You’ve of course got to get your messaging and strategy right (things like having customer service standards that your team follow, surveying, social media content strategy) but there are bucket loads of outbound tools you can use to directly communicate with your customers.

Create a regular newsletter – the businesses who consistently communicate STAND OUT. People love to hear from all of the team – from the CEO to the barista. Share updates, happy news, promos and wins. You can do this via EDM, SMS and print.

EDM – an email that is sent out to members (you can even filter to send different messages to different people based on their experience with your business). Print and distribute – old school? Yes! Effective? Still yes! With such a reduction in what comes in the letterbox, distributing a quality publication to a targeted area has the power to make it to the kitchen bench (people tend to hold onto it if it's useful too).

SMS – really great for last minute call to action messages e.g. 24hr flash sale in the bottleshop. DO NOT send SMS to announce every promo to every member. Once that member opts out, you’ve lost the ability to SMS them forever. Keep it targeted and for urgent call to action only.

Pick up the phone – not just in lockdown. This might seem hard to do but a quick call to some local members can make all the difference.

Social media - an opportunity to showcase the personality of the business and engage on another level. You don’t have to post daily, just try to be consistent and interesting.