Okay, here’s my blog post about finding the best foot traffic counter for franchises, written from my personal experience and in a casual, conversational style:
So, I’ve been diving deep into this whole “foot traffic” thing for my buddy’s franchise. He’s got a couple of locations, and we’ve been trying to figure out the best way to track how many people are actually coming through the doors. It’s more complicated than you’d think!
First, I started by just Googling around. I mean, who wouldn’t? I typed in stuff like “best customer counter” and “people counting systems.” Let me tell you, the amount of options out there is overwhelming. There were so many companies and different technologies, it made my head spin.
My Initial Research (aka Google Overload)
I started making a list of all the different types I found:
- Basic Beam Counters: These are the old-school ones that just shoot a little infrared beam across the doorway. When someone breaks the beam, it counts them. Simple, cheap, but not super accurate.
- Thermal Counters: These use heat sensors to detect people. Supposedly more accurate than the beam counters, but I was worried about things like sunlight or hot air messing with them.
- Video Counters: These use cameras and some fancy software to count people. Seemed like the most accurate option, but also the most expensive and complicated to set up.
- Wi-Fi Counters:These things track people’s smartphones. A little bit big and do not match my needs.
Getting My Hands Dirty (aka Testing Stuff Out)
After the initial research, I knew I had to actually try some of these things. I couldn’t just rely on what the websites were telling me. So, I convinced my buddy to let me install a few different systems in one of his stores for a week-long trial.
I started with a basic beam counter. Super easy to install – literally just stuck it on the door frame. But, like I expected, it wasn’t great. It counted me twice when I walked in and out quickly, and it totally missed my buddy’s kid when he crawled under it (don’t ask!).
Next, I tried a thermal counter. This one was a little trickier to set up, but it seemed more accurate than the beam counter. It didn’t get fooled by me going in and out quickly, but the store manager said he saw it count a couple of shopping carts as people, which wasn’t ideal.
Finally, I went all-in and set up a video counting system. This was definitely the most involved. I had to mount a camera above the entrance, connect it to a computer, and install the software. The software itself was pretty cool – it showed a live video feed with little boxes around each person it counted. And the accuracy? Spot-on. It even distinguished between people entering and exiting.
My Verdict (aka What I Recommend)
After all that testing, here’s what I’ve figured out:
If you can handle the installation process and cost, and need good accuracy, go with the video counter. I am very satisfied with the testing result.
It took some work, but it was a good learning experience for me. I think it’s the direction my buddy will choose.