Following on from the recent article by Blue Wren published by Lancashare here’s how to get ahead of the game as we emerge from lockdown.

In this post we will explore the highlighted trends further and what you can do to put your business in a better position to sprint out of the starting blocks as we exit lockdown instead of the dazed stupor many are predicting.

In the article Kantar and McKinsey's findings were cited indicating that 30-40% of households have increased their online spend during lockdown. This won’t be a surprise as bricks and mortar stores are closed or have access restrictions so browsing and buying online are the simplest way of getting what you want or need. Brands such as Primark who do not have an online store have been hit hard (arguably an understatement). The BBC reported a drop in sales from £650m per month to ZERO! It’s going to take a lot of work for recoup what is, at the time of writing a £1.6m loss of sales.

Once we are out of lockdown and non essential businesses can re-open what percentage of people will actually go back to shopping in store? The truth is none of us know but those who may have been reluctant online shoppers previously may now be enjoying the convenience of shopping online and; with challenges including restricted numbers permitted in stores and social distancing some may simply decide it is just too much hassle to go to a bricks and mortar shop.

The number of consumers looking to buy local have already increased especially with local home delivery services available. Perhaps not like the old Hovis advert with the bakers boy on a bicycle but businesses from milkmen to butchers are seeing increased numbers of customers wanting their home delivery services. I’ve even seen a distillery offering to deliver gin locally too, (unfortunately they don’t deliver in my area though)! People are now settling in to working from home along with the challenges and rewards that brings. Having to tidy a corner of your room that is seen over your shoulder on a Zoom call is a small price to pay for not having to commute, so will we see the demise of the city as we knew it? If more people can work from home then we may need to thank Coronavirus for cleaner air with less cars on the road, a seat on the train with less people commuting and a more connected community with more people realising the value of the resources on our doorstep.

With more and more activity being driven online we will all become even more savvy at discerning what is worth us spending our hard earned cash on, especially as many of us may have lost jobs or taken up new positions meaning our income isn’t quite what it was pre Covid. One of the most popular and effective tools to help us decide are testimonials or reviews.  We are all familiar with them and have used them. Whether it was trip advisor to check on the hotel we were looking to book or product reviews on Amazon.  Did you know 92% of us will look at reviews and testimonials before committing to a purchase.

Why though you may ask?  The reason lies in Social Proof. What is social proof though? This is the theory that people follow the behaviours or actions of others. Psychologist Robert Cialdini, states that the theory of social proof means when a person does not know how to act in a certain situation, they will look to what other people are doing before they act.

The theory focuses around three principles: uncertainty, similarity, and expertise. in essence this means when we are in uncertain or unfamiliar situations (buying a new product, choosing a gift or looking to commit to something new) we look around for guidance and reassurance that our rationale is valid. We also look for similarities to influence our decisions, eg. people like me with my beliefs do this, successful businesses like mine do that or people in my situation take this action. Finally when faced with an alien situation we look for guidance from experts, the logic being that they are more knowledgeable and therefore make better decisions.

Surely that means that customers will believe what we say in our adverts and marketing though as we are the experts in the field? Thats a nice thought but unfortunately not as 83% of buyers trust recommendations from online users over advertising so that makes client reviews and testimonials are even more valuable. This means a great addition to your sales process is the ability for potential customers to quickly and easily look at your reviews, but more importantly you need a quick and easy way to collect those reviews and share them with a wider audience. 

When we consider social media we are now seeing a huge increase in video content and consumption of video content has skyrocketed, it is engaging and easy to consume and 53% of people want to see more video content in the future versus just 23% who would like to see more emails. If we combine the demand for video with the demand for testimonials and, consider in the UK social media consumption has gone up by 40% since the onset of Coronavirus, then surely video testimonials is a winning combination.

The team at Bellyflop Identified this shift some time ago. The global pandemic has accelerated change though so they have launched Bellyflop Video, a video testimonial service allowing you to generate socially distant, branded testimonial videos direct from your clients with no more technical ability than it takes to send an email. The short form content is perfect for use across social media channels, websites and in email campaigns, providing your clients and prospective customers the social proof they need to complete their purchase.  If you’d like to learn more or see a demonstration contact the team on 01282 222620 or visit www.bellyflopvideo.co.uk