We cannot deny the fact that 2020 was a major hit for many retailers. It is estimated that there is nearly 20% drop in retail sales due to the pandemic. Companies looking to revive their revenue figures are looking to providing smart solutions. In today’s market environment, it is evident that retailers cannot solely depend on word-of-mouth or offline marketing methods. Retailers need to focus on providing an omnichannel customer experience that attracts people and brings them back, and online marketing is the best way to do it. Since there are so many online marketing tools in today’s age, retailers need to learn how to best leverage them to increase their sales. In this article, we will look at three digital tools that will help retailers build a strong online presence and increase their revenue.

WhatsApp Business:

 Communication is an important part of retail business, and in this unprecedented pandemic WhatsApp has proven itself as a great way to communicate. Since retail chains rely on local engagements, instant messaging should be a huge part of their digital growth strategy. In fact, many smart retailers around the globe have started using instant messaging apps like WhatsApp to optimize their communication channels and build brand value. Retail chains will have several benefits in using WhatsApp to communicate.

• If retailers use WhatsApp to contact prospect customers, they will increase the chances of conversion as they have a direct line to the customers.

• WhatsApp helps store employees build rapport with customers and brings them both together.

• By building rapport, WhatsApp increases upselling opportunities. It is estimated that upselling increases revenue by 30%.

• WhatsApp enables retail chains to provide instant help and real-time updates to its customers.

• Customers are more likely to answer personalized feedback forms through direct messaging platforms like WhatsApp.

Live Chat:

 When retail outlets move to digital platforms, they might struggle to convert the website visitors to customers. This might be because of the lack of face-to-face communication. A live chat tool could be the best alternative for face-to-face communications. Like WhatsApp, live chat will provide a direct communication platform through which you can easily help customers. Furthermore, your site visitors will find it much more convenient to converse via live chat because it is right there in the page. Convenience is just the first advantage of using live chat, the other advantages include:

• Answering customer queries and resolving their issues becomes much easier with the aid of live chat’s real-time conversations.

• Live chat helps retailers establish long-term relationships with the customers through personalized conversations.

• When the customers hesitate, there is a higher change that they might leave your site. With live chat, you can proactively nudge them and increase your conversion rates.

• With live chat, you spend less time explaining about your product or service. Since live chat is in your site, you can jump straight into conversation without needless explanations.

• After solving a customer query, you can get feedbacks immediately through the chat window. In the case of retailers, this helps them understand their customers better.

Lead Management:

 With WhatsApp and Live Chat, retailers will be able to ramp up their online lead generation. The next important step is to know how to manage those leads. Oftentimes, retailers who make the digital transition will struggle to manage existing leads rather than generate new leads. This is because traditional offline methods of lead management will not be adequate to manage the large number of leads generated through both online and offline sources. Hence, retailers should seek the help of lead management tools to close and manage the leads efficiently. There are numerous advantages in using a lead management tool to manage your leads.

• With lead management, retailers can easily track leads as they will receive real-time updates about a customer’s journey.

• Lead management tools allow retailers to categorize leads based on several categories like age, shopping trends, etc.

• With lead management tools, retailers can identify the best leads to target for their remarketing or loyalty initiatives. This saves valuable time.

• Since lead management provides access to the complete customer journey, retailers can easily identify the weak points of their service.

• With lead management, retailers can easily identify customer preferences and provide personalized nudges to encourage the purchase of similar products.

These three tools will be a great help for retailers who are looking to take the digital leap. As mentioned earlier, retailers can conveniently generate leads through WhatsApp and Live Chat, and manage their leads efficiently through a good lead management tool. If you are a new retailer, you should know that the benefits mentioned in the article are just the tip of the iceberg. There are several more benefits that you will experience as you explore these three tools. We hope that you will use these tools to boost your retail business.