COVID-19 has driven us all into self-isolation or quarantine – and it’s for the greater good, of course. But as we all confine ourselves to our homes, each one of us is seeking something to do and pass time with. While some are planning to catch up on their reading list as they work from home, there are others who are spending hours shopping online. And it’s obvious!
Consumers don’t want to worry about having to visit public places for daily necessities like groceries, health supplements and more. That has given Shopify stores a great opportunity to grow over the next few months, as quoted on Forbes.
While it’s a short term strategy in terms of sales, but implementing a few changes on your store could go a long way in keeping your existing customers engaged with your brand and loyal to it. But more importantly, a few strategies could help them calm their mind amidst the panic and assist them in making informed purchases.
Shopify marketing strategies to help online shoppers
1. Ensure they have all the essentials in place with product recommendations
A lot of us are making impulse purchases. All of us want to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, but the panic isn’t helping us make the right purchases. In fact, we go in with a list of products and often get distracted by what others are buying, coming back with none of the essentials we planned on purchasing in the first place.
With a product recommendations Shopify app like Wiser, you can display products related to their search, trending products based on what the market needs, or manually curate a list of products to recommend to prevent COVID-19 that they must have during these times and more.
This helps your customers get everything they need in one go, and also helps you get a customer who will love you for the recommendations. Oh and did we mention, it also helps increase your average order value during these times.
Here’s how Megavitamins is using personalized product recommendations by Wiser to help their consumers make the right purchases in a timely manner:
2. Offer support using a live chat on the store
Everyone wants to know how they can get through these tough times. They want to know what products they should be stocking up on and which products are the best to suit their needs. But with so much information on the internet, it is becoming overwhelming for consumers to use search engine results to make purchase decisions.
Implement a live chat on your store to offer them the support that is similar to that in a brick and mortar store, by using a Shopify app like Re:amaze.
Initiate the conversation by letting them know when you’re online and that you’re available to help them make an informed purchase always. This will help the consumers make the right purchase in the first go and also help you establish a name as a brand that is helpful at all times – especially when they need it the most.
Here’s how Guardian is using the live chat. This also helps them collect the consumer’s contact information in case they drop off:
3. Display how your products help with an Instagram feed
A lot of consumers are having a hard time visualizing how to use products they just bought online or the dosage of health supplements they should be taking, and more. A good way to help these consumers is to ‘show’ them how to use your products or share more information with them than a typical product page does.
Create a lot of informative and visual Instagram posts to make it easy for your consumers to understand how helpful your products are. But more importantly, display it on your store using the Shopify app, InstaPics for Instagram Feed.
The app enables you to showcase the Instagram feed across your Shopify store, letting visitors view posts and videos you have published while remaining on-site, helping them make a purchase decision faster.
Here’s how Major Health Foods is using the app to showcase their Instagram posts on the store pages:
And here’s what’s happens when the shopper clicks on any of the posts – it opens in a popup window, preventing them from being redirected to Instagram. They can simply close the window and continue shopping on your store.
4. Set up a charity page to offer donations to the needy
Based on the resources available to you, now could be a good time to get some good karma on your side. There are certain consumers who may not be able to afford even the basic necessities for themselves. If you can offer charity or make donations to the needy, make sure you highlight it on your store. Also, use the opportunity to welcome donations from the shoppers buying from your store.
With a page builder app like PageFly, you can do this in minutes. The easy to use, drag and drop editor lets you create a quick charity page for your Shopify store, where you can mention the details of how you’re doing your part and how customers can join in.
Also, make sure you’re adding information regarding any delivery delays, the practices you’re using to maintain hygiene and more to win the shopper’s trust.
Here’s how Megavitamins does it:
5. Make shopping fun in these tough times (and offer a discount too)
We’re all making so many purchases right now. We want to stock up on not just grocery but other daily essentials as well – especially bigger families. With some offices shutting down completely and delays in payments coming across, a lot of us are limited on resources to make these purchases too. So why not help the customers out as much as you can?
You must have noticed a lot of health and generic necessity stores offering discounts to customers. While you can have a simple banner and a social media post to promote it, why not make it a little more fun for the shopper and let them ‘win’ this discount?
Using Spin a Sale, you can offer custom discounts to shoppers during this time. All they need to do is enter their email address to spin the wheel and win a discount that they could use to make purchases. Everyone can do with a little positivity, right?
Getting your store ready for COVID-19
These are tough times for all of us. But we’re going to sail through them together, really soon. All we need to do is do our part in keeping the virus contained and helping those who are in dire need, and not abandoning them. Helping your customers should be of utmost importance to your business right now!
When you help customers during their tough times, you build a loyal customer base that keeps coming back to you for more.
But we know how important sustaining your business is as well. If you’re looking for Shopify marketing strategies that can help you bring in consistent traffic and sales, don’t forget to read RevTap’s blog: Shopify marketing strategies to sustain in the times of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Need help setting up any of the above or are worried about your online business?
Contact our Shopify experts today.
Vanhishikha is the Content Marketer at Expert Village Media. She can be found looking for strategies to grow online stores, or browsing through Instagram.