Even your most loyal, local, small-business-loving customers are shopping online.
From their couch. In sweatpants. With zero patience.
You don’t need to become a tech wizard or launch an e-commerce empire. But you do need to make it ridiculously easy for people to:
- Find you
- Buy from you
- Remember you
Here are 3 small things to do today that’ll help you stay competitive online — without trying to out-Amazon Amazon.
1. Make It Stupid-Easy to Pay You
If you sell products, audit your checkout.
If you sell services, audit your booking process.
Ask yourself: could a distracted, tired person complete this in 2 minutes on their phone?
If not, simplify. Simply. Simplify.
- Add Apple Pay, Venmo, or PayPal to allow for more payment options
- Use Calendly or Acuity for online scheduling to book a meeting; don’t make them fill out a form to do so
- Cut your form fields in half–do you really need their mother’s maiden name to start a conversation?
2. Look at Your Website Like a Customer
Here’s your 60-second website test: pull up your site on your phone and ask:
- What’s the first thing I see?
- Is it clear what they sell?
- Is there a super obvious next step?
If your homepage says “Empowering You to Succeed,” or “ Quality. Service. Integrity,” or “Your Trusted Partner in Excellence”? Delete that immediately.
Say what you do. Say who it’s for. Tell them where to click to get started.
3. Stay in Touch (Without Being Annoying)
Most people don’t buy the first time they find you. So stay in their orbit by:
- Sending a friendly email now and then (like this one :-))
- Posting a quick tip on social
- Sharing a customer story
- Dropping a DM with some valuable, pertinent info for them
This isn’t spam. It’s relationship-building.
Today’s Step Forward
Pick ONE of these and do it today.
- Update your homepage headline
- Test your checkout flow
- Send a “thought of you” email to a past client or customer
Small moves work. You don’t have to do everything — you just have to do something.
