What is Footfall?

Footfall is the number of people going into a shop or business during a particular period of time. Footfall data can help to measure the effect of marketing campaigns or architectural changes. In the article series about customer insights, customer intelligence and customer experience we elaborate in great detail how footfall data can help businesses succeed.

Footfall Measurement

Footfall data can be obtained manually with tally counters or automatically via sensors or video-analytics.

Automatic footfall counting devices are also referred to as footfall counters, store traffic counters or door counters. Video analytics can run on a dedicated system or directly on the camera. The cameras with integrated video analytics functionality are also being referred to as people counting cameras or footfall cameras.

How does Footfall relate to Conversion Rate?

Footfall and conversion rate are directly related to each other. Footfall is the number of people who visit a physical store or location, while the conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who make a purchase or take some other desired action.

The conversion rate is a metric that measures the effectiveness of a store or location in turning visitors into customers. A high conversion rate indicates that the store is successful in persuading visitors to take the desired action, while a low conversion rate suggests that there may be barriers or obstacles preventing visitors from making a purchase or taking the desired action.

When footfall increases, there is usually a corresponding increase in the number of potential customers who can be targeted for conversion. However, it's important to note that simply increasing footfall does not necessarily mean that the conversion rate will also increase.

The conversion rate is influenced by a variety of factors such as the store's layout, product displays, pricing strategy, marketing efforts, customer service, and overall shopping experience. To increase the conversion rate, stores need to focus on optimizing these factors to create an environment that is conducive to making purchases and taking desired actions.

In summary, footfall and conversion rate are interrelated, but the conversion rate is ultimately dependent on the store's ability to create an engaging and appealing shopping experience that motivates visitors to take action.

Choosing the right footfall counting system

When choosing a footfall counting system several things should be considered:

• Accuracy: Depending on the vendor and technology the system yields different accuracy. Typical accuracy values are 90%, 95%, 98% or 99%.
• Other functionalities: Footfall is not the only metric of interest. Advanced footfall systems can determine customer demographics, dwell time or heatmaps.
• Total cost of ownership: The total cost of ownership includes installation, configuration and maintenance. The advantage of video analytics over sensors is that, cameras are often already available and updates can be simply installed. Sensors on the contrary need electrical installation and might need to be frequently replaced to get state of the art analytics.
• Integration with other systems: A footfall system is often not isolated. Integrations with video management systems, business intelligence (bi) or pos systems are often desired.

The below video shows how footfall measurements can be obtained using a people counting software based on video analytics.

Further References:

• Footfall Counter
• Article series on: Customer insights, customer intelligence and customer experience