08/05/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/05/2022 04:32
Ever see people walk into your store, look at a few things and walk right back out without purchasing? Every time someone does that, you're losing out on profit. The good news is that you can fix this by working on increasing your conversion rate.
Your conversion rate is the percentage you get when you divide the number of purchases by the number of people who came into your store. In order to figure this out, you will need to get a counter installed at your door if you don't already have one.
Note that an in-store conversion rate is a close approximation rather than exact because your counter will count employees as well customer companions such as kids or spouses.
Once you figure out your current conversion rate, you can set yourself a goal and start using the following techniques to achieve it. As a note, if you're starting conversion rate is truly abysmal (think 15% or lower), you should check your marketing. You may be mis-marketing your store, bringing in shoppers expecting something completely different than what you offer.
The very first thing you'll want to look at is how your store is set up. Where are the displays? How long does the queue usually look? Does the store look packed to the rafters or is it easy to find things?
Unless you are a discount retailer like TJ Maxx, you don't want your store looking like your customers will need to hunt through racks and racks to find things. Instead, set up clean displays that make it easy for shoppers to find unexpected items they just have to have.
Here are some ideas:
Customers can be easily spooked if they see a lengthy queue. The good news is that there are a number of ways to fix this.
Many stores will schedule their staff according to hours where the most sales are made, rather than the amount of traffic walking through the door. By switching to heavily staffing when there are many customers in the store, your employees will be able to more effectively help everybody, which will likely result in an uptick of sales.
This point is part and parcel of the previous point. Not only do you need to be well-staffed, but it's essential that you train your employees well. In terms of increasing your conversion rate, there are some important things your staff can be taught to do:
It's fairly rare for a shopper to engage an employee out of nowhere when they need assistance, so have your staff establish the relationship.
An easy method to ensure that your staff is greeting everyone is to have someone work the front zone specifically to greet people.
Consider what American Eagle is doing. Walk into any AE shop, and you will be greeted by someone who "just happens" to be folding and tidying up near the front. American Eagle's method can seem less intrusive and could fit your branding better.
The bulk of this is to ensure that they don't ask yes or no questions. For instance, "Can I help you find something?" will most often be met with "No." But "What are you looking for today?" requires the shopper to engage with the question a bit more, even if the answer is negative.
Once your staff member has identified the customer's wants/needs, train them to go above and beyond in solving these problems. When your employees are putting in a huge amount of effort, they will…
And even if your staff is well-trained at this, you can always incentivize them to help you reach your objectives by offering them a prize for meeting the goals.
Ever wonder why Costco has made free samples a part of their business model? It's for a number of reasons, but the main one is that, as Dan Ariely, a Duke University behavioral economist, says, "Reciprocity is a very, very strong instinct." Basically, when Costco gives you a free sample, you feel obliged to do something for them. Ariely also points out that free samples remind you of cravings you have, making you want to buy what you just sampled.
If you're selling something that can't be given away as samples, then find something else to offer. Several retailers are now serving drinks to get people to come in and linger.
Take Birchbox in SoHo. I visited the shop in January and upon walking in, an associate gave me a warm welcome and directed me to the counter where they had free champagne. It was an effective tactic; having a drink not only made shopping more fun, but it encouraged me to stay and walk around the store. (And yes, I ended up buying something in the end.)
Not to keen on giving away freebies? Consider charging for samples, instead. Wineries, in particular, make great use of this concept. Wineries offer tastings of their wines at a fairly inexpensive cost. This gets customers in the door. During a tasting, the employee running the tasting will give a lot of wine education to the tasters and more often than not give the tasters "extra" wine or offer to taste a wine that's not on the menu. According to an informal survey I ran this weekend in Sonoma, it's pretty rare that for a customer to leave a tasting without buying at least one bottle.
Any business model can find a way to give something to a customer to encourage them to purchase. Sephora, for instance, offers free mini-makeovers to anyone and I dare you to tell someone you won't buy anything after they just spent 15 minutes slaving over giving you perfect eyebrows.
Social proof means showing your customers that other people have bought or want to buy your products. The most obvious example is when an online store offers reviews of a product on its page. You can replicate this in your store as well!
In Amazon's physical locations, for instance, each printed product tag contains a snippet of a highly starred review from their website, clearly demonstrating that others have bought and loved the product. McDonald's offers another option: tell your customers how many people have bought from you. They famously include their number right in their street signs.
Scarcity is a well-known psychological trickto increase an item's perceived value. Scarcity makes something seem special to a customer. There are a number of ways you can make things feel scarce in your store.
The more time a customer spends in your store, the more likely they are to purchase something. The Wall Street Journal actually says that you can see up to a 40% sales increasefrom encouraging your customers to hang around.
Give your customers no excuse not to spend money with you. Have a plan for customers looking for an item that your physical store is out of. DSW ensures customers purchase from them by offering free shipping on an item when they're out of stock in their store. The associates can also ring customers for that purchase right from the floor on a mobile device so that the customer experiences minimal frustration.
10. Offer flexible payment options
Sometimes, a limited budget is the only thing keeping a customer from purchasing. If this is the case, consider being more flexible with how you accept payments. For example, you could provide layby or installment options.
If you'd like to get paid upfront (and who doesn't) then offer a "buy now pay later" option through a solution like Afterpay. Afterpay enables customers to pay for their purchases in installments. When customers purchase goods with Afterpay, you receive payment for the items upfront while your customers pay in four fortnightly installments. It's interest-free and when paid on time there are no extra costs for your customers.
Afterpay not only provides a payment solution to help customers out, it also aids your sales team. As Bill Parry, Head of Sales - SMB at Afterpay says, "Afterpay is more than a payment method, it is a sales tool your team can use to drive results in-store. By integrating Afterpay into your team's sales journey, you can combat objections and remove barriers to purchase by offering a simple way for your customers to pay for their purchase over 4 installments."