
1. Understand why people don’t buy
One of the most important things a retailer can do to improve conversion rates is to understand why people don’t buy. Long till line ups; can’t find sales help; out-of-stocks; poor merchandising – the list goes on. There are reasons why people visit your store and don’t buy and you need to understand it. Every store manager should spend some time observing visitors in his/her store. Resist the temptation to help; just observe the behaviors. Watch customers as they move through your store, and it won’t take long for you to identify some actions you can take to turn more visitors into buyers.2. Align your staff to traffic not transactions
Sounds simple enough, but this something many retailers overlook. Staff scheduling is tricky at the best of times, but aligning your staff resources to when prospects are in your store will help you maximize your chances of converting more of them into buyers. Pay particular attention to lunchtime, when store traffic can be way up, but staff lunch breaks can seriously drag down conversion rates. Yes, employees need to eat – but customers also need to be served. Matching staff schedules to traffic volume and timing in your store will help improve your chances of converting more browsers.3. Look for conversion leaks and plug the holes
4. Set conversion targets by store
Having goals and targets are important if you want to improve results. If you don’t have a conversion target for your store, you need to set one. It’s important to remember that every store is unique and conversion targets should be set uniquely by store. One store might be doing well with a 15 per cent conversion rate while another may be underperforming even though it has a 30 per cent conversion rate. The trick is to move your own conversion rate up relative to your store’s performance.5. Make conversion a team sport
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