Ways to prepare your small business for the holidays – Small Business Corner

WATERLOO – Small businesses must be able and willing to think creatively and pivot quickly this holiday season.

Luckily, there are plenty of ways you can prepare your small business to be successful this holiday season. We have highlighted a few for you here:

Prepare your website for increased traffic

If your business sells products on its website, you should take measures to ensure that your site can handle higher volumes, increased traffic and more transactions.

Also, have a plan for how to get your website back up and running quickly if it does happen crash due to increased traffic.

Refine your customer service plan

This will be certainly be an unusual shopping year for everyone, so you should have a refresher training for your employees on how to interact with customers, address their concerns and strive to make the shopping experience as seamless as possible.

Be sure your employees are well versed in any changes or unique procedures you have implemented due to the pandemic and are prepared to answer all customer questions and concerns.

Shipping expectations

The pandemic has affected shipping times, so you should do your best to inform your customers of your expected shipping times and deadlines.

Your customers are looking for the security that their goods will arrive on time for Christmas, and if they have any issues, they can reach out to friendly customer service easily.

Marketing

It is important for your messaging to be at its best. You can review your digital marketing strategy, focus on past campaigns that performed particularly well and focus on using methods that have worked well for your small business throughout the pandemic. You could also look at areas where you can improve, like social media marketing or SEO, and make those improvements now. A higher volume of marketing communications can help keep your business top of mind for your customers or potential customers.

You can prepare your small business for the 2020 holiday season by making efforts to maximize online sales, brushing up your customer service, improving your website’s user experience and navigation, and boosting your marketing plans. Planning is key to boosting profits and minimizing stress as you head into the final month of the year!