Now that we’re getting used to the COVID-19 crisis, and unpredictability has become something that our businesses can cope with and adapt to more easily, it’s time to decide how to spend the rest of this most alarming and unprecedented year. Your aims, when considering which areas of your business to analyze and change, are twofold.

First, you need to prioritize the business-crucial elements of your operations and logistics. Second, you need to consider how you could feasibly improve those crucial elements in a short amount of time. Given these two provisos, here are three areas of your business to review and analyze this year to ensure it can weather the storm and come out on the other side fully intact.

Optimizing and Streamlining Your Biz Online Performance

Across the board, COVID-19 has meant that more people are spending time online, shopping for products and services, online news, digital magazines, and blog readership figures all have gone up, as well as social media use has increased. Website visitors and page views are up, and e-commerce sales have also taken a boost from the lost shopping yields on the high street. Overall, the online cyber-highway is busier than ever before – and you want to be enjoying a comparable boost in your own fortunes during this difficult time.

·       So: have you found that you’re making more money online in 2020 overall?

·       Are you noticing more traffic from organic searches on Google, Yahoo, and Bing?

·       Have your social media channel followings and engagement improved? If so, how you noticed an increase in click-throughs?

·       Are you seeing a reduction of abandoned carts and increase an in customers completing the sale?

·       Did you notice whether the total customer value of each sale increased?

·       Have you built an email list of engaged subscribers and customers? If so, are you seeing an increase in email open and click through rates?

·       Have you generated more views and sales due to the predilection of people to be searching and shopping online?

These are a few questions that you need to answer through analysis to guide smart changes to your online infrastructure in the latter half of this year. If your customer base and revenue have not increased during the first part of the year, it’s time to evaluate the reasons why.

Top-Notch Customer Service to all Customers/Clients

Never has excellent customer service been so crucial for businesses attempting to navigate the post-pandemic world. You need your staff to be on the ball when it comes to their communications with clients and customers - and you need to be making those customers and clients feel comfortable with their relationships with your brand. If your customers feel neglected or unsatisfied, they will go elsewhere. Now, is the critical time to overhaul your customer service programs and incentives and train your employees to ensure all customers and clients receive the best possible service. There are too many other choices for consumers to explore if your customer service is lacking. It’s that simple.

As such, one innovation that can be incredibly helpful for your business is unified communications software. This software enables you to take an overview of all of the different communications platforms that you’re operating within your business – both internally and with external individuals – to monitor, assess, and analyze your communications. With this ability to view all of your communications through a single portal, you’ll be able to suggest changes to help your customers trust your business more. Essentially, you’ll be able to track all stated KPIs and benchmarks, determining strong and weak areas on micro and macro levels.

Importance of Scheduled Package Delivery Times

Many people remain in their homes after being told to stay at home by the government. These include vulnerable people who are scared of getting ill and people who have been able to change their working routine to incorporate working from home more regularly. As such, fewer people are visiting brick and mortar shops and stores – and more people are shopping online and having items delivered to their door.

If your business isn’t accurate and competitive in delivery – and you’re disappointing customers with long lead times, canceled orders, and missed delivery slots – then you’re unlikely to be chosen as a trusted business for them to buy from again. The importance of swift and accurate delivery cannot be overstated in the post-pandemic world – and to improve your business, you need to make sure that you’re analyzing all of your delivery slots to confirm your customers’ packages are delivered on time and they are happy.

If your business delivery time has lagged in the past or you had problems fulfilling orders, then you could offer free shipping on all orders and returns to help make up for the shortfall. Or you can go one step further by offering free shipping on all items and returns for 30 days or for an entire quarter to build up that trust once again. Brainstorm creative ways to provide interesting offers to your customers so they remain loyal.

These three areas of your business should be a priority of assessment and change this year, helping you redirect your energies to fulfill customer expectations in 2020. If your business falls short in any of these areas, then it’s time to optimize those weak spots to enhance your customer satisfaction and, in turn, which can increase your overall revenue. There are just too many options for consumers to choose from today.