In store music can be a great addition to your business. It can also be risky. This is especially true if you select your own mp3s to play or depend on tuning into a local radio station. Music for retail stores should enhance the shopping experience and create a pleasant mood. Finding time to fiddle with your retail music takes away from the attention your customers deserve. The first – and most important – step to incorporating in store music into your business is to figure out how to choose the right in store music system for your business.
Why Use Retail Background Music Systems
Granted, retail music isn’t for every business. However, it does tend to work for most retail shops. Some reasons to consider using background music for your business include:
• Background music tends to put customers in a good mood
• Background music creates a pleasant environment for both customers and employees
• In store specials and other retail messaging can be added in with the music
Risks of Other Music Sources
Using a radio or a personal music player has risks. What if the song skips or has errors in the play? If you put a CD on replay, frequent customers may get bored or annoyed – along with your staff. Putting on the radio can be just as risky, especially with commercials and other interruptions.
Finding Business Music Solutions
By turning to retail background music systems for your music, you eliminate the possible risks associated with other methods of providing background music at your business. Music for shops and restaurants should reflect the tastes of the staff to some degree, but this should be a secondary concern. You want to create a pleasant environment where the music doesn’t distract from a customer’s overall shopping or dining experience. Business music solutions are really about your target customers. This starts with selecting your playlist. Staring options for most businesses include:
• Top 40
• Contemporary
• Dance
• Rock
The key to a successful playlist is variety. This benefits both customers and the staff. As a general rule, a playlist should consist of at least 500 to 1000 tracks. Larger playlists rotate the music more often like a radio station. This keeps your music fresh. Music for retail stores that actually comes from a radio station, for example, will be more repetitious – regardless of claims of more variety. You also want a playlist that can be easily updated online. In other words, it’s plug and play retail music that can be updated with ease. On top of that, your music system is fully managed by your music provider. This gives you more time to focus on your business.
Inserting Instore Messaging into the Mix
Retail messaging involves more than just carefully planned marketing efforts. Music for shopping centres, car dealerships, clubs, restaurants, and other businesses can be customised with in-store announcements and promotions. Instore messaging should play after every two songs, as a general rule. This can be altered through, depending on what works best for your business. The retail messaging should be loaded automatically to sites via the Internet, to keep updating and management costs to a minimu. Your announcements should adhere to these basic guidelines:
• Keep it short – Your announcements should be brief and get to the point across as quickly as possible. Remember, you’re not going to have the full attention of customers busy browsing or tending to fussy babies. Instore messaging needs to get the attention of customers, so get to the substance quickly after a brief intro like “attention customers.”
• Use a friendly voice – The voice in your messages should be friendly with gentle tones. You don’t want to shout at your customers. The voice should remain calm and have light inflections while ending on a positive note. The voice over should be conveyed succinctly and clearly. This usually means no background music during the voice message.
• Use different messages – You don’t want to repeat the same message after every few songs. Record different messages – usually about 10 to 15 will be fine to start – and mix it up. Your messages should be altered as your specials and promotions change.
Best Equipment for Retail Background Music Systems
The equipment used to play in store music varies, but some options are better than others. A software player isn’t recommended since computers often have technical issues that cannot be easily fixed when your staff are busy helping customers or ringing up sales. You need a machine that is designed to play your selected music without technical issues. This includes the ability to play your selected music again following power interruptions, surges or other common / unpredictable computer issues that continue to haunt us.
Benefits of Support
Music for shops played via a music system is great, but there are technical issues from time to time. You want support that includes the following benefits:
• Fast response if equipment fails, needs to be replaced, or updated
• Automatic new music selections to refresh your playlist
• Ability to get a hold of customer service when you have questions or need assistance
A background music system can be incorporated into just about any type of business, from casual and relaxed to more structured and formal. Music selections should be geared towards the customers. Playlists should include enough songs to offer a balance variety of song selections. Music systems should be easy to update and maintain, with solid customer support when necessary. Start exploring your business music solutions today with Evolved Sound.
