Setting Customer Expectations Post-COVID-19
The time has finally come, your state is allowing you to reopen and welcome customers to your storefront once again. But, will your customers be ready for the changes that need to be implemented to keep your business compliant with CDC, State, and Local government guidelines? Here are some things that you may need to inform your customers about so they know what to expect when coming to your store for the first time post-COVID-19.
PPE Requirements
Some businesses are requiring visitors to wear masks when entering their stores. If you’re going to require the use of PPE, this needs to be well known before a customer enters your store. Signs should be placed in the parking lot, not just on the door to keep people from having to come up just to be turned away. You may also want to provide disposable PPE products to ensure no one gets turned away for a lack of having proper gear. If you will require customers to use hand sanitizer when entering, a dispenser with a sign instructing them to sanitize will be needed at the entrance. If an employee will be checking temperatures before someone can enter, customers will want to know this before coming to your store. All of these new policies should be posted on your website, on social media channels, and in print in front of your store.
Free Samples
If your business was known for providing free samples to customers, you may want to set the precedent that they won’t have those readily available to pick up as they choose in the foreseeable future. That’s right, no more trays of treats left out to entice customers to sample before buying a couple of boxes of the product. Instead, samples will need to be prepackaged and requested. Hand sanitizer or a hand washing station will need to be provided for the customer to wash their hands before eating a sample and preferable not to be eaten with their hands. Customers will then have to wash their hands immediately after eating a sample as well. The term finger-lickin’ good takes on a whole new meaning now and people won’t be able to just snack and cruise through your store these days.
Keeping Merchandise Clean
Keeping merchandise bacteria and germ-free is a whole other topic to keep in mind. Some retail stores and salons are looking into quick sanitizing solutions like one provided by Global Ozone Innovations or by the breakthrough science of ultraviolet light treatment. No one wants to go around touching merchandise that may harbor icky germs that everyone is on such high-alert for. Policies may need to be created that limits how much merchandise customers can pick up or have employees on the ready to clean high-touch areas in between customers to keep the touching to a minimum.
Virtual Options
If people aren’t comfortable coming to your store yet, you may want to try other options like going virtual. You could add virtual store tours to your website or social media channels or customers to easily see new merchandise that is available and laid out in a store setting instead of in pictures on a web page. Let your customers know that you have this option available by promoting it on social media and other marketing channels.
If your store has made considerable changes that will impact your customers, it’s important that you properly educate your customers and prepare them for the new set of rules that they are expected to follow when they enter your business. You will also need to properly train your employees to be able to consistently enforce your new rules as well as manage any frustrated customers that may arise if called out for not following your business’s new procedures. This is all new territory for everyone, so take it one day at a time, listen to your employees and customers as they voice their concerns, and adjust your policies as needed. Remember to stay positive, too!