Technology has fundamentally changed the way consumers interact with the world and has made people more mobile. Potential customers expect accurate and consistent local information at their fingertips whenever and wherever they are, and this mobility is often the impetus of strong purchase intent, with many consumers continuing to visit retail locations to buy what they're searching for. Although e-commerce purchases have grown by nearly 15% in the past year, it's important for businesses to market what they do online in order to drive foot traffic to their brick-and-mortar locations.
Foot traffic is a term used to describe pedestrian visitors to a local business. These individuals are often exposed to an establishment prior to walking in — either by physically seeing it as they pass by, hearing about it through friends and family members, or searching for it or a similar type of business on their mobile device. According to research from Google, 76% of people who use location search on their mobile devices visit a business within a day and of those, 28% make a purchase. This goes to show the power of mobile technology, how it affects consumer behavior, and drives additional foot traffic to physical locations.
Despite the popularity of online shopping, more than 90% of sales still occur in store, and having an accurate, consistent digital presence is critical for local businesses hoping to increase foot traffic and compete with local competitors. With a strong online presence, brick-and-mortar businesses can not only increase their online visibility, but can also drive more consumers to their physical locations.
The best way to improve a local business' digital presence is to claim, correct, and enhance online business listings. Incorrect or outdated listings hurt how a local business shows up on a search engine results page, and with more and more people searching on mobile for physical locations 'near me,' this accurate and consistent information has never been more important for businesses looking to drive foot traffic and increase sales opportunities.
Whether you're a local business that has one location or 100,000 locations, the Yext Knowledge Graph can help your company maximize its home field advantage. Avoid the possibility that your business listings are outdated or incorrect with Yext Listings, a service that gives you complete, real-time control of your local listings. Drive brand-level awareness and store foot traffic by creating and managing local pages for each of your locations with Yext. Built according to SEO and app SEO best practices, Yext Pages can help you do just that.