[A Common Question] How to Attract Customers to Your Store Using the Web [Platforms to Use]
From ACIDHOUSE, INC., this is Tetsuya Ashida.
Owners of small and medium businesses with websites sometimes ask me this question.
There seem to be many ways to do it. Where should we start?
This time I will answer those questions.
Platforms for Attracting Customers
Broadly, these are the options.
- Ekiten
- Google My Business
- Online advertising (AdWords, Facebook ads, etc.)
- Paid portals (Hot Pepper, EPARK, etc.)
Of course, websites, owned media, and YouTube channels also work, but this time I will cover the options above.
When I introduce several ways of attracting customers like this, quite a few people try to narrow things down to the one platform they think will suit them.
However, focusing on just one makes your business dependent on that platform's performance and rules. Always use multiple platforms—at least three—as you would diversify investments.
Before Attracting New Customers, Are You Getting Existing Customers to Return?
Before explaining the platforms you can use to attract customers, let me discuss this.
I covered it in detail in the article below, but it is important to generate stable sales from existing customers before attracting new ones.
To improve cost-effectiveness, too, it is best to thoroughly improve your approach to existing customers before acquiring new ones.
Of course, in a store business, customers who used to visit may have changes in circumstances, such as moving house, but if you stay connected, they may return on some occasion or become repeat customers regardless of those changes.
Even customers who have not used your business for a long time can be easier to win back with a generous offer.
Reach out without worrying about changes in customers' circumstances.
For staying connected with existing customers, LINE@, email newsletters, and SMS (text messages) are very effective.
I plan to write about that another time.
Ekiten
Ekiten is a portal with one of the largest collections of store reviews and rankings.
▶Ekiten—Store Reviews and Rankings
Although Ekiten has 8.6 million users a month, setup, listing, and monthly usage fees are all free when you get started.
In other words, if your store is not listed on Ekiten, you are probably missing out on a significant number of new customers. If you have not listed it yet, I recommend doing so immediately.
The information you can list includes basic information, descriptions, menus, photos, coupons, and replies to reviews.
Also, there are already 4.76 million registered stores and competition is growing, so earning good ratings and reviews is important.
Paid options apparently also allow you to rank higher and attract users looking at other stores.
If you see a difference from using Ekiten's free listing and think it is worth investing in, consider those options.
Use the link below to register with Ekiten for free.
▶ Attract Customers to Stores and Facilities | Guide to Free Ekiten Listings
Portals like these that match small businesses with general consumers often begin free, then gradually introduce paid features as their user numbers increase.
As portals mature, stores may suddenly find themselves bearing substantial costs, as with Hot Pepper or Rakuten.
Assess cost-effectiveness and avoid dependence on a platform.
Google My Business
▶ Google My Business – Create a Google Business Profile for Free
In fact, you can list store information—basic information, descriptions, menus, photos, coupons, and replies to reviews—on Google for free.
Better yet, it can appear prominently in search results as shown below.
Considering how many people use Google, there is absolutely no reason not to use it.
What determines priority display among multiple stores—Google My Business SEO, so to speak—is the amount of information and how frequently it is updated. You will see if you try it, but photos attract attention and are particularly important.
Also, do not overlook that, beyond ordinary search, it connects with the map app (Google Maps). It should be very effective at attracting customers who are ready to visit immediately.
Online Advertising
This means things such as AdWords ads (keywords and retargeting) and Facebook ads.
Many competitors and large companies already use them, and you may think rising click prices and budgets will never stop.
However, today you can fine-tune audience attributes, so campaigns can sometimes turn out cheaper than expected when you actually run them.
For a store business, targeting attributes should begin with ‘smartphones’ and ‘location’ and then fine-tune
- age
- gender
- household income
- whether people have children
to improve the chances of running campaigns efficiently.
This applies beyond online advertising, but a platform's cost-effectiveness falls as more businesses join. So aim to be an early adopter.
Incidentally, YouTube ads are especially cost-effective at the moment.
Paid Portals
Hot Pepper, EPARK, Gurunavi, Tabelog, and others need no introduction by now.
Their user bases are stable, but their cost-effectiveness is probably very poor.
Never rely on them as your only means of attracting customers.
For reference, I will embed the following tweet.
I suddenly remembered once hearing a Recruit representative asked, ‘What do successful stores listed on Hot Pepper have in common?’ The answer was, ‘They don't leave all their customer acquisition to Recruit.’ I thought, ‘That's exactly right,’ haha.
— takeda (@takeda69063309) November 2, 2018