If you have a shop, watch the little signals

Signs in your shop send little signals that can colour the customer’s whole experience. In this video from 2011, I talk about buying a gift where several rules in succession made me feel less welcome.

Signs in your shop: Three reminders in a few minutes

At the entrance, I encountered a rule about dogs. Inside was a sign saying not to touch things. At the till, there was a minimum amount for paying by credit card.

I understood there could be a reason for each rule. But together, they felt like three slaps on the wrist, even though I’d come to buy something.

I completed the purchase but wasn’t sure I’d return. That was my reaction as a customer, not a measurement of the shop’s loss.

The rules are part of the shop’s tone too

I also talk about prohibition signs in a caramel shop I otherwise loved. I thought a warning against photography clashed with the cosy atmosphere the shop was trying to create.

My experience was that, as an ordinary customer, I was met with suspicion. I’d rather feel hospitality than the business’s worry about what someone might do.

Can the message be delivered more pleasantly?

I suggest considering the tone. If a rule is necessary, perhaps you can explain it kindly or with humour so customers understand without feeling told off.

That also applies outside shops, for example in a gym. A message about tidying up can create very different impressions depending on how it’s written.

I compare it with online shops, where people work on making the buying experience reassuring. My thought was that physical shops could also look at the small details affecting people’s desire to buy.

Look at the shop through customers’ eyes. What greets them at the door, along the way and at the till? Those were the signals I wanted shop owners to think about. Also read Min vej som leder about my experiences of good service and people in companies.

Also read being a good host to the customer.

From conversion optimisation to signs in your shop

I’d been alone with the kids for about a week while my wife was in Denmark sorting things out. That’s why the videos had been a little quiet. And if you’re wondering about the summer haircut, it came from my bet with Anders about losing weight in 40 days. In this video, I mention around 10½ kilos for me and 9½ for Anders. He weighed less initially and won on percentages: 11.5 per cent against my 10.9. Even shaving my hair off and trying to lose the last 25 grams didn’t save me.

But shops were what I wanted to talk about. In online retail, conversion optimisation had become something lots of people discussed. Search engine optimisation was still interesting, but getting people onto a website didn’t help much if they didn’t end up buying.

So people worked on the colour of the buy button and all the other details that could give customers a pleasant, reassuring feeling. I actually thought online shops had become quite good at that. Then I thought about how some physical shops welcomed customers.

I came to buy a gift and got three slaps on the wrist

I’d gone into a shop to buy a little gift for my wife before Valentine’s Day on 14 February. At the door, I first encountered a rule about dogs. I didn’t have a little dog with me, so that rule didn’t really concern me.

Inside, there was the message that you mustn’t touch things. And when I went to pay, a sign by the till said you had to spend at least ten dollars to use a credit card. In about three minutes, it felt like I’d had three slaps on the wrist.

I bought something, but I wasn’t bloody sure I’d return. I’d come to spend money in the shop, yet it didn’t make me feel welcome.

I could understand each irritation. A dog can be troublesome in a shop. People can fiddle with things, and a credit card fee can be annoying on a small purchase. But I couldn’t help wondering whether being unfriendly to customers cost more than enforcing all those rules saved.

A rule can make the customer smile too

That also applies to signs saying you mustn’t lean your bike against the window and all the other messages about what you can’t do. It gives me a little of the same feeling as a swimming pool with a know-it-all attendant constantly correcting you. That sort of thing had made me visit less often than I otherwise would.

If you need a sign, at least try giving it a humorous or friendly tone. A little funny story and a big smiley might explain why the dog had to wait outside without making the customer feel told off. I’m not particularly creative at writing that sort of thing myself, but the point is to make the message sound pleasant. Or consider whether the sign needs to be there at all.

With credit cards, the question is also how narrowly you do the sums. If someone buys for ten kroner and payment perhaps costs one krone, there may be almost nothing left on that order. But I compared it with online shops offering free delivery to get more people to buy.

You can lose money on one small order. On the other hand, the customer might recommend the shop because it was a pleasant place to buy. I haven’t calculated that specific shop’s gain or loss. I just think you should consider more than the fee on that one purchase.

The cosy caramel shop and fear of competitors

I love a little caramel shop in Gudhjem on Bornholm. The owners are lovely people and make fantastic caramels. That’s exactly why I thought the warning signs spoiled the business, and I’d told them so.

You entered an old grocer’s shop where the whole atmosphere should be cosy. But then you met messages saying you mustn’t photograph or film. As I’d understood the story, it was about a competitor who’d previously copied the concept.

I didn’t think a sign would stop a determined competitor copying something. In the video, I mention a phone recording while you hold it, a tiny camera in a pen and looking through the window after closing. Those were my examples of why, in my view, the ban gave false reassurance.

Instead, it spoiled some of that old grocery-store feeling for me as an ordinary customer. I felt treated like a dangerous, malicious competitor who wished them nothing but harm. What I felt was fear and suspicion where I’d hoped to browse, enjoy myself and feel welcome.

It reminded me of a police car driving past and being unable to resist checking your seat belt once more. That feeling of being under suspicion isn’t what I want when I go in to buy caramels.

"Your mother doesn’t work here" doesn’t necessarily improve the business

A gym can have the same challenge. Of course, it’s annoying when the local bodybuilder doesn’t put the barbells away. But does telling him his mother doesn’t work there make him tidy up? I’m not necessarily convinced.

Perhaps he just feels unwelcome and takes his money elsewhere when a competitor opens nearby. A kind or funny message might work better. Or perhaps sometimes you need to swallow the irritation and pick up after him if it makes for a better business overall.

The same question applies to an online shop, physical shop, zoo or swimming pool: What signals are you sending to people who’ve come to use what you offer? I think it’s a bloody shame if little messages keep good customers away. Think about the little signals, because they can cost you a fortune.

Best wishes, Martin