Integrating Your 'On' and 'Offline' Business

Assuming you have an 'offline' business, you need to be very clear about how your 'online' operation will complement it.

Define from the start exactly how these two parts of your business will work together, which elements of the sales and customer service activities will be done online and how you can improve the services you provide to your customers, and how you can cut your costs by moving any of these processes online.

You need to identify and clarify how your customers will experience your ‘online’ business. A good example of this is customer communication.

Good communication is all about customer service. For example a reminder that your next dental appointment is due is positively welcomed because it’s timely, relevant and helpful. If it’s sent by email it won’t cost anything either, and if it’s sent by SMS text message, then it’s a lot cheaper than physically calling them.

You can probably write down pretty quickly why you think your current customers buy products or services from you. And, if you were to ask them, you might also be fascinated by their answers; how well do you really know them?

The point is that your website, emails, banner ads, press releases and everything else you’ll be doing online will be far more powerful if they replicate what's good about what you do successfully offline.

To analyse this you need to break down your sales process into several steps from initial awareness to repeat purchase. At what point do you give customers best value for money? When and why do you lose them? Are there any clear trends demonstrating that? For example, after two years o they stop coming to you and stop buying? Perhaps because you take them for granted and stop trying?

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This kind of analysis can boost both sides of your business and save you a fortune in marketing costs. Getting new customers is a lot harder than keeping current ones.

Having a website is a great way of opening up new markets locally, regionally, nationally or internationally. But it can also be a way of adding more value to your current proposition.

Suddenly you’ve got a 24 hour business presence accessible across the globe – how can you use it to keep customers and get them to buy more from you?

Here's some examples:

   > By offering better prices for people who buy over the net where the costs of processing are lower

   > By using your website as a way of capturing customer email data and communicating with them (virtually free)

   > By offering an email help and enquiry service

   > By cutting your marketing costs and possibly your prices through less printing

   > By building online links with complementary, non-competitive websites you can offer a wider range of services

"What about your 'online' image?"