What Comes After the Crisis, and Are You Prepared for It? - Warm Thoughts Communications
Blog
Back to Blog

What Comes After the Crisis, and Are You Prepared for It?

Posted on April 9, 2020

Daily decisions related to the virus no doubt have you riveted. But what happens after the crisis has passed? Will you be positioned to recover lost gallons and installations? Which consumer buying patterns will change? How can you take advantage of the changes and reduce your vulnerabilities?

What to expect

Now is the time to take steps to help your business recover.
Contact us today!

Is your website causing you to lose potential customers, or frustrate existing ones?

  1. Are you showing up? Is your website ranking for key search terms in all the towns you service? If you are not ranking with google, you will not show up when people are looking for a new propane or oil company, water heater, boiler, etc. (Note: we have software that can show this to you if you’d like.)

  2. Do you rank for the most common searches? What did you do to respond to Google’s major algorithm change last summer? Did you even know there was another one in January? If you or your digital team don’t know and act on these changes, chances are your website ranking has dropped. (We have tools to show you this as well.)

  3. What’s the instant reaction to your home page? Studies show that it takes .05 seconds to form an opinion about a website. Don’t believe me? Here’s proof…

  4. And speaking of statistics, here are some incredibly important ones to consider when evaluating your own website:

    Mobile site

    • 75% of people make judgements about a company’s credibility based on design. So if your nephew designed your website, or worse, your IT person, chances are it’s not doing the job you need it to do.

    • More than half of search is done on a mobile device. 90% of people will stop engaging with a site if the mobile experience is bad. Pinching and zooming has gone the way of the VCR.

    • It takes more than one touch to make a buying decision. Repeat visitors are the ones most likely to call or fill out a form. 88% of consumers will not return to a site after having a bad experience.

  5. According to Salesforce (the world’s largest CRM) it takes 6-8 touches to generate a viable lead. How is your digital presence? Do you have strong social media presence? Do you regularly write blogs and push out your content? Do you own the search results page with a combination of organic listings and Google Ads, and a powerful Google My Business listing? Are you using display ad techniques such are retargeting to get visitors to return to your site. Are you using Facebook and targeted display ads to reach new, qualified prospects?

    Just one example: during the outbreak, we generated over 140 tankless water heater sales calls for a client in just 4 weeks at a cost of less than $7,000 using a mix of these digital strategies.

  6. Are you set up to engage with people the way they want to? Can they pay bills on your site, or enroll in autopay and paperless billing? Do you have a virtual showroom that allows customers to check out options (like hearth products, grills, water heaters, etc.) without leaving their couch? Do your forms make it easy to contact you with their questions or sign up for programs, order fuel, etc. when it’s convenient for them? Is your website designed to convert passive visits into action (calls, form submits, chats)?

    Burt's online pay interactive page

  7. Are you finally recognizing the integral role that social media now plays in how people connect and spend their time? Whether you personally like it or not, it is a powerful way for your company to build its brand in the marketplace, and you deserve to do it well. If you aren’t reviewing metrics like “reach” and “post engagement rates,” you’re probably not doing this well.

Whether you will capture a higher share of the business that will be in motion when the crisis passes depends on steps you really need to be taking now.

Updating your website and orchestrating smart campaigns takes several months of lead time.

Now is the time to explore your options.

Warm Thoughts manages more than 125 websites and digital campaigns for propane and oil companies in 38 states. We know more about how your customers shop and make decisions than anyone else in the country, and we can give you a significant competitive advantage. Our team of 25 consultants, designers, web developers, and social media and search engine specialists would like nothing more than to help you recover and thrive in a post COVID-19 market.

Take 15 minutes to see if we have insight you can use. Call Gary at 978-235-7673 or complete the form below to get the conversation started.

And in the meantime, please stay safe and healthy.

Ben Gutkin
is VP Marketing Services for Warm Thoughts Communications. He has advised dozens of the nation’s leading energy companies and associations on improving their web presence, search capabilities, direct response advertising and return on investment during his 20+ years with Warm Thoughts. You can reach him bgutkin@warmthoughts.com or 201‑330‑9276 ext. 227

CONTACT US
WHERE WE ARE
300 Broadacres Dr. Suite 205
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
HOW TO REACH US
201.330.9276
201.223.1555

Best Web Design Companies In New Jersey

GET IN TOUCH
Fill out my online form.