Improve Your In-store Sales with a Digital Strategy
The moment a customer enters your store, they are entering a brand experience. Everything from how you greet them, the scent in the air, and the way your products are displayed creates an experience and reflects your brand. In a time when digital marketing is a prevalent choice for retailers, that brand experience begins online.
Use these 5 techniques for creating a digital strategy to drive sales and improve the experience your customers have.
- First, evaluate channel demographics to determine where your customers are online. The more targeted you can make your digital marketing the more success you’ll see – and the best part is all digital marketing is easily trackable. Make sure you are looking at metrics often so that adjustments can be made. If you are using a digital agency, make an agreement up front about how often your campaigns will be evaluated and adjusted. If you are running digital campaigns in-house, use an app connected to your point of sale system to automate activities and run reports on results as frequently as you’d like.
- Ask yourself “what is the #1 reason to shop at your store?” then reiterate that message in your digital marketing – make it your centerpiece. When customers come in, be sure their experience is authentic to the brand you have created online. Is your #1 reason that you always have the hottest fashions straight from Vogue? Then ensure you have those fashions in your store predominately displayed.
- Gather data when customers are in the store, so that you can build relationships with them when they have left. A point of sale system can help you easily categorize customers by geographic location, buying preferences and price points will help you learn about your customers and market directly to them.
- Develop a strong call to action that you can also track when customers come in. For example, if you mention a special bonus only in digital marketing campaigns, not on your website or Facebook page, then you’ll be able to gauge the number of people that come in asking for that bonus. Create an offer for customers to download only on your website. The latest numbers show that 91% of adults in the US have their devices within reaching distance at any given time. That means having a call to action that involves mobile technology is convenient for shoppers and will help drive store traffic.
- Create a juicy hook. You don’t have to wait until customers come to your store to begin learning about them and building a relationship. Create an irresistible offer online to get customers to sign up for your newsletter and then have a strategy for reaching out to those sign-ups in a way that reflects your brand.
There are many point of sale systems currently available that have marketing and customer loyalty modules or apps integrated. When evaluating the right POS system for your business, consider the cost savings and benefits of selecting one with builtin marketing capabilities.
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