Building a business doesn’t end when you’ve found a nice commercial space and hired on-site staff. No matter how good a product or service you offer, customers want to feel as though you understand their needs as they enter the establishment. This matters a great deal considering that new customers may not opt for successive visits if they’re not treated right on their first. Even though online transactions are becoming more prevalent, it’s still important to enhance in-store experiences.
The success and growth of your business will depend in part on your business’s ability to make customers feel at home. If anything, repeat visits and repurchases are possible when people like the time they spend inside your shop. Whether you’re a retail outlet for designer bags or a corner ramen store, enhancing in-store experiences is crucial to offering a more personalized experience for both new and repeat visitors. Here’s a guide to help you get started;
1. Understand the needs of your customers
Whether you are building a physical store from the ground up or running one that has been standing for more than a decade, you need to know what matters the most to your customers before investing time and money in activities aimed toward enhancing in-store experiences. The lack of research and insight will only cause you to spend resources on improvements that people barely appreciate. Provide direction by getting a good idea of what your customers want in terms of quality and convenience.
The best way to do that is to have customers fill out feedback forms or encourage them to leave a review on your business’s social media page. Reward them for their honest input by giving out discount vouchers. This allows you to collect valuable suggestions, especially those involving the physical layout and overall atmosphere of your store. Pay attention to negative comments because these reveal issues you may have looked over.
2. Allow for a navigable layout
When changing the layout of your physical store, it matters to come up with one that makes it easy for customers to browse for the items they need. For instance, supermarkets don’t place certain categories of food at random. Successful supermarket brands use layouts that take into account customer behaviors. You need to opt for a well-organized layout that optimizes customer traffic and guides your customers
Aside from installing clear signage, you need to make sure your store is well-lighted and the aisles are properly spaced out. Using shelves that are too tall and wide could create a maze-like effect which will further confuse customers. You should also consider placing the most bought items in your store near the entrance where customers can immediately see them. It also helps if you could place your points-of-sale in highly visible places so customers will know where to checkout.
3. Ensure accessibility
When it comes to improving the interior space of your establishment, you should also make sure it caters to people with disabilities who may need to exert extra effort to move around. For this, you should be able to invest in accessibility features that are designed to help those with mobility issues, visual impairments, and other conditions. Start by adding wedge ramps with the help of vendors like Chequer Plate Direct to improve wheelchair access from the parking lot to the entrance.
Seniors who may be nearsighted could also benefit from high-contrast signage with large enough text for better readability from far away. Braille markings should also be added in places such as the entry and exit ways, restrooms, elevators, and even the aisles. You should also install railings in the checkout areas and in-store tech such as AI-powered text-to-speech devices in some areas of your establishment.
4. Improve customer service
Even if your store has the right enhancements for improving in-store experiences, customers will still opt for a competitor if they feel you’re anything but responsive to the questions and concerns they may have while browsing. Quality customer service needs to be a part of the customer experience. If you’re lacking in this critical area, you may end up giving people a good reason to never visit your store again.
Customer service training makes a big difference in making a good impression, especially among first-time visitors. On-site staff should be trained on how to be hospitable and provided with a good idea of what to do for every scenario, from dealing with a dispute at checkout to looking up a variation of a specific product. It also matters to implement an effective dispute resolution workflow that allows your employees to resolve an issue quickly, allowing customers to move on.
5. Monitor and measure
Implementing the right enhancements doesn’t always guarantee immediate results. You can’t expect everyone to leave your store satisfied with the experience they’ve had. It would be a mistake to assume that everything is right. In reality, you need to make sure the changes you implemented are generating the results you want.
For this reason, always take customer feedback seriously and highlight what else needs to be done to make your establishment more inviting and engaging. It also matters to monitor daily foot traffic and look for potential bottlenecks or points where people stop browsing and head toward the exit. Keep in mind that reviews and comments on the feedback forms won’t reveal everything. Constantly monitoring what happens on the ground can help you make the best decisions.
Endnote
For your physical store to grow, you need to make sure everyone who enters will leave happy and fulfilled. Keep these tips in mind as a plan for positioning your store as a standard for improving customer experiences.
