More and more businesses are starting to move more of their operations online.
Perhaps you work at a distance from clients and need the net to keep contact with them. Maybe most of your work is digital so it simply makes more sense.
Whatever the reason your business is online, you have to understand that clients have different expectations for you than they would have from brick-and-mortar operations. You still need a quality product and a professional brand, but what else should go with it?
Security
This is the most important part of running any part of your business online. It doesn’t matter what data is shared between you and your client.
A legal firm might be sharing contract documents. A consultant might be sharing a strategy. Ecommerce businesses will take financial details.
Beyond investing in securing your own systems, you can also use services like a virtual data room to share documents. Unless you can guarantee that their data and any sensitive work stays private and protected, clients will hold reservations about using you. You can even get in legal trouble if you fail to protect sensitive data.
Service
One danger that has demonstrated itself over the rise of the internet is the distance that it puts between clients and services. To some, this is a bonus, meaning they get professional results without having to be too hands-on.
But when your clients need you there to answer questions and provide solutions, you have to be there. Otherwise, you will have trouble retaining them.
Make sure that your means of communication are left open to clients and that you make the time in the day to handle queries and feedback.
Simply keeping in touch with the clients that aren’t asking questions or have used your services in the past can highlight a dedication to communication that many of them will appreciate.
Simplicity
The internet offers convenience perhaps more than anything else. Not only does it help us access services that aren’t in physical proximity to us. It helps us access them at the click of a few buttons.
The simpler you can keep the way that clients interact with your business, the better. This ranges from keeping site design minimalist where possible to having an online interface that existing clients can use to check progress on work or get in touch with you easily.
Clients don’t need to be informed of the whole process of what services you provide, they just need to know the parts that get them closer to the result they want.
That need for simplicity should go into what services you offer and how you price them. Create a package list, detailing different levels of services per package and their individual costs.
Otherwise, clients can get lost in the paradox of choice when deciding what services they need. When that happens, they’re more likely to go to those who offer a more simplified approach.
Clients want to know that they’re not risking their business, finance, or personal details with you. They want to make sure that just because you’re physically distant doesn’t mean that you’re inattentive.
They want the convenience of the internet represented in your service. Offer those alongside top-notch products and services, and you have a much better chance of keeping them for the long haul.
