In the retail industry, we know that it’s important to track each and every sale, and gather as much insight from sales information as possible. There are countless ways to gather this information, analyze it and put it to use to maximize the customer experience for your most loyal customers.
But what about the people who walk into your store, but don’t buy anything?
Why didn’t they make a purchase?
Were they able to find what they were looking for and simply didn't buy it?
Were the items they wanted out of stock?
There’s a lot of unanswered questions.
But here’s what we do know: about 85% of people who walk into your store do not make a purchase. That’s a huge percentage of untapped potential customers.
If there was a way to capture tangible insights about their behavior and begin to convert even a fraction of those visitors into buyers, imagine the impact it would have on your bottom line. To begin to make a change in this hidden gem of your customer population, you have to understand them and their motivations for buying (or lack of buying).
In this article, we’ll delve into the reasons behind the lack of customer conversion and what you can do to convert more visitors into buyers.
The truth is, only 15-20% of people who enter your store actually make a purchase. Most of the time, those visitors that don’t buy anything walk right back out of the store without your sales team being able to track why. The reason behind not making a purchase often goes unnoticed.
Even if you are doing a great job of collecting existing customer insights through loyalty programs or surveys, visitors who don’t buy aren’t accounted for within those programs. You’re likely lacking vital information about what potential customers want, and without that info, you don’t know what will entice them to come back into the store and make a purchase. How can you convert those visitors into customers?
You need a solution to easily capture insights on your current customers AND captures insights about visitors who leave without making a purchase. Once you start to collect and analyze this information, you can begin to move the needle on the untapped population of potential customers.
There is nothing worse than being in the dark when it goes to untapped business potential and growth opportunities.
When you realize how wide the gap is between what you know about your existing customers and what you know about visitors who didn’t make a purchase, you can start to make changes in your store processes. Without those key insights into your potential customers, it’s difficult to know how to guide them toward making a purchase in the future.
The only way to unlock this huge sales opportunity is to begin tracking insight into every single visitor to your store. Once you understand how they move through the customer journey, you can begin to make changes as necessary and you will begin to see a shift in customer conversion.
The best way to ensure you capture as much information as possible is to use an automated data collection system. Don’t rely on pen and paper or ad hoc solutions. Using a software platform to immediately and quickly capture customer insights after every interaction is the most efficient way to collect this information.
Post-covid, customer loyalty is lower than ever (especially in brick-and-mortar stores). As e-commerce continues to thrive, attracting and keeping customers has become more difficult for traditional retailers. If a customer can type whatever they want into a search bar and buy it within 5 seconds, why would they spend time visiting your store?
The answer comes down to excellent customer service, the experience of your store, and how well you anticipate your customer’s needs. And there is no better way to meet your customer’s needs than by collecting data on every single potential customer. Yes, you will have to work harder than ever to earn your customers’ loyalty and consistently win new customers. But the good news is that there are software tools to help you automate and scale the process of gathering and analyzing visitor data. It’s a win-win all around.
When it comes to today’s retail environment, you simply cannot afford to let any visitors get away without collecting tangible insights into their shopping habits. Luckily, your sales associates on the floor have a treasure trove of information. The more you are able to capture their customer interactions, the easier it will be to stay on top of what your customers’ needs.
With close to 85% of visitors leaving your store without making a purchase, converting even a small portion of those visitors into sales would be a huge advantage for your retail establishment. These are your diamonds in the rough!
There are tools out there to help you on your journey. Once you have captured the vital insights into customer interactions, you can begin to analyze the data and make changes that will increase your bottom line.
With LiveCrew, your team can easily collect customer data by answering 2 questions (just 10 seconds of their time). Forget about relying on manual data collection on slips of paper, and embrace a software solution that will easily organize your data. Book a demo with LiveCrew today and start transforming your retail strategy.
