5 Marketing Ways to Increase Foot Traffic in a Small Business
Increasing foot traffic is a challenge that most businesses face. While many consumers are turning to online shopping, there are ways to increase foot traffic in a small business.
In this digital age, you might think online shopping is the most popular way to buy things. However, online sales accounted for only 13.2% of total sales in 2021. This means in-person shopping is still the preferred option for many American shoppers.
However, in today’s highly competitive retail landscape, you must stand out if you want to earn the business of consumers and increase your revenue.
If you want to learn how to grow your business, we will explore five marketing tactics you can use to help increase foot traffic.
Key Takeaways
- Foot traffic, or customers coming through your door, is an important source of revenue generation for many small businesses.
- There are numerous ways to monitor foot traffic, including social media engagement, surveillance cameras, and people counters.
- Offering Buy Online, Pickup in Store is a great way to get online shoppers into your store.
- Local ads on Google are a great resource for driving foot traffic to small businesses.
What Is Foot Traffic?
Foot traffic measures how many customers enter a retail store, restaurant, or other business. It is a crucial metric for gauging the success of a brick-and-mortar store, especially a small business. In general, the higher the foot traffic, the higher the revenue.
How to Measure Foot Traffic
As a small business, you must know how many people enter your store daily. Instead of having someone physically stand at the door and count every person who comes in, retailers use various methods to monitor this. These may include:
- Heat sensors
- People counters
- Surveillance cameras
- Wi-Fi networks
- Point of sale systems
- Traffic tracking software
- Social media engagement
- Sales data
5 Ways to Increase Foot Traffic in a Small Business
Convincing shoppers to walk through your door doesn’t have to be a monumental task. Here are five simple marketing tactics you can try to boost your foot traffic and generate more revenue.
1. Buy Online, Pickup in Store
Like many small businesses, you use both in-person and online sales. With your online sales, offer free in-store pickup on orders, called BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup in Store). This option allows customers to avoid shipping fees, generating foot traffic to your store. The goal is that when they come to pick up their order, they see something in-store they want to buy.
Customers like this option because they can skip the shipping fees, longer shipping times, and the hassle of returning an item through the mail if it doesn’t work out.
A similar solution is the option to reserve a product online and then pick it up and pay for it in the store. Whatever option you choose, make sure your store is set up with the proper signage so customers can quickly and easily find the pickup location.
2. Offer In-Store Returns and Exchanges
For some customers, returning or exchanging an item through the mail is not worth the hassle. If your customers find your return or exchange policy frustrating, they likely won’t buy from you again. Invesp reports that 92% of consumers will buy products from the same store if the return process is easy.
One great way to simplify returns and increase foot traffic is to offer in-store returns and exchanges. When customers come to your store, they can quickly return the item and hopefully find something better to replace it.
3. Send Out Redeemable In-Store Promotions
Text messages tend to have an incredibly high open rate, between 90 and 99%. This makes sending text messages to your customers an excellent way to share promotions and get them into your store. Offer messaging coupons that your customers can only redeem in-store for a limited time. For example, it could be a percentage off their purchase or a buy-one-get-one deal. If they redeem the offer, send them another one they can use on their next purchase. This will hopefully keep them coming back again and again.
4. Use Google Maps Advertising
Google Maps is the most popular navigation app in the world, with over 10 billion downloads. Many consumers use this app to find local businesses. For example, someone might search “shoe store near me.” If you have paid for local search ads through Google Maps, your business might be an advertised listing at the top of the results.
Focusing on local search ads can be a big driver of foot traffic as more consumers search for information about local businesses. According to research from BrightLocal, 35% of consumers use the internet to find local businesses multiple times each week.
5. Work with Your Neighbors
If your small business is in an area with multiple storefronts, your neighboring stores could be a great asset. For example, if there is a popular coffee shop next door, make sure your business hours align with theirs. You don’t want to miss out on heavy morning traffic if you don’t open until 10 a.m.
Another way to work with your neighbors is to offer cross-promotions or host neighborhood events. Cross promotions work well if a business sells complimentary products to yours. For example, if you own a clothing store and there is a shoe store next door, you could promote a deal for customers who buy an outfit from you and shoes from your neighbor.
BOOM Communications Can Help Drive Traffic to Your Store
We understand that reading about marketing and implementing it on your own are two completely different skills. If you are feeling overwhelmed with trying to increase traffic to your store, BOOM Communications can help.
We offer a variety of services designed specifically for small businesses like yours. Our services include advertising, competitor differentiation, marketing performance, and strategic planning. We even offer niche printing services if that benefits your business.
With our expert strategists, we can help you create and implement a plan that will generate new traffic, customers, and revenue.
Ready to ignite your growth? Contact BOOM Communications today.