Getting customers in the door of your brick and mortar store is becoming a more difficult task no thanks to the rise of online shopping. Thankfully, with a combination of some excellent customer service and smart strategies, you can attract a variety of visitors to your store. Here’s how you can boost foot traffic for your small business:
Improve your curb appeal
Look at the exteriors of your store and imagine yourself in your customers’ shoes. Does your store actually look inviting? Would you want to enter it if you were them? Sometimes, it’s as simple as boosting your curb appeal.
Make your area look polished and welcoming. If you have a yard, hire commercial mowers to tend to it and make it look more alluring. If you’re located in a pedestrianized area, you could optimize your merchandising and window display to attract customers. You can also set up things like sidewalk signage, free samples, and coupons to entice customers to come in.
Host community events
A community event hosted in your space is the best way to make people visit your space. Tying it in with a significant event is also a great way to attract a wider variety of customers to come in. For example, you could host a super bowl event that features promotions and tie-ins with relevant businesses on the day itself. Make sure to utilize social media to get the word out. If you want to go the extra mile, you can even approach media outlets to cover the event for you.
Train your employees well
Customer service can truly make or break your business. A great set of products and good deals won’t mean much if your customers are turned off by poor treatment from your associates. Let the strength and quality of your products speak for themselves and invest in your employees instead. Make sure that you give your staff adequate customer service training. This doesn’t just include being nice to customers who actually purchase something, but rather it also involves preparing them to remain polite even towards rude customers.
Cultivate your digital presence
This might seem counterintuitive, but you can actually leverage your online presence to make people visit your physical store. You can reach plenty of people who otherwise might not have heard about your business by using the internet to your advantage. One way to do this is by offering a line of items that are exclusive either to your website or your physical store only. This generates people’s interest to drop by and check out more of your products in your brick and mortar location.
Provide a click-and-collect services
Some items just might seem risky to purchase without seeing it and examining firsthand, such as appliances, beds, or electronic gadgets. There may be customers who enjoy the convenience of browsing and purchasing an item from an online catalog, but who still want to pick the item up in-store. If you’re selling online, you should consider offering a click-and-collect service to your e-commerce store. This arrangement will not only encourage people to visit your physical store, but it can also boost your revenue.
Physical stores won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. All it takes is a little ingenuity and effort to get more people to walk through your establishment’s doors.
