Ever had customers walk into your shop only to leave without buying anything? It feels like such a waste, doesn’t it? After all, you’ve worked hard to drive people into your store — the last thing you want is for shoppers to leave without purchasing anything.

If you’re seeing low conversion rates in your store, fret not. There are several action steps you can take to increase your conversions. Here are some ideas:

1. Stock the right products

The first thing you should do when you’re dealing with low conversions is to evaluate your product assortment. Ask yourself, are you carrying products that your customers actually want to buy?

Use your sales reports to identify your top and lowest-performing products, then look at your inventory to see if you’re stocking up on the right merchandise.

Also, talk to customers on a regular basis. Converse with them while they’re on the sales floor or at the checkout counter. Ask them about the products they liked or didn’t like, then use that knowledge when you’re ordering items.

2. Improve your store layout and displays

You can have the best products, but you won’t sell a whole lot if they’re not displayed correctly or if people can’t find them. A poorly designed location can frustrate shoppers and drive them out of your store.

Prevent that by optimising your store’s design for conversion. You can do this by:

  • Choosing the right layout. The common types of retail layouts are the Grid Layout, The Loop/Racetrack, and the Free Flow layout. Look into each of these layouts and determine which is the best option for your store.
  • Remove excess merchandise from the floor. It’s best to only have one of each size or product on the floor to keep the store from looking cluttered.
  • Adding speed bumps or breaks. Don’t let your displays look too repetitive. Accentuate your store with interesting displays here and there that grab the attention of customers.

3. Make sure your employees are on top of their game

Give your staff the proper sales education so they know how to convert customers effectively.

The right type of training depends on your associates and products, but at a general level, you should at least train your staff on how to prompt customers to share what they’re looking for.

The bulk of this is to ensure that they don’t ask yes or no questions. For instance, “Can I help you find something?” will most often be met with “No.” But “What are you looking for today?” requires the shopper to engage with the question a bit more, even if the answer is negative.

Training on how to read customers as well as how to handle sales objections would also be beneficial.

4. Run promotions

Discounts have a bad reputation among many retailers, but when implemented correctly, promotions can help you drive sales without killing your profits. The key is to be strategic with your promotions.

For example, you could offer discounts or freebies only when a customer spends above a particular threshold. Or, if you’re trying to sell slow-moving merchandise, you could run a BOGO promo.

Another clever way to implement promotions is to tie them into your loyalty program. That’s what home improvement store MyDIY.ie is doing. The store’s owner, Alan Grant, shares that when it comes to items that they want to move or liquidate, they offer double or triple loyalty points to entice shoppers to buy.

According to him, they mark these products clearly on the shelves, so shoppers know that they get additional loyalty dollars for those specific items. This enables them to sell those slow-moving products without implementing steep discounts. And since shoppers earn loyalty dollars, those customers are encouraged to come back and buy even more.

5. Eliminate long queues

Long queues at the till can send people packing. Research has shown that British shoppers will walk out of a store after just waiting 6 minutes in a checkout line.

Prevent long lines by making sure you have enough cashiers during your peak hours. Or better yet, eliminate queues completely using a mobile POS system that can ring up sales on the spot.

That’s how homeware retailer the Borough Kitchen combats long lines in-store. “At peak times…we can add a new till instantly by switching on another iPad. That just wouldn’t work with a traditional till system,” say founders David Caldana and Justin Kowbel.