How to update your website for a profitable post-Covid push

COVID-19 has raised serious questions for businesses, primarily how can they respond to the crisis and what changes will it cause going forward for consumers? Businesses are always looking for new ways to survive the peaks and troughs of consumer behaviour, and with lockdowns starting to lift, there are several ways for businesses to strategize to make the most of the post-COVID period.

Be clear about brand purpose

Many brands stuck to the side lines with traditional marketing until the outbreak was under control. But post-COVID, ensure that the marketing you put out to your audience is purposeful and considered. You don’t want to appear to be profiting off the misery of the pandemic, nor is it the time to poorly execute marketing campaigns in a bid to be seen as a ‘good’ company. Make sure that the messaging on your site is clear and simple, and above all sensitive, without being overly salesy.

Evaluate product offerings

It’s no secret that the pandemic has forced us to rethink how we live our lives each day, so businesses need to take this into account when it comes to their products and services. Some products will now seem irrelevant to the users’ needs while others will be more important than they once were, given the situation we now find ourselves in.

For example, if your products or services are primarily aimed at outdoor or in-person events, these may not have been necessary to your audience throughout lockdown. It’s important that businesses take this opportunity to reevaluate their audiences’ needs so that they’re as relevant as possible for your target audience, which can also help you mitigate any dip in sales from the past year.

Consider the customer experience

With more of us at home than ever before, businesses need to develop new strategic perspectives and reshape the customer experience. One way businesses can achieve this is to consider the user’s journey and the added functionality they can include to improve the customer’s digital experience.

“We improved the functionality of our website during the pandemic to improve user experience and enhance the online shopping journey of our customers”, say printing specialists You Love Print. The business enhanced their site to automate shipping costs as customers added products to their cart, for a more efficient shopping journey and to provide real-time information to users. Consider similar ways in which you can improve your website to create a better experience overall.

Reassess SEO

Businesses with an online presence should already be optimised for search engines, but post-pandemic, it’s more important than ever that your site appears high up in the rankings for your key search terms. This is even more crucial for brick and mortar stores who haven’t been able to rely on foot traffic to gain sales.

With more people shopping online than ever before, SEO should be a priority for any business, post-COVID, but companies need to take a different approach going forward. Businesses need to improve page loading times and speeds, to help customers navigate your site more easily, and create evergreen content within your niche. It’s also important that Google My Business listings are optimised for local search.

Ramp up digital interactions

Use this opportunity to promote apps, mobile tools and digital transactions. If your business doesn’t already utilise these tools, now is the time to consider how you can innovate to deliver your product or services in a digital way. Think about how you can offer further assistance to your customers and use digital tools to deliver these offerings in a personalised way.

Buyers want organisations to treat them as individuals and digital interactions can be an effective way to achieve this level of personalisation. Post-pandemic, customers will be seeking out more personal interactions, which is something businesses should strive to offer.

Final thoughts

Case numbers are finally starting to decrease and while it’s difficult to know when normality will be completely achieved, businesses can start to consider ways to ramp up their activities to increase sales. Your business should find ways to mitigate the losses experienced during the pandemic by adjusting marketing strategies, innovating and focusing more on SEO to make the best out of this challenging situation.