If your business has been around a while and you haven’t freshened up your appearance, odds are you’re a bit invisible to your potential customers. You can greatly boost your visibility by adding or updating your outdoor signage. New signage makes people sit up and take notice. It also mak them think good things are happening inside your business.
Outdoor Signage Promotes Positive Consumer Action
Signage can make or break a business. Outdoor signage is so important that FedEx invested quite a bit of time and energy into researching it. Their “What’s Your Sign” survey gathered information from a wide variety of consumers across the nation. The survey measured the power of signage and its ability to impact their intent to visit a store, make a purchase and more. The result? FedEx concludes this: “We’ve found a firm connection between good signs and positive consumer action, highlighting the opportunity for small businesses to grow through smart use of this simple marketing tool.” Here are the specifics on FedEx’s outdoor signage study:
- Nearly 76% of consumers said they had entered a store or business they had never visited before based simply on its signs.
- Nearly 75% indicated that they had told others about a business simply based on its signage.
- About 68% of consumers believe that a business’ signage reflects the quality of its products or services.
- About 67% of the consumers surveyed said they had purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye.
- Nearly 60% of consumers said that the absence of signs deters them from entering a store or business.
- Over 50% of survey respondents indicated that poor signage (e.g., poor quality, misspelled words) deters them from entering a place of business. (FedEx)
Signage Attracts New Customers and Shapes Their Opinions
Another study, this one by the Sign Research Foundation, has 3 main takeaways:
- 54% of shoppers say they’ve driven by and failed to find a business because the sign was small or unclear. Both older and younger groups have reported this problem.
- 33% of shoppers say they have been drawn into unfamiliar stores based on the quality of their signs. Past studies show that the 18-24 age group is more prone to this behavior, which more than half in agreement.
Signage Impacts Customer Perception
We’ve highlighted some additional statistics from this Sign Research Foundation especially pertinent for our Portland audience:
- 38.5% of shoppers say they have made quality assumptions about a business based on whether that company has clear and attractive signs. Again, those in the 18-24 age group have been most prone to making such inferences.
- Those who consider themselves highly environmentally conscious have reported outdoor signs as more useful.
- Health conscious consumers perceive signs as more useful and beckoning than others. This may be because they are more “message prone,” or likely to seek out and use beneficial information.
- Signs that show families or groups, rather than individuals, can multiply impact.
Overall, signage should be approached as one part of the story, but a very important part. Leonard Barzsap is a Senior Associate at Lippincott. He says “The mistake most designers and customers make is looking at sign or building ROI in isolation of the entire customer experience. When seen as a key touchpoint or as a complement to other experiences that support brand, the qualities that make effective signs become more apparent and its value goes up.”
Quality signage must be part of your overall brand strategy. When you engage the community with your signage, you’ll receive a far greater ROI. When you pair experienced sign designers with your company’s brand champions, you have the opportunity to create customer curiosity, engagement, and loyalty as a result. In other words, your outdoor signage is the portal to more visibility, better customers, and greater profits.