When is the last time you looked at your store through the eyes of your customers? I’m not talking about whether the displays look nice, or the entrance is clean. Sure, those things are important. But I’m talking about how your store “˜feels’ to your customers when they walk in, when they shop, and when they step up to the register. Surely you have been exposed in your own daily life to rude, incompetent or nonexistent customer service. Were you left feeling frustrated, angry, perhaps even invisible? Do you think your own customers have ever felt that way?
It’s a scary thought, isn’t it? But the truth is, every single interaction your customers have, from the moment they enter your store to the second they either purchase something or walk out empty-handed, impacts your conversion rate. And nothing makes a stronger impact on your conversion rate than the selling behaviors of your frontline staff.
What really is your “conversion rate?” Simply put, conversion is all about turning shoppers into buyers. Isn’t that what you’re in business for? So doesn’t it make sense that you would want to do everything you can to improve your conversion rate? Of course it does.
A recent survey by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP revealed that, out of 4000 customers who walked out of a store without buying, the top reasons for doing so were:
-The item or size they were looking for was out of stock (64%)
-The register line was too long (57%)
-A sales associate was not easily available (52%)
-A sales associate could not answer the question they asked (32%)
So then, what is the one thing you can do to improve your conversion rate? The answer is mystery shopping. Mystery shopping does not measure conversion rates. But it does measure the selling behaviors of your frontline staff, including product knowledge, suggestive selling, upselling, and overall positive or negative customer interaction- all the individual nuances that affect whether or not that customer will buy. Once you know your current baseline conversion rate, you can use mystery shopping intelligently to benchmark and improve individual staff performance. An 18% conversion rate is fairly standard for the industry. Increasing that rate by just a few points can make a dramatic difference in yout top line revenue. A 2% conversion rate can generate a sales gain of 10%! And it’s not difficult to achieve with some simple but important changes.
David…I agree 100% with your comments. However as a seasoned retail executive I can tell you that many organizations do not even know what their conversion rate is during the year. And if they do, it is not shared throughout the organization. Our fault, not yours.
I’m convinced that conversion rates can skyrocket when the data gathered through a mystery shopping program is immediately translated into actionable information for front-line managers and into performance targets for front-line associates. Mindy Tresher points out in her comment that many organizations do not know their conversion rates. That suggests a need for broad, organization-wide education on many fronts. Certainly, conversion rates should be measured. But even if they are not, they can be dramatically influenced by mystery shopping if the information gathered is put to good use. Companies should use their mystery shopping providers not only to gather data, but to offer insights into how the data should be translated into action. That’s where conversion rates start to improve.