How to run a drive-to-store campaign | 5 tactics for retailers to increase foot traffic

Are you wanting to drive more customers to your bricks-and-mortar retail store but not sure where to start? Nothing beats a multi-faceted, well implemented drive-to-store campaign, and we’ve got the actionable tactics you can use to start putting yours together.

“Build it and they will come” stopped applying to retail in the early 2000s, but while the proliferation of next-day delivery options and advent of messenger drones being able to carry packages to high rise windows might once have been thought the final nail in the coffin of high streets and shopping malls alike, the tide has turned.

Customers like convenience, but they love face-to-face interactions (mostly), they know they benefit from expert advice, and there’s no substitute for holding a product in hand before purchasing. Physical premises also offer customers the opportunity to join tangible, real communities, and can offer a buying experience that can’t be replaced by eCommerce.

Here are 5 starting points to begin putting together your own drive-to-store strategy, and make sure your bricks-and mortar retail premises is a modern day success story.

1. Organise in store events and experiences that add value to your community

Make your retail store a hub within your industry or niche by organising relevant and on-brand in-store events. From product launches and workshops, to product demos and exclusive afterhours sales, offering unique, value-added experiences will attract customers to your store and contribute to retention.

If you’re a wine merchant or high-end bottle shop, arrange tastings, and maybe even partner with a local delicatessen to double your reach. If you run a sporting goods store, arrange a weekly group ride or runclub that can foster regular interactions between customers to build community around your brand. If you run an independent bookstore, run a bookclub, and invite authors along to give readings. It’s all about playing on what’s relevant and what makes visiting your store “worth it.” You can do so much more with a physical premises than a retailer purely trading online, so leverage that advantage as much as you’re able.

Additionally, put together a marketing calendar of key events where you’re likely to see an increase in trade, and organise and publicise tie-in events well in advance so you can maximise those opportunities.

Pro tip: Getting people into your store and delivering a great experience is only half of what you need to do, you also need to generate leads and foster loyalty. Create gamified experiences easily on Drimify and link them on QR codes throughout your store. You could distribute promotional codes to encourage sales, put Product Recommendation Quizzes close to specific ranges, or even Media Contests to source user generated content you can then use on social media. Any gamified experience created on Drimify allows you to collect user data and details, making them a great passive lead generation tactic.

2. Invest in your local SEO strategy

To drive customers to your store, it’s crucial to optimise your local SEO strategy. Heard of SEO but not sure what local SEO is? When you’re out and about and you search “restaurant” on your phone, it doesn’t automatically come up with McDonalds or Chipotle, it comes up with the restaurants nearest to you (depending on where you are, this might well be McDonalds and Chipotle, but smaller independent restaurants that have good local SEO will also appear).

To be more visible in local search results, make sure your store’s information, such as location, opening hours, and contact details, are accurately listed on search engines and online directories such as your Google Business Profile. Additionally, focus on generating positive reviews and ratings, as they can significantly influence customers’ decision-making when choosing where to shop. For the above example, if you see a list of 5 restaurants near you on Google, and 4 of them have ratings below 3 stars but one has 5, your decision on where to eat will be made much easier.

Pro tip: You can include intermediate screens with a specific CTA on games you create with Drimify. This CTA, or call-to-action, could ask users to review their experience with you. These could be included on a QR code printed on your receipts (or a direct link to the game on email receipts), and distribute a promotional code to every player for use on their next visit, so when they’re asked for the review, they’re in the best mood possible, and positively predisposed to your brand (and primed to give you that much coveted 5-star review as they ever will be).

3. Create online gamified experiences tailored to driving customers in store

You can create gamification experiences that connect and influence customers online, but customise them, both in their message and with incentives they distribute, to head in store.

This could take the form of:

• Informing customers about in store only sales
• In store events
• Promotional codes
• Prizes, or limited runs of freebies that can be collected

Using Drimify’s Dynamic Path™ format, you could create a multi-level gamification experience that starts online, but to unlock the final level, or the second half, they’ll need to retrieve a code from your store. This approach needs to be well planned out and relevant to work.

Pro tip: If you customise a Product Recommendation Quiz for your eCommerce site, in addition to including products A, B, C, and D as recommendation options depending on a target customer’s answers, you could also include an option that recommends they visit their nearest store to speak to one of your experts.

It may well be that no product in a range is suitable for what some customers are looking for, so building in that possibility, rather than shoehorning their needs to a box for the sake of simplicity, delivers better customer service, while making the most of both your eCommerce and physical services. The customers whose needs do fit benefit from the speed and convenience of eComm, those whose needs are more nuanced are identified and redirected to where you can better serve them.

4. Focus on the phygital and master the omnichannel approach to retail

Embrace the “phygital” concept to achieve organisational synergy by blending your physical and digital presences together to deliver a superior customer experience.

Implementing an omnichannel approach to retail, where customers can seamlessly transition between online and offline interactions, maximises the potential of both. The stores and the eComm sides both win, and so does the customer.

Actionable techniques in this regard include offering in-store pickups for online purchases, personalised offers delivered through mobile apps, and ensuring through your POS system that your returns and exchanges process is compatible from eComm to in-store and vice-versa to make the overall shopping journey smooth and painless.

Gamify your phygital strategy: Modern gamification is a uniquely effective method for delivering phygital experiences. Being a digitally mobile format, businesses are able to use games to create customer journeys that seamlessly direct customers from their digital presences to their bricks-and-mortar stores.

For example:

• Customise games and promote them on your website and across social media that distribute in-store only promotional codes
• Run a gamification campaign where promoted products purchased in-store receive a unique code that will allow customers to participate in an online instant win game
• Run media contests around in-store installations which can be promoted by direct links through social media, or scanned in-store on a QR code (this one is great for sourcing user-generated content for further social media promotion)
• Create longer-form, more immersive experiences which begin online, but require players to head to their nearest store to unlock new levels or opportunities to win or collect prizes (the more thoughtful and high-concept this is made, and the less arbitrary the game’s location moving in-store seems, the more effective this technique will be)

5. Continually evolve and improve your USP for customers shopping in your stores

If you want to continue to attract and retain customers to your physical premises, it’s essential to continually evolve and improve your unique selling proposition (USP). Understand your target audience’s needs and preferences and adapt your offerings accordingly – if you stop trying, or standards in store drop, some customers may question what value going to the trouble of visiting you is actually adding to their shopping experience.

Whether it’s exceptional customer service, exclusive product lines, or personalised recommendations, you must consistently assess and enhance your USP to provide an exceptional in-store experience that keeps customers coming back.

Key takeaway

In some ways bricks-and-mortar retail has never been harder, but in other ways, the path to success has never been clearer. The physically located retailer has proven to have undeniable value in the consumer experience, particularly in more specialist areas where there are more opportunities for expert traders to excel and exceed expectations.

It all falls into a drive-to-store strategy, and the above 5 tactics are actionable starting points that can be applied across the retail sector.