Digital marketing strategies are great for spreading your brand's message, building customer communities online, alerting your customer base to new deals and products, and getting them into your store. While these results are all beneficial, you need to have a way to increase customer interaction and engagement and foster lasting relationships once your customers arrive. This is where in-store marketing comes in. When you combine your digital efforts with in-store marketing, you're more likely to keep customers in your store making purchases and coming back as repeat business.
What Is In-Store Marketing and Why Do You Need It?
In-store marketing is a strategy (or several) that focuses on improving customer experience, engaging new customers, and ultimately, making more sales in a physical storefront. Digital and traditional marketing methods can get your customers in the door and browsing, but in-store marketing encompasses the strategies you use to engage them once they're there.
Even with online shopping, many customers still prefer to shop in-store. Improving customer experience, engaging shoppers, and keeping them coming back are several important reasons you need to be looking into in-store marketing approaches.
The Psychology Behind the Customer Buying Cycle
In-store marketing works through making a connection with the customer during their purchasing cycle. Generally, it's an emotional response, a need, or an immediate want that drives a customer's decision to make a purchase. You can use the psychology behind the customer buying cycle to better develop the strategies you use to engage and gain interest in the customers who visit your store.
According to Intelliverse, customers go through several phases when purchasing products: the weighing options stage, the decision stage, and eventually, the purchasing stage. During each phase of a customer's buying cycle, it's your job to build trust, simplify their options to avoid decision fatigue, and help your customers navigate your store and offerings. The following in-store marketing strategies can help you do just that.
9 In-Store Marketing Strategies You Need to Try
We've compiled a list of 10 effective strategies for you to implement immediately. Experiment with each and try a mix of several strategies to find out what works best for your storefront and brand.
1. Give Customers a Proper Greeting
Acknowledging your customers when they walk into your store is one of the biggest factors in making sales and keeping loyal and repeat business. The way you approach newcomers walking in and how you interact with and engage customers once they're shopping can have a long-lasting impact on your brand's reputation.
One way you can implement this strategy is to set up door greeters for the sole purpose of making contact with customers entering the store. Assign staff members to different areas of your store as a resource for customers who have questions or need assistance while shopping. This in-store strategy can go a long way toward making every customer experience a positive one.
2. Offer Free Wi-Fi
Offer Wi-Fi use to customers in your store. When they start shopping, they can sign in to your brand's platform and receive offers, updates, and flash sale coupons. Wi-Fi marketing is an advantageous strategy in-store because it keeps customers engaged when they're waiting in line or for a store associate to assist them. With this strategy, you can set up a guest access point within your store's network that requires customers' email addresses. This can position you to follow up with additional email and digital marketing approaches after your customers leave the store.
3. Give Customers Important Information
Make relevant information easily accessible to your customers. This can be primary information on your brand's products, information about upcoming product launches, or any relevant information that customers use to make purchasing decisions. Providing valuable information to your customers not only educates them about your brand, but it also positions you as an expert, which is more likely to build trust with your customers.
4. Get Customers to Check-In and Leave Reviews
When launching a retail campaign, customer reviews, feedback, and input are crucial for streamlining your offerings and improving your products. Customer reviews can help you focus your efforts on their experiences and find new and better ways to fulfill their needs. Create an initiative for customers to visit your brand's social media platforms or check in to your store on their own social media like a unique coupon code or product special for them to redeem after leaving their honest reviews. Customer feedback is essential for gaining insight into many facets of your retail campaign like price points, product demand, and customer service.
5. Focus on Customer Experience
When customers have a positive shopping experience, they're more likely to return. Create an atmosphere that fosters high-quality customer service by focusing on customer needs. In a service setting, for example, a service provider might offer their clients refreshments, entertainment, or other means of keeping customers satisfied while they wait to be served. In a retail setting, improving customer experience can mean keeping your store's layout easy to navigate and products easy to find. The more you can cater to the needs of your customers, the more you can engender their trust and guarantee repeat business.
6. Create Promotions
Get customers engaged by creating same-day and in-store promotions. Promote seasonal products, post signage near essential items, and create ways to compel your customers to make a purchase during their visit.
Another great option is to create a promotional event like a raffle, charity drive, or another event that gets customers in your store and buying your products. You can even host events like a customer appreciation day where you offer discounts to loyal and repeat customers
7. Host Events
Think about hosting a class or conducting product demonstrations and other in-store events. As an example, a physician's office might host a wellness course, or a household product brand might conduct new product demonstrations in its storefront. Whatever the event, consider making it an educational experience to teach customers about your brand and offerings and to inform your market of new product developments or launches. One of the biggest benefits of hosting events in-store is creating brand awareness, which means you can potentially reach more customers.
8. Use In-Store Surveys
Set up surveys at checkouts or enlist retail staff in requesting feedback as customers leave the store. Surveys allow customers to share their experience and satisfaction level with your brand. When you conduct surveys, ask customers about their shopping experience, interaction with staff, and their overall satisfaction with the products. Have them rate the likelihood that they would return and recommend your store to friends and family. The more insight you have about what your customers want, the better you'll be able to develop your brand's offerings and improve customer experience.
9. Update Product Displays
Keep product displays fresh and current. Seasonal products and themes for your displays are effective places to start. In a clothing store, for example, displays show seasonal outfits and accessories, and may even tie into a theme like maternity wear or natural fiber clothing. Use your displays for sale items, too, or little essentials that customers need but forget to pick up. Update your checkout counters to include last-minute-buy items and rotate these every so often to keep them fresh.
Combining your digital strategies with effective in-store marketing can not only help you increase traffic to your store, but can mean the difference between a browsing shopper and a paying customer.
