Modern business owners face a range of challenges when it comes to keeping their businesses afloat. For example, you have to find a way to stand out from the crowd and achieve brand recognition if you want to have any kind of longevity as an entrepreneur. You’ll also have to find as many ways as possible to increase footfall within your business.
What is footfall?
The term ‘footfall’ refers to the amount of traffic (or number of people) entering your store or business. While this doesn’t always guarantee sales, it does help you determine whether or not your marketing efforts are working. On average, the higher footfall within your business, the higher your earning potential.
How to increase footfall within your business.
Thankfully, there are various different methods you can try out in order to increase footfall within your business. This includes:
- Ensuring you’ve got the right location. Finding the right location for your business is essential. In most cases, it’s better to pay a little more for a storefront in a busy area, as this will give you the best chance of gaining organic footfall. For example, those who are shopping in the local area are more likely to wander in by chance than they would if your store was away from the highstreet.
- Find new ways to capture your customers’ attention. While you may have heard of the value of curb appeal when it comes to selling your home, it’s also vital that you use your storefront to entice customers as they walk by. This often means finding new ways to grab their attention. For example, commercial retractable awnings are a great way to get started, as they’ll help you differentiate your store from your neighbours.
- Keep your business clean and organized. Customers are more likely to spend time in stores that appear clean and well-maintained. This is because it reflects highly on your professionalism, and gives them an idea on what kind of quality your products or services will be. As a result, you should ensure all staff are on hand to maintain order within your business.
- Create a friendly atmosphere. Once again, customers are more likely to enter a business with a warm, welcoming atmosphere. As a result, you should do whatever it takes to create this in-store. The easiest way to achieve this goal is to work on your customer service skills, ensuring that you go out of your way to keep your customers happy. Greeting customer as they enter the store has also been shown to increase the likelihood of them making a purchase.
- Play music. Playing music throughout your store is another great way to increase footfall, due to the fact that it helps you to curate a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere. Furthermore, studies suggest that playing music can also ‘communicate your brand’s personality to customers, even before they enter your door’. This helps you to begin developing a relationship with potential customers.
- Figure out what you’re doing wrong. When running a business, it’s all too easy to make minor mistakes which drive away customers and decrease footfall. As a result, it’s vital that you’re able to identify what mistakes you are making so that you can rectify them sooner rather than later. The easiest way to do this is to gather feedback from customers. Alternatively, you could carry out some street research by interviewing shoppers in the local area to determine what does (and does not) draw them towards a business.
- Display sales clearly. Sales are a great way to increase the amount of traffic within your store, but they won’t bring customers in if they aren’t aware of them. As such, you should make sure you advertise all sales as much as possible. Feature them prominently in your store window as this is the easiest way to capture your customers’ attention. You should also feature them on your social media pages.
- Pay attention to your window display. Your window displays can make or break your business. This is because, more often than not, they are the first impression a potential customer will have of your brand. However, they serve many different purposes. For example, they can showcase your best products, and guide customers indoors. This means that you should think carefully about how you curate your window display – considering factors such as colors, and which products you display at eye-level. You should also ensure that you keep the windows display clean – as cobwebs don’t necessarily scream ‘come inside’ (unless you run a Halloween-themed shop).