Increasing store visits is undoubtedly one of the main challenges of today’s businesses. Whether for a physical store or online, different methods can be useful to encourage customers to conduct business with you. Here are a few!
1. Increase Physical Store Visits
To stand out from the competition and attract customers to visit your store, we recommend that you identify some of the following complementary strategies.
Design
Your company’s DNA is transmitted, among other things, by the design and layout of your commercial space. Do not hesitate to ask for help from commercial design specialists to find the atmosphere and layout that best convey your business’ DNA.
Window Display
Shop windows are part of the first items in your store that customers come into contact with. That’s why it’s important to work on their impact to make them an integral part of the store’s personality. To increase as much as possible the number of visits in your store, make sure to rotate the layout of your window displays at least once every 3 weeks.
Branding
It is well known that taking care of your brand’s image is essential for any store that wants to attract customers. It isn’t enough to have space and products. You need to develop a living brand that has a personality of its own, with inspirations, values, etc. and to make this image live wherever the brand exists.
Customer Service
Did you know that people now rely more on what a company’s customers say rather than on what the company says about itself? Consumers are more likely to become clients of a store if a loved one has spoken to them favorably about it.
Make sure to establish and maintain a level of customer service that provides a positive and memorable experience for your customers. Do not be afraid to go the extra mile to help them: it will come back to you.
Store Display
Beyond making the products available, it is important to work the presentation of the store and displays. A merchandising rotation every three weeks will attract shoppers with a sense of renewal.
Events
Do you remember the old sales phrase “Tell your friends!”? Give your employees and customers the opportunity to advertise for you to their friends and family through VIP promotional events. They represent a golden opportunity to make an impression with original ideas, attentive services and preferential offers that, in addition to attracting customers to stores, will encourage them to try products that they could have missed out on in another context and may purchase again in the future.
Loyalty Programs
Acquiring a new customer involves much higher costs than retaining one. That’s why it’s important not just to get store visits, but to get those customers back!
There are many options for loyalty programs today. You can choose an existing solution or get inspired by mind-boggling experiences of your own to create an original program.
Advertising
Of course, promotion and advertising are great ways to attract customers to visit your store. Nevertheless, don’t lose sight of your brand image and your company’s personality to fall into shiny new trends or one size fits all kind of deals! Choose original promotional strategies that suit you. The experience you offer will then be more consistent.
Click & Collect
Make the digital and physical coexist by allowing your customers to order your products online and have them delivered in-store. This way, you encourage store visits to customers who have already found what they needed at your store and you get an additional opportunity to offer them a distinctive experience. Maybe they will add some items to their shopping cart once in the store, who knows?
Delivery
Do your customers sometimes buy in large quantities or do you sell bulky items? You should offer a delivery service. Not only will this feature make life easier for your existing customers, but it could become the convenience that attracts customers to your store.
Online Presence
Except for people who live near your store, people have to find you to come and see you! Not having an online presence today is to shoot yourself in the foot. Get out there!
Online Activity
In addition to being online, you can attract in-store customers through your digital business. Indeed, active and effective communication on social networks or a content strategy with interesting articles can have a major impact on your business.
2. Attract Customers to Your E-Shop
The previous pointers presented were to help stimulate in store customer visits but they are also relevant to the digital market. A virtual e-commerce store is another type of shop where you can invite your customers to shop.
Even if you can’t physically see your e-commerce customers , the fact remains that it as important to attract them to your online store as you have attracted them to your storefront.
User Experience
You must be able to offer an online shopping experience that is as simple and enjoyable as the one you deliver in-store. That’s why it’s important to optimize the user experience on your e-commerce platform.
Keep It Simple
Your customers shouldn’t need a procedure to buy your products. Work on your buying cycles to simplify the experience for your customers. The basis of a buying process is the awareness of a need or a problem, therefore, you want to be the solution that simplifies the life of your customers rather than adding to their problems.
Promotion
What brings a customer to visit an online store? Catchy and attractive offers as well as the call to action. When you are advertising on the web, you have to think “wow” and “now”. The customer sees the ad, stops, clicks, and buys.
Think Service
Customers must be able to shop and buy by themselves on your website, but that does not mean they will not need you eventually! Providing customer service and return policies that are simple and comprehensive is as important online as it is in a store.
Chatbot technologies on e-commerce sites can save you time by answering frequently asked questions or by conducting a previously mapped adaptive conversation.
Social Networks
Social networks are now an integral part of everyday life. They intervene in the habits of Internet users by offering products in their news feed through promotions. Moreover, social remarketing is used to retarget a user who has viewed a specific page by presenting an advertisement related to this specific product.
Opinions on your social platforms are also to watch carefully. If a customer describes a bad experience, this can be very detrimental to the perception of the company in their network (as stated earlier). It is important to dedicate a resource to the online reputation of the business.
