Moving Forward from COVID-19: How to Assist Customers in Their Online Decision Making
The coronavirus pandemic is still affecting everything about our daily lives, including how people conduct business. For both consumers and companies alike, the way we interact on the internet has been permanently altered and continues to evolve. Businesses now have two choices: adapt to the digital landscape or die. From your website to your social media pages, every interaction a customer has with your company should be positive and aid in their decision-making journey.
Customer Confidence
Many customers in the B2B industry are not very tolerant of companies with difficult websites with unclear navigational tools and properties. Your company's website should be easy to navigate through, so customers feel at ease and more confident about any questions they may have.
Many B2B companies have made sure to keep their websites updated with the current pandemic going on. Still, it is even more important to continue these technological adaptation skills that have been being used towards the company websites in the future because it guarantees better results.
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Ted Waldron and James Wetherbe, authors from the Harvard Business Review site, discussed this topic mentioning that "The temporary improvements that satisfy customers now may become permanent improvements to your company's business model in the future."
Administering customers with steps or announcements online from the business is a necessity. It makes those customers aware that your company is applying a course of action to take the next steps moving forward. It is crucial to bring front and center some of the essential contents for the customers to understand what and how the Coronavirus pandemic will impact them.
Being as translucent as possible and letting your customers know what to do and what they will receive will put the company in better standing even beyond the current situation. After all, it is well known that excellent customer confidence eventually leads to outstanding customer experience.
Customer Experience
Customer experience entails how successful and polished the buyer and seller's interaction was from the buyer's perspective. For businesses to provide a great customer experience within any industry, the customer should be confident in their decisions, and the company selling to the buyer should make the whole process run smoothly.
Although this concept is easy to comprehend and sounds quite simple, it is not always that easy to obtain satisfactory customer service online. B2B Companies should pinpoint what features to adjust on their website and how to make the website as easy to navigate as possible.
As the Coronavirus continues, many B2B companies have added new content to their website, whether it addresses the steps they will take as a company, how to move further as a customer, the current availability of their products, etc.
Kelsey McKeon, a content developer and marketer at Clutch, mentioned, "Easy navigation features should be companies' top priority when creating a new design. By adding simple, responsive navigation toolbars and menus, companies can create an intuitive user experience. Businesses should also incorporate a blend of current trends and timeless design elements for an evergreen design that people will still find modern."
Read the Blog: How to Pivot Marketing and Sales Processes as a B2B Company
Adopting and incorporating these helpful digital navigational features allows customer engagement to be simple and much more pleasant, which is then known to increase customer experience.
A blog authored by Nicolas Maechler from McKinsey & Company mentions that "In parallel, as customer experience improves, employee satisfaction tends to increase as well because a more direct connection with customers adds meaning to employees' work and helps them witness customer satisfaction."
Knowing that you did your best as a B2B company to ensure the best possible customer experience leaves such a positive feeling of satisfaction among the company's employees. Making all of those digital adjustments as a B2B company is crucial because it lets those customers walk away satisfied and hopeful to come back in the future for the same experience.
Reputation
Having an online presence as a company gives you the power and opportunity to potentially stand out to customers regarding your web design. As you build up more loyal customers to your company, your company's reputation will become more well known.
A ThriveHive blog by Kristen McCormick states that "A good business reputation is important because it can help distinguish you from competitors, and even be the deciding factor in whether someone chooses you over them." When those B2B customers choose your company over the others, it is expected that they will share their positive experience with other people and companies.
The design layout and features of a website can have a lot to do with a customer's experience, which is why it is essential to take pride in how your website helps to assist those customers with whatever they are looking for in the easiest way possible. Doing so will give the company a good reputation among customers, which builds customer loyalty and growth.
It is crucial to keep up with your company's reputation by simply communicating with customers digitally regarding the current pandemic. An article on Chatmeter discusses the different ways to protect the health of your business, mentioning that "brands can protect their reputation during a Coronavirus outbreak by monitoring and responding to customer reviews, social comments, and questions on Google Q&A."
Often, there can be negative reviews or comments made by previous customers or even random people on different websites that can threaten your company. It is imperative to reply and address those reviews, whether they are good or bad, showing your company is present and willing to deal with the unhappy customers directly. Sometimes, random people you are sure of have never been a customer of your company decide to make harsh comments about your company on reviews (it happens more than you think).
When this happens, your company should reply to the comments regarding never selling to that specific individual. Sometimes people can leave their comments on the wrong company, or some people can pretend to be someone they're not in hopes of negatively affecting your B2B company's reputation. No matter the circumstance, it is always critical to consider these reviews and address them directly.
Companies should prioritize their digital presence and how potential customers are interacting with them online. Make sure that your marketing dollars don't go to waste on strategies that aren't effective. If your company is looking for experts to help you allocate resources and create an optimized game-plan, our team is ready to develop and execute a plan of action for you.
For more information on how your business can grow with digital marketing, contact us for a free consultation with our team!
Sources
Maechler, Nicolas. "Finding the Right Digital Balance in B2B Customer Experience." McKinsey & Company, McKinsey & Company, 28 Apr. 2017, www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/finding-the-right-digital-balance-in-b2b-customer-experience.
McCormick, Kristen. "Why Is Having a Good Reputation Important?" Why Is Having a Good Reputation Important?, ThriveHive, 24 Jan. 2017, thrivehive.com/why-is-having-a-good-reputation-important/.
McKeon, Kelsey. Top 6 Website Features People Value. Clutch, 2018, Top 6 Website Features People Value, clutch.co/web-designers/resources/top-6-website-features-people-value.
Waldron, Ted, and James Wetherbe. "How Managers Can Support Remote Employees MARKETING Ensure That Your Customer Relationships Outlast Coronavirus." Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business School, 1 Apr. 2020, hbr.org/2020/04/ensure-that-your-customer-relationships-outlast-coronavirus.
"5 Tips to Protect Your Brand's Reputation During COVID-19 Outbreak." Chatmeter, Chatmeter, 11 Mar. 2020, www.chatmeter.com/blog/5-tips-to-protect-your-brands-reputation-during-the-covid-19-outbreak/.
