Say on every price page that prices are in Canadian dollars, publish your US cash policy and rate, list the cards you accept, and give directions and drive times from the border crossings visitors use.

Better value than it looks

The lower Canadian dollar has made BC good value for visitors from Washington State and further south. A dinner, a tour or a day's shopping costs them less in their own money than the figures suggest.

They plan from home, on a laptop or a phone, often the night before. They compare a few places, check the hours and work out the route from the border.

Then they hit gaps your website does not fill: whether a price is in Canadian or US dollars, whether US cash works, which exit to take.

Each gap is a reason to choose a place that fills it.

What a visitor from the south needs

The first decides whether the good value is noticed at all. A price with a plain dollar sign looks like the price at home, so the saving only appears at the till, after the choice is made.

Say Canadian dollars beside the price

Put a line saying all prices are in Canadian dollars near every price list, menu and booking page, not only in the footer. Writing CAD after a figure works too.

Do not show converted US prices unless someone updates them every week. Rates move, and a stale conversion becomes a promise you did not mean to make.

A short note that card charges are converted by the visitor's own card company answers the next question before it is asked.

Cash, cards and debit

Decide on a policy for US cash and write it down: whether you take it, the rate you use, how often the rate changes, and that change is given in Canadian money.

Interac debit works only with Canadian bank cards, so most visitors will pay by credit card or cash. List the credit cards you accept.

If the nearest bank machine is some distance away, say so. Visitors who prefer cash will want to know before they arrive.

Directions from the border

Directions on BC websites usually start from Vancouver. Visitors from the south start at a border crossing, and the route from there can be quite different.

Give directions from the crossings your visitors are likely to use, with highway numbers, the exit and a landmark near the final turn.

Give drive times in minutes rather than distances. A figure in kilometres means little to someone who thinks in miles; everyone thinks in minutes.

Plan for phones without data

Roaming charges lead many visitors to switch off mobile data once they cross. Whatever they did not look up at home may stay unanswered.

That makes the website the planning tool. Hours, address, directions and payment details should be easy to find on one page, and easy to note down or print.

Show the phone number as text. A call from a US phone to a BC number dials like any long-distance call at home, though their carrier may charge for roaming.

The listing they see first

Visitors searching from Washington often meet your Google My Business listing before your website, in the map results that show up to seven places. Its hours, address and phone number must match the site.

The listing still sits on the business's Google+ page. Check the category and hours, and make sure the website link opens a page with prices and directions, not a bare home page.

If the map pin sits on a side gate or a loading bay, move it to the entrance visitors should use.

A worked example

An aquaponics farm in the Fraser Valley, a short drive from the border, grows greens and herbs in greenhouses fed by fish tanks. It runs guided tours and weekend workshops on building a backyard system.

This spring more of its tour bookings came from Washington State, and so did more of the questions.

Visitors emailed to ask whether prices were in US dollars, whether US cash was accepted, and how to find the farm from the crossing.

Some arrived late, having followed a mapping app to a locked side gate on a farm road with no signal.

The tour and workshop pages now say all prices are in Canadian dollars, beside each price. A payment line lists the cards accepted, notes that Interac works only with Canadian cards, and gives the US cash rate, updated each Monday.

Directions start at the two nearest crossings, with highway exits, drive times in minutes and a photo of the main gate from the road. The Google listing got the same photo, matching hours and a pin on the main gate.

Their holidays are not yours

American long weekends bring visitors north on dates that are ordinary working days in BC, and the reverse. BC Day next Monday is a holiday here and an ordinary Monday to the south.

Post hours for both: your own statutory holidays, and the American weekends when you expect visitors, such as their Thanksgiving in late November.

Say whether prices include tax. Most US visitors expect tax to be added at the till, as it usually is here, but a package price that includes it should say so.

The counter-case

A business far from the border, or one whose customers are almost all local, gains little from directions starting at a crossing. The currency line still costs nothing to add.

A business selling mostly online to US customers faces different questions, about shipping, duty and returns, that a visitors' page will not answer.

For shops, restaurants and attractions within a day trip of the border, the advice holds: state the currency beside the prices, say how visitors can pay, and give directions from the crossing.

Before the long weekend

  1. Add Canadian dollars beside every price.
  2. Write a US cash policy with the rate.
  3. List the credit cards you accept.
  4. Give directions from the nearest crossings.
  5. Show drive times in minutes.
  6. Make the listing's hours agree with the site.
  7. Post holiday hours for both countries.

Step one takes minutes and changes how every price is read. Until visitors know the figures are Canadian, the value the dollar has handed you stays invisible.

What the same exchange rate does to your own costs is covered in prices rising with the lower Canadian dollar.

Frequently asked questions

Should I show prices in US dollars too?

Only if someone updates them every week. Rates move, and a stale conversion becomes a promise. Say prices are in Canadian dollars and let the card company convert.

How should I handle US cash?

Decide whether you take it, the rate you use and how often it changes, and say change is given in Canadian money. Put that policy on the site.

Can American visitors pay by debit card?

Interac debit works only with Canadian bank cards, so most visitors pay by credit card or cash. List the credit cards you accept where prices appear.

Where should the directions start?

At the border crossings your visitors are likely to use, with highway numbers, the exit, a landmark near the turn and the drive time in minutes.

Why does the website matter more for them?

Many visitors switch off mobile data after crossing to avoid roaming charges, so they plan at home. Anything the site leaves out may stay unanswered.

Do I need different holiday hours?

Post hours for your own statutory holidays and for American long weekends when you expect visitors, and match them on your Google My Business listing.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Visitors asking which dollars you mean?

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