What is visit rate, and how do you measure it in your store?

Visit rate shows what percentage of the pedestrians passing your store come in. The formula: visit rate = people entering the store ÷ people passing the storefront × 100. For example, if 6,020 people passed your store in a day and 1,284 came in, your visit rate is about 21.3%. Some sources call this metric “capture rate”. The formula is simple; the hard part is measuring both numbers reliably and over the same time window.

Why does visit rate matter?

Conversion rate tells you how well you perform in the store; visit rate tells you how well your window, storefront and location are doing their job. Two stores side by side in the same mall can draw similar foot traffic yet have clearly different visit rates. That difference rarely shows up in the sales report: only visit rate tells you whether low sales come from the in-store experience or from people never coming in.

How is it measured?

You need two separate numbers, and therefore two separate measurements:

• The Sayiyo PEOPLE people counter, an AI camera above the entrance, counts the people who come in, anonymously; images are processed on the device and not recorded.
• The Sayiyo PASS storefront counter, a radar sensor aimed at the storefront, counts the people who pass by and analyses their direction; it captures no images.
• The Sayiyo visitor analytics dashboard matches the two over the same time window and shows the ratio hour by hour.

Counts reach the dashboard about every 10 minutes, so you can see at which hours your window draws more or fewer people. PASS also performs direction analysis, showing which way passers-by are walking. That helps when deciding, for example, which direction a window poster or wayfinding sign should face.

A worked example

The figures below are illustrative:

• On Saturday between 3 and 4 p.m., PASS measures 600 people passing your store.
• In the same hour, PEOPLE counts 90 entries.
• Visit rate = 90 ÷ 600 = 15%.
• If, on the Saturday after a window refresh, the same hour brings 620 passers-by and 112 entries, the rate rises to about 18%: traffic was almost unchanged, but more people came in.

What affects visit rate?

• Window display and how often it is refreshed
• Visibility and width of the entrance, and whether the door stands open
• Campaign posters and storefront lighting
• Position on the street or in the mall corridor, and neighbouring stores
• Time of day, weather and seasonal effects

When you interpret visit rate, compare like with like: the same type of day, the same time slot and, ideally, similar weather. Comparing a Saturday afternoon with a Tuesday morning measures the calendar, not the window. And rather than ranking two stores with very different frontages and locations directly, look at how much each one changes against its own history.

Which decisions change?

The impact of a new window display, a campaign poster or a revised entrance layout no longer shows up weeks later in sales — you see it the same day in your visit rate. Visit rate also informs location decisions: a store that many people pass but few enter has a different problem from one that few people pass, and each needs a different fix. We cover the location and rent side in taking footfall data to the rent negotiation.

Some interventions you can test with visit rate:

• Compare the two weeks after a new window with the two weeks before, over the same time slots.
• Measure the effect of keeping the door open or clearing obstacles from the entrance.
• Try a campaign poster in different positions and watch the hourly rate.
• Check the effect of storefront lighting in the evening hours.

Visit rate and conversion rate together

The clearest picture comes from reading both rates together: passing by → coming in (visit rate) → buying (conversion rate). Conversion rate requires sales data to reach Sayiyo through POS/ERP integration. We walk through the calculation in how to calculate store conversion rate.

Reading passing traffic and visit rate together gives four basic situations:

• High traffic, high visit rate: location and window work together; focus on in-store conversion.
• High traffic, low visit rate: potential is walking past your door; work on the window, entrance and frontage.
• Low traffic, high visit rate: you draw in the people who pass; the limit may be the location itself.
• Low traffic, low visit rate: both the frontage and the location may need a rethink.

Frequently asked questions

Which devices do I need to measure visit rate?

Two devices work together: Sayiyo PEOPLE, which counts entries, and Sayiyo PASS, which counts passers-by. With PEOPLE alone you see entries, but visit rate cannot be calculated. PASS works with radar and captures no images; it is mounted facing the storefront so that it covers the window.

Can visit rate be measured in a mall?

Yes. Sayiyo PASS can be used on a street frontage or in a mall corridor. For mall-specific points, see our guide to shopping mall footfall counting.

Can I export the data?

Yes. You can download it from the dashboard as Excel/CSV or pull it into your own systems via API and webhook.