How to use footfall analytics to improve customer service?

Footfall analytics leverages the latest technology to count and track customers in your retail stores. It provides deep insights into customer psychology, preferred shopping hours, customer hotspots in your store, etc. The data collected from store counters or people counting solutions can be used to improve customer experience in retail.  

Footfall analytics impact on customer service – a use case

One of Europe’s leading shopping malls had more than 100,000 people walking down its hallways, every day. The mall manager always thought that people coming to the mall spent the most during the evenings as that is when they get off from work and have the most time to purchase items they need. But that was before the mall installed a people-counting solution.  

Once the people counter sensors were installed and they started collecting data, it was revealed that people were purchasing the needed goods during their lunch breaks. While the results did surprise the entire team at the mall, they also allowed them to use that data to correct their approach and improve customer experience by deploying the right number of staff at the right time.  

Here are a few ways you can use footfall analytics to improve your customer service.

Optimize service level intensity

Using footfall analytics, businesses can gauge the number of visitors being served by each sales staff member in real time. Combining this information with data on customer peak hours, businesses can adjust their staff requirements. For instance, during hours when the store is crowded, more staff members can be deployed to ensure all customers are served. The opposite could be done when there are fewer customers in the store i.e., the number of staff members is reduced to save costs. This will not only ensure that your customers are served in the best conceivable way, but it will also warrant that your sales staff reach their sales goals without losing morale.

Make informed decisions in response to marketing efforts

Making informed decisions is important when it comes to garnering customer confidence and building brands. Businesses can use footfall analytics to their advantage here and gauge a store’s response to marketing campaigns. This will allow them to figure out which store is better equipped to cater to customers in the advent of a successful marketing campaign that boosts traffic. Businesses can answer questions such as, if two stores have the same increase in traffic in response to a marketing campaign, why is one store closing more sales than the other? As the answer, businesses can improve staff level intensity, improve product placements, and even increase staff motivation so they can serve customers better.  

Discover customer hotspots and deploy staff accordingly

Many retail stores have areas that are frequented by customers. These are referred to as customer hotspots. Usually, common footfall analytics software highlights areas such as store counters as customer hotspots, but intelligent ones can filter this out, and give you a more accurate picture of the areas the customers are visiting the most. Deploying your best sales staff member here can improve your customer service and help you enhance your conversion.

As you improve your customer service, the people visiting your retail stores will be more willing to conduct repeat business with you which will improve your retention. If this continues, the same loyal customers will also become your brand advocates. As we mentioned before, retaining a customer is costs less than acquiring a new one and this will reduce your expenses as well. Your conversion rates will also improve. These were the ways you can improve your customer service using a footfall analytics solution, stay tuned for more such posts.