How to help first-time customers find your café’s entrance

Why can the right address still lead to confusion?

Owners know their surroundings so well that they can miss the details a newcomer needs. “Near the market” may seem obvious to your team but mean several different streets to someone visiting for the first time. A building can also have separate pedestrian and vehicle entrances, and an old storefront photo may no longer match the sign outside.

Start with the last few genuine directions questions you received. Were visitors on the wrong street, at the rear entrance, or already downstairs? These are different problems. Fix the particular point of confusion before writing a longer set of directions that customers will have to read while standing outside.

1. Write the full address, then add a short arrival note

Keep your official address separate from your conversational instructions. Include the unit, floor, building, street, and city details that apply to your location. On your own information page or in a message, add a concise note explaining the entrance. Choose a stable landmark and describe what the visitor should do when they reach it.

Google’s Business Profile guidance recommends a complete street address and relevant building, suite, or floor information. It also explains how to adjust a map pin when the address cannot be located correctly. Check your profile directly rather than assuming an old map link still points to the right place.

Source: Google Business Profile Help: Manage your business address

2. Test the exact map link you give customers

Open the same link your staff send, using a phone outside your owner account. Check the destination name and location. If your café is part of a larger building, confirm that the link identifies your actual business rather than a similarly named shop or the whole complex.

Ask someone unfamiliar with the café to follow your directions from a nearby public starting point. Have them tell you where they hesitate. Test on foot first if that is how most visitors arrive. For drivers, explain the legitimate arrival point without promising parking spaces you cannot guarantee. A map pin does not establish parking permission or an accessible route.

3. Show the doorway customers will recognise

Take a recent photograph from the approach a visitor would normally use. Include the visible café name and the entrance in the same frame where possible. If the café is upstairs, an additional photo of the correct staircase can be more useful than another close-up of a latte.

Use your own location photos for customer directions. The stock photo at the top of this guide illustrates the topic; it is not a picture of your café or a Tapyo customer. When signage, construction barriers, or the entrance changes, replace the directions photo so visitors are not comparing today’s street with last year’s scene.

4. Send directions before the customer gets lost

Make your location link easy to find in the social profile and information posts you control. When someone asks about visiting, answer their question and include the directions link naturally. If a customer is arranging a group visit, offer the same link for them to share with the rest of their party.

Keep a short reply ready for staff to adapt: “We’re on the second floor of [building], using the entrance beside [landmark]. Here is our page with directions and a photo of the entrance: [link]. Please call us if you cannot spot the doorway.” Replace every bracketed detail with real information, and only offer a phone contact that your team actually monitors.

A realistic example: a café above a neighbourhood shop

Consider a fictional café called Corner Cup on the second floor of a two-storey building. Its original message says only, “We’re near the public market.” Visitors sometimes reach the block but cannot identify the upstairs entrance. This is an illustrative scenario, not a customer case study.

The owner adds the unit and floor to the address, checks the map destination, and photographs the separate staircase entrance. Staff now send a short arrival note with the information-page link. The owner asks new visitors whether the entrance was easy to find and revises the note if the same uncertainty comes up again. The improvement is a clearer arrival process; any effect on visits still needs to be observed.

How Tapyo supports clearer directions

Tapyo’s business page supports location and directions, photos, business hours, and contact details. These features are listed under Tapyo Free. For this task, the useful step is to keep the location information current and give staff the page link to share before a visit. Use a suitable photo caption or your accompanying message for any entrance instruction that needs extra explanation.

A tap-and-scan standee can help people who are already at your counter open the same page. It is not a substitute for sharing directions with people who have not found you yet. Tapyo Grow’s opt-in and lead-management features serve a different purpose; visitors should be able to check directions without submitting contact details.

Updating Tapyo does not automatically correct another platform’s map pin or address. Maintain those listings separately and test the links after changes. Tapyo now offers a Free plan. Review the current signup options and plan limits when setting up your café’s page.

A quick check before the weekend

Ask a colleague to find the address, open the directions link, and identify the entrance from the photos without your help. Check that the contact option works and the published hours are current. Fix the first unclear detail they encounter rather than adding more instructions everywhere.

For the next week, note the kinds of location questions visitors still ask. A simple count of “wrong entrance” or “cannot see the sign” enquiries can tell you what to improve next. Start with one dependable arrival guide, then keep it accurate as your café changes.