Experience

A global pandemic creates a lot of stress and disarray that may be affecting your customers on a daily basis. During this difficult time, you want to ensure that there is an extra layer of sensitivity in every aspect of your business — from marketing to customers and tailoring your outreach to sending the right message with coupons and buying incentives.

Aim to build a deeper, stronger relationship with your customers, and personalizing their shopping experience to reflect what they may be dealing with during COVID-19 is a great place to start.

Consider offering low-cost or free delivery options, providing gloves and masks to in-store shoppers, and updating customers on the availability of the most popular products before they even need to ask. You should also consider responsive design for your online store, as over 50% of people who shop online are using a smartphone or tablet.

3. Marketing Incentives

Since each state is at various stages of reopening, you should be considering your plan for welcoming back in-store customers or maintaining your level of responsiveness for those who decide to continue shopping online. Once you’ve grown your online customer base, you must continue catering to their needs — even when your store reopens.

Creating customer loyalty programs exclusive to online shoppers is one way to increase and maintain your new target audience. Your program could include:

●       Points-Based Rewards

●       Reduced Shipping Costs

●       Exclusive Online Coupons

●       Early Access to Restocked Items

●       Weekly/Monthly Sweepstakes

4. Versatile Pick Up & Delivery Options

With many states still keeping strict COVID-19 social distancing regulations in place, it can be tough for any brick and mortar store to provide their customers with everything they need. In addition to expanding your online services, you should focus heavily on delivery and pick-up options for your customers. Some important points to consider here include:

●       Creating a pick-up schedule where customers can choose a convenient time slot to get their online orders.

●       Developing a convenient system that allows customers to call the store when they arrive and receive online orders without ever leaving the car.

●       Low-cost or free shipping options that every customer is eligible for throughout the pandemic.

●       Expanding your delivery fleet with more drivers that are briefed on COVID-19 sanitation and safety requirements.

With these simple ideas, you have the tools to grow your online customer base and maintain their loyalty throughout COVID-19 and beyond. Apply them to your business today to discover which solutions work best for you and your customers.