There’s never been a better time to be a business owner, but there’s also never been more competition in the market. Both online and brick-and-mortar retailers have to get creative when it comes to engaging customers and driving traffic to their stores.
If you’re looking to increase sales at your small business, one of the best ways to do it is by improving the customer experience. For instance, many businesses have clunky, inconvenient payment methods that deter repeat visits from customers.
How to Increase Small Business Sales
Listed below are three steps you can take to improve the customer experience and increase small business sales:
1. Update your website
Even if you run a brick-and-mortar business, you still want to make sure your website is up to par. That’s because most customers will check out your company online before ever setting foot in your store.
And your online presence will tell them a lot about what to expect from doing business with you. So, you should make sure your website loads quickly, is mobile-optimized, and that it’s easy to navigate.
2. Improve the checkout process
A fast check out process is essential for all businesses, especially if you run an e-commerce business. By cutting down on the time it takes for customers to check out, this alone should increase your sales.
A good way to improve e-commerce sales is by incorporating a guest check out option. This means that customers don’t have to create an account to purchase from you. Limit the number of forms customers need to fill out and make the process as smooth as possible.
If you run a brick-and-mortar business, you can improve the checkout process by offering contactless payments. Instead of entering their PIN, customers simply wave their card over the reader.
3. Give customers multiple payment options
And finally, you should offer your customers a variety of payment options. And again, this is true for both online and brick-and-mortar businesses.
These days, customers want and expect a lot of options from retailers. And there are few things more annoying than getting ready to pay only to realize that the store doesn’t take your card.
Offering multiple payment options goes beyond just accepting the major credit cards. It means offering alternative payment methods that many businesses haven’t embraced yet. This could include Apply Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, contactless cards, and more.
Bottom Line
If you want to increase small business sales, then you need to find ways to improve the customer experience. And offering cashless payment options is one of the best ways to do it.
To learn more about this topic, feel free to check out our blog posts on five payment methods all businesses should offer.
[Read More: 5 Payment Methods All Businesses Should Offer]
To your success!
Written by Brian Johnson