With the pandemic restrictions far behind us, business is back to usual – or as usual as anything is in our brave new world. Have you thought about your small business’s pandemic-related info? During the pandemic, most businesses took the reasonable step of posting updates on their website, social media and Google My Business page, telling their customers about new opening hours, restricted services, and more.
However, if you’ve gone back to regular business but your digital presence is communicating something different, you need to update your pandemic-related info. If not, you’ll run the risk of losing out on crucial business opportunities.
Why updating your small business’s pandemic-related info matters
Customers will get the wrong info about your business
They say what you don’t know can’t hurt you – but what your customers don’t know can hurt your business. While it might seem fairly obvious, if your business info is incorrectly listed, you’re missing out on potential customers. Examples include:
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- Incorrect business hours
If your customers are being told your small business is closed when it’s actually open, they won’t visit your store and you’ll lose their business. Your company will also display as ‘closed’ on Google, so people looking for products or services you offer will assume you won’t actually be there to take their money.
- Incorrect business hours
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- Restricted services
During the pandemic, some of your small business’s services may have been put on hold. However, now that the restrictions have been lifted, you need to let your customers know that you are back to offering the services they know and love.
- Restricted services
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- Delayed delivery times
One of the effects of the pandemic was a delay in deliveries. This forced many small business owners to put notices to that effect on their website and socials. If customers are still being told that deliveries will be delayed, they are likely to choose a competitor who is promising faster turnaround times.
- Delayed delivery times
- Unnecessary safety measures
If you own a physical store, you may have put notices up to warn customers that face masks are required. In our new mask-free world, customers are unlikely to want to pull out their old cloth mask just to visit your store, so if this is no longer a requirement, remove it from your site and socials.
- Poor user experiences
On many small business websites, COVID-related updates took the form of pop-ups and/or static info bars taking up priority space (such as sitting above the menu bar). If customers have to close a health and safety pop-up every time they visit your site, they’re likely to get frustrated – and frustrated people aren’t very likely to buy your products or use your services.
Customers will think that your small business doesn’t pay attention to detail
Would you trust someone who always loses their keys to pet-sit your dog? After all, if they can’t remember where they put your keys, how can you be sure that they’ll remember to feed your furry friend?
Most consumers nowadays have a similar mindset, albeit more subconscious than conscious.
In a highly-competitive marketplace, especially for small businesses, the smallest of mistakes can see your customers run to your competitors. This makes paying attention to detail an extremely important element of any small business’s success.
If your site still has outdated pandemic info from a few years ago, potential customers will think that your company is not run very well. This is an assumption that they may pass on to your products or services. The same applies to any other time-sensitive info, such as event listings, special offers and more. All your info should be 100% up to date and relevant to customers today.
Update your small business’s pandemic info now to foster customer confidence & avoid missing out on business opportunities
As we’ve outlined above, updating your small business’s pandemic info is a bigger deal than it might seem. We highly recommend going through all your digital platforms to ensure that everything’s up to date and relevant to both new and existing customers. You never know what opportunities you’ve been missing out on.
GroWise Capital is an alternative funding partner for South African small businesses that prides itself on getting you the funding you need seriously fast and without hassle. We are passionate about giving small businesses funding to accelerate growth and reach new heights of success, putting the cash in your account within 24 hours – sometimes as quickly as 45 minutes.
If you’d like to take your business to the next level, get in touch with us today or apply online now.
