How To Get Customers Through the Door

Open sign in the glass door of a store.

If you run a brick-and-mortar store, the one thing you always hope for is for customers to walk into your business. More customers walking in through the door mean more sales opportunities.

You’d often rather have your store filled with foot traffic than have none at all.

You’d prefer to be busy all day attending to customers than sit in an empty store with nothing much to do.

Get Customers Through Your Door Using These Simple and Effective Tips

How can you drive more foot traffic through the door? How can you get both new and returning customers to walk into your retail store?

Check out our tips and insights for bringing in more customers and maximizing sales for your business.

Quick Ways to Get Customers Through the Door

There are many methods and techniques for getting clients into your retail store.

Some are quick fixes with a short-lasting impact, while others are long-term strategies that take time to produce an effect.

Let’s start with the quick ways to bring customers into your business.

Host a Grand Opening

Whether you are about to open your business or have just opened it, consider hosting a grand opening to raise awareness.

The event should be memorable so attendees will discuss your business afterward.

Create themed attractions that relate to and are themed around your business to attract people to the event, as well as party favors and prizes.

See, How To Plan a Grand Opening For more.

Offer Free Samples

Another way to entice customers to walk into your store is by offering free samples.

You can do this by positioning a sampling board outside your shop and getting passersby to try your products.

Let them smell, taste, or feel it.

Doing so will encourage customers to walk in and purchase your product even when they didn’t intend to.

Free samples are a great way to get your product in the hands of your customers and increase foot traffic to your store.

Email and SMS Marketing

Use email and SMS marketing to get existing customers to return to your store.

These two are great marketing avenues for contacting your target clients.

For example, you can send them discounts and coupons only redeemable in-store.

You can also use email or SMS marketing to inform customers about new product arrivals, remind them about an event or announce an upcoming sale.

You will surely get a few customers to your store based on the information you gave them via email or SMS.

Use Social Media Influencers

Inviting social media influencers to showcase your products to your store is another great way to get foot traffic.

You can get them to tell a story about their experience with your products or brand.

Try also asking the influencer to mention the location of your store or include a link to your store locator.

Influencer marketing is an effective way to reach your target clientele and get them to trust your brand.

Most followers respect and trust the intuition and recommendations of their favorite influencer.

Customers are more likely to visit your retail store if an influencer they love recommends it.

Try finding an influencer whose content or niche matches your product or service. For example, if your store sells beauty products, don’t partner with an influencer who creates content about cars.

Offer Exclusive Deals at Specific Times or Days

To reward your existing loyal customers, try offering them exclusive deals that capture their attention and get them running to your store.

You can time your offers at specific times or days, for example, during the weekends or after work hours. An example of an exclusive deal is 25% off of the entire purchase.

Host Events

Entice customers to walk into your store with an elegant yet suitable event or workshop.

Events are an effective way to bring customers to your business without attempting to sell them something.

Once the event ends, attendees will want to shop for some of your products.

Consider hosting an event that matches what your business does.

For example, if your store sells coffee, you can host a class or workshop on grinding coffee beans. If you run a kid’s store, try calling in a magician.

Have an Amazing Windows Display

Visual presentation is often customers’ first impression of your brand or brick-and-mortar store.

Customers notice how you display your products, your brand colors, and signage before they speak to you or your store attendants.

The appeal they get from viewing your shop display may motivate them to get into the store to inquire more about your products and business.

If you have a window display, focus on how you present your products.

Take time to find out which of your products captures the customer’s attention and place it where passersby can see it. You can also entice the customer to walk in by offering a discount on that particular item.

Newspaper Advertising

Taking an ad out in your local paper is a conventional way to get customers through your doors. Even though many national newspapers are online, smaller ones are still circulating. See Newspaper Advertising Tips

Radio Advertising

Your local radio station is another way to get local customers through your doors. You can contact your local station to understand the costs and packages available. For more, see Radio Advertising Pros and Cons.

Long-Term Strategies to Get Customers Through the Door

Let’s now look at long-term solutions to get customers in your store. These strategies may take time to show changes, but they usually have a longer-lasting impact.

Create Referral Programs

A referral program is a plan or scheme for rewarding customers who spread the word about your business and products or services.

Every time a customer brings in their friend or colleague, reward them with a gift or an exclusive discount.

Referral programs are an easy yet effective way to get new customers through the door since they hinge on your customers doing the marketing work for you.

To get your customers to agree to the program, they need to believe in your brand.

No unhappy or unsatisfied customer would agree to refer you to their friends regardless of the reward promised to them.

You need to back your referral program with exemplary customer service.

Offer Convenient Store Hours

Your store’s opening hours should be for your customers’ convenience, not yours. For example, if you close your business at 6 p.m. on

Friday and remain closed over the weekend, clients who want to visit your store during this time won’t have the chance to visit.

Most customers prefer shopping and going to retail stores in their free time, usually after work hours or over the weekend.

You need to be open when your customers want you to be if you want them to keep coming to your store.

Digital Marketing

Customers who don’t know where to find a product or service will search on Google first before visiting any store.

For example, they may type “restaurants nearby” or “bike stores near me” on Google Search. This is why you want to ensure your brick-and-mortar store has a digital presence.

Build a website, open a Google Business Profile, and use local SEO.

Also, don’t forget to highlight your store’s directions and offer your contact information. Some customers may want to call you to enquire about your products before they commit to coming to your store.

There are many platforms to advertise online; for the quickest results, see Facebook Advertising and Google advertising.

These two platforms will allow you to create your budget and attract local customers.

Free Advertising

Take advantage of free advertising methods that can bring customers to your business.

