Getting customers through the door is tricky business. In fact, only 15% of B2C products sales are closed directly through the Internet, so new acquiring new customers is as important as ever. Thankfully, there are some simple tactics to attract more footfall.
Here are eight tips for getting customers to come to you:
Don’t Be Afraid of Offline Tactics
While the digital avalanche presents plenty of opportunities, don’t forget about offline approaches as well. For example, you could do a leaflet drop to potential customers nearby. If you opt for an offline approach, make sure your promotional materials are nicely designed, professional looking and eye-catching. Highlight the benefits to your customers (for instance an offer), let them know where to find you and how they can get in touch.
Create Strategic Partnerships around Your Business
Strategic partnerships and alliances can be a game-changer for getting more customers. It’s a simple, but effective tactic that allows you to tap into the audience of another like-minded business. Strong partnerships involve referring and recommending other businesses to your customers and vice versa. You could also allow your partners to offer their customers exclusive discounts in your store, or co-market with them to expand your reach.
Promote a “Can’t Miss” In-store Offer
What better way to get more customers through your doors than to entice them with an offer they simply can’t refuse? Promoting an in-store only offer means customers need to come to you to redeem it, and if the offer is good enough (for example a two-for-one deal), you’ll get plenty of new footfall. While your offer is in-store, your promotion of it should be vast. Utilize your social channels to spread the word.
Give Your Business a Makeover
If your business doesn’t look very nice, you are much less likely to get customers through your door than a competitor who has a more attractive, professional looking business. Think about your exterior areas (first impressions count!), such as your windows and displays. Invest in nice interiors to improve the customer experience, and make sure your business is clean and simple – clutter and messiness drives customers away. You could opt for a professional looking sign to promote your business and make it more appealing.
Make Sure Potential Customers Can Find You
If customers can’t find you, you won’t get them through your door. Simply put, people need to be pointed in the right direction – especially if you aren’t easy to find or not based in the town. To make sure people know about you, and why they should come and visit, think about advertising using banners. These can be used for a variety of tactics: Promoting deals, “coming soon” banners for new services or products, directions and more. If you are going for a promotional banner or sign, make sure it looks nice. This method is a great way to grab attention, make sure customers can find you, and improve brand awareness.
Reward Brand Loyalty
While you want to acquire new customers and get more people through your door, don’t forget about those customers who are already loyal visitors. Always encourage brand loyalty and repeat business, and an easy way to do this is to integrate a loyalty scheme/program into your operations. After all, 87% of shoppers reported that they want brands to have loyalty programs.
For instance, this could be a card that gets stamped every time a customer makes a purchase with your business, with a free or discounted item to be redeemed when the card is full. If you really want to up your game, you could use a loyalty scheme app to incentivize loyal customers to come into your store.
Hold a Flash Sale
A once in a lifetime flash sale is a quick way to boost footfall. Everyone loves a good deal, after all. Making the sale “limited time only” makes customers more likely to come through your doors in case they miss out. This flash sale could be anything from a two-for-one offer, 50% off certain items, 25% off everything in store, buy one get one half price, and so on.
This sale should be whatever makes sense for you. You could even make it more exclusive by putting a time limit on the sale – i.e. for 3 hours only, everything is half price. As with the other tactics above, don’t forget to promote it! If nobody knows about the flash sale, or if your customers can’t find your store, you won’t reap the rewards.
Entice with Tastings or Freebies
If you want to capture footfall as they pass your business, why not try to get them through your doors with tastings or freebies. Let them sample your products if they come into your store. The best bit – if they like them, they’ll tell their friends and family, and may well make a purchase, and remember your store in the future. Not every product is suitable for this, but things like food and smellies are perfect.
Conclusion
The more footfall you get through your business’s door, the more business opportunities you get. Therefore you should be trying these tactics to increase your footfall and drive up your revenues. In the competitive business world, getting more customers to come to your business could be the difference between thriving and surviving.
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