Today, Monday 4th October 2021, users worldwide have been reporting an outage on Facebook’s service that has affected Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Messenger. While the New York Times reports that the outage is not likely to have been caused by a cyberattack, the consequences of the outage to users especially small businesses have been felt, deeply.
What’s the lesson for you as a small business that’s losing sales due to this outage?
The importance of having multiple channels for your sales
When we say multiple channels we mean multiple channels for real. Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp sound like multiple channels but are they really multiple channels considering they’re under one umbrella? You need multiple channels for your business which means that in addition to your Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, you need Twitter, Disha, Linktree, a Mailchimp email list, and an online store. We don’t mean to toot our horn but Flutterwave Store is the online store you need.
The importance of having an online store
Without overflogging the issue, it’s important to highlight why an online store is a necessity for every business. An online store allows you to sell even when the customer can’t contact you directly. This means that whether the issue is an outage or you just fell asleep, you keep selling regardless. Just like Uyaima.com from the tweet above. Meanwhile checkout their really nice cruelty free bags here. You will always have an outlet to sell your products. You are able to use tools such as discount codes to reward and retain customers as well as use the “Customers” list feature to maintain and manage your customers’ contact information. Again, you should create a Flutterwave Store now.
The importance of owning an email list
One of the most important factors to retaining customers is constant communication. Merchants that have a database of their customers are able to send emails to their customers about special sales/discounts. Most importantly, at times like this, they’re are able to communicate to their customers about the outage and proffer solutions. In the past, maintaining email databases was almost exclusively for big organisations but now you can do it for free. With Mailchimp you can create a database of up to 2000 customers for free. Best part is that you can connect your Mailchimp account to your Flutterwave account via Zapier and have every new customer automatically added to your email database.
Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Whatsapp will all come back up soon but lost sales are lost sales. You don’t have to lose sales when you know that every sale counts. Take your destiny in your hands by owning your own online store and diversifying your sales channels.
Here’s to more sales for you 🥂. If you need any advice on anything about how you can market your business, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can send an email to hi@flutterwavego.com and we’ll be happy to help.