See our article on Free Advertising Ideas For Small businesses to spark your creativity.

Offer Complimentary Services Along With Your Product

If you want customers to come to your store without trying to sell anything, why not offer complimentary services?

For example, if your store has a parking area, you can offer free parking to encourage those who don’t know where to park.

More examples may include; Wi-Fi, free delivery, layaway plans, in-house financing, strong warranties, price matching, and whatever else that can benefit your customers.

Over time, customers will opt to come to your store since they know that buying from you comes with a few perks.

Customer Loyalty Programs.

Running customer loyalty programs is one of the most effective ways to get repeat business. Such programs recognize, appreciate, and reward customers who engage with your brand repeatedly.

They also encourage clients to keep purchasing your products or services, which increases their lifetime value.

Your customers are willing to spend more because they know their purchase comes with benefits.

One classic example of a loyalty program is a point-based scheme where customers earn points with every purchase.

They can then redeem their points for free products and other perks. The customer will have to buy from you consistently to earn more points, so they must keep coming to your store.

Build a Community

Another long-term solution for getting customers through your store is building a community of your most loyal ones.

Try hosting fun events that encourage them to come together. Grant them a reason to meet around your store or business.

For example, if you run a gym, try hosting cardio competitions or fun events like hikes and bike riding competitions.

Such events will bring your customers and the surrounding community together. They will get people to interact and have fun as they learn more about your business and brand.

Deliver Great Customer Service

Offering good customer service will always get your clients coming back to you. This approach is a sure way to build a team of loyal and happy customers.

There is no substitute for excellent customer service. You can introduce all the techniques for getting customers through the door.

However, you need to offer them a good customer experience to keep them coming back.

Be friendly and welcoming to your customers.

Respond promptly to their requests and inquiries, and always appreciate them for choosing to do business with you.

Lastly, focus on building a relationship with your customers and always ask and follow up on their feedback.

Conclusion

There are many methods and techniques for getting customers through the door. Some work immediately and have a short-lasting impact.

Others are long-term solutions that take time to produce an effect but have a longer-lasting one.

As for the quick ways, try creating an alluring windows display or host an event to entice customers to visit your shop.

You can also offer exclusive deals to your loyal customers or partner with a social media influencer who can tell a story about your products and brand.

In the case of long-term strategies, you can create customer loyalty programs or offer complementary services along with your products.

Try creating a digital presence for your brand and building a community among your customers. Most of all, you need to deliver good customer service.

Key Points:

  • More customers walking in through the door mean more sales opportunities.
  • Have an Amazing Windows Display
  • Offer Free Samples
  • Use email and SMS marketing to get existing customers to return to your store.
  • Influencer marketing is an effective way to reach your target clientele and get them to trust your brand.
  • Offer Exclusive Deals at Specific Times or Days
  • Host Events Entice customers to enter your store with an elegant yet suitable event or workshop.
  • Create Referral Programs
  • Offer Convenient Store Hours
  • Take advantage of free advertising methods that can bring customers to your business.
  • Your local radio station is another way to get local customers through your doors.
  • Taking an ad out in your local paper is a conventional way to get customers through your doors.
  • There are many platforms to advertise online; for the quickest results, see Facebook Advertising and Google advertising.
  • Build a website, set up a Google Business Profile, and take advantage of local SEO
  • Offer Complimentary Services – For example, free parking, Wi-Fi, free delivery, layaway plans, in-house financing, strong warranties, price matching, etc.
  • Running customer loyalty programs is one of the most effective ways to get repeat business.
  • Build a Community – Grant them a reason to meet around your store or business.
  • Try hosting fun events that encourage them to come together.
  • Deliver Great Customer Service.

Resources

Customer Acquisition is an ongoing process for most businesses.

Unless you are Apple, where people are knocking at their doors to get products, you must work on customer acquisitions.

It’s not easy getting a new customer, and it can be costly.

Therefore, you want an affordable process that works well. Below are a few resources to give you more information about acquiring more customers.

Article to Bring Awareness to Your Business About Your Business

How To Write a Press Release

How to Create a Google Business Profile

How To Advertise on Google

How To Advertise on Social Media

How To Advertise on TikTok

How To Advertise on Pinterest

How to Advertise on Facebook

Free Advertising Ideas For Small Business

Books

There could be marketing books that contain a couple of chapters on customer acquisitions, so you don’t have to read the entire book if you don’t want to, but instead, head right to the chapters you’re interested in.

View the most recent books related to customer acquisitions on Amazon.

Courses Related

Taking a course is another route to take to increase your customer base.

Your preference may be to attend live training or take a self-paced course. I prefer the self-paced because I can take the course in my spare time.

There are courses available. Why not take a few minutes to check out the link below to see if any of the courses appeal to you?

Google’s search results to increase your customer base.

News

The news is another source of information that I use. When I’m interested in a topic, I head over to Google News, type in my keyword, and instantly have access to the most recent and archived stories related to my keyword.

Sometimes looking through new stories gives me a broader perspective of the topic.

If you want, take a few minutes to see what’s related to customer acquisitions in the news; see Google’s news search results.

YouTube Videos

I enjoy learning through video because I’m more of a visual learner.

YouTube has thousands of topics you can explore. Just type in your keyword, and you’ll get a list of relevant videos.

One thing to keep an eye out for is when you’re watching a video, you’ll get a list of relevant topics either to the side or the bottom of your screen, depending on your device.

I always find these videos worth looking into. Even though they are related, you may not have considered them, so keep an eye out for them to expand your knowledge.

See the most recent videos related to customer acquisitions.