Foot Traffic: How Can You Increase It in Your Store?

For business owners who run a brick-and-mortar store, there are specific steps to make a sale. First, you capture your target audience’s attention. And once you do that and they enter your store, you’re much closer to making a sale.

Customers who enter your doors may not necessarily make a purchase. However, more traffic can mean higher opportunities for sales, which can, in turn, lead to loyal customers and referrals from your customers’ network.

So if you’re interested in getting more foot traffic in your store, here are three effective ways of doing it.

 

Maintain Your Storefront

Nobody wants to go inside a place that looks uninviting and unwelcoming. Your store’s outer façade can affect your potential customers’ first impression on your business, so it’s essential to invest in making your storefront appealing, eye-catching, and inviting. Investing in outdoor sign makers can help you establish your business’ location, set the tone for your business, and attract the attention of passers-by who may be interested in your business at the moment or in the future. If it’s a memorable sign, it can help them remember your business when they need it.

If your business has windows, use it to your advantage so that passers-by get an excellent first impression even if they’re just glancing at your store while walking past it. Keep your windows clean and use it to highlight what you want people to see. If you’re a clothing store, for example, put some mannequins wearing your best pieces on display. If you’re a fast-food restaurant, place posters of your specials or meal sets, or if you’re a clinic, show banners of what services you provide.

 

Use Your Employees

How your employees act in your store can scare away both potential customers passing by and customers who have already set foot inside your door. 39 percent of customers said they would never do business again with stores that provided poor customer service.

If you want to get foot traffic into your door, never let passers-by see your employees look unprofessional, bored, hostile, or just lounging in your business. Stores with large windows are particularly vulnerable to this, as potential customers can look inside and see what your business is like even before they enter. If your sales staff look bored, it can be a turn-off.

Instead, ask that if they’re out on the floor, they should appear to be busy. Invest in employee training to help them remember store policies, offers, and anything that can help them provide better customer service.

 

Create an Online Presence

Even if you don’t have an online store, creating an online presence is necessary to stay visible to a large number of consumers. Around 81 percent of shoppers do their research on a product and a brick-and-mortar store online before they even enter the store.

So, if you want more people to come, investing in a website and a social media platform can help you convince potential customers that your business is worth visiting. It’s also an excellent way to announce sales and deals your company is holding to drive even more foot traffic.

 

Even if you establish your business on a busy street, people aren’t going to immediately want to enter your business unless you give them a good reason to step through your shop’s doors. By establishing your business’s presence and making your store more appealing to passers-by, online users, and other people interested in your business, you can get them through your doors and be one step closer to making a sale.