Business owners 
know that one of the major challenges they face is getting customers through the door. While some businesses benefit from aggressive forms of direct marketing, many others must take a more passive approach when attracting customers. Often things like word-of-mouth are key to this type of marketing, but in the end, making your business easy to find and attractive to would-be consumers (like the chicken) is crucial to growing your customer base.
Signage: Building a Lasting First Impression
Past and current research proves that signs are a major factor in driving purchases and affecting customer decisions.
More than percent of 75 percent of consumers have chosen to enter a store they had never before visited based purely on its sign. Many referrals have been made based off of a sign someone has seen. Even more interesting, many studies show that a high percentage of customers admit to having made purchases of products or services after a sign caught their eye.
Clearly, signs play an important role in attracting customers to both a company and its individual products. An attractive sign is memorable and enticing. It makes the initial promise of what a store might offer, and it lays down the framework for what a customer might expect from interactions with that company. In other words, signs are a valuable part of branding, and their value should not be underestimated.
If great signage has a positive effect on sales and brand awareness, poor signage has a similarly major effect on consumer behavior. A store’s sign is a reliable indicator of the company’s products and services. Customers believe that a company with a badly designed or unattractive sign will offer an inferior product or unprofessional service.
If you are investing in a sign, make sure it’s high-quality in design and materials. Make sure there are no misspellings and make sure it’s displayed prominently.
Great Signs Don’t Stop at the Door
In-store advertising can be a valuable tool for driving purchases. It’s estimated that around half of all in-store purchases are made spontaneously, and many of these are based on the information available to shoppers at the time of purchase. In-store advertising introduces products, promotes sales and educates customers about the goods or services offered in the store. It can also trigger the memory of shoppers: When they see a sign for a product, they may remember that they needed it or had intended to purchase it at another time.
Signs naturally play a role in in-store advertising. These signs can help guide customers through the store, provide additional information about key products or draw attention to special promotions. They can also help to build your brand: By repeating key messages and stylistic components found in the business’s main sign, these in-store advertisements help to provide cohesion to your marketing message and cement your brand’s image in the customer’s mind.
Too Much of a Good Thing
As with most things, moderation is the key to success when it comes to signage. While the presence of great signage is clearly important to customers, too many signs can dilute your message. These days, consumers are inundated with marketing messages everywhere they go, from roadside billboards to Facebook ads and television commercials.
It’s estimated that the average consumer receives as many as 3,000 marketing messages on any given day. This overabundance of marketing can be a real problem.
Marketing is a delicate dance. Customers appreciate marketing messages that inform them and speak to their needs; they dislike messages that seem unnecessary, intrusive or excessive. Because of this, businesses may experience diminishing returns from their advertising efforts.
The Bottom Line
Based on the research available about consumer habits, it seems clear that a business’s focus should always be on quality rather than quantity when it comes to marketing. It pays to invest in a few well-placed and well-designed signs to attract customer attention, provide valuable information and drive sales. How do you get your customers to cross the road to get to your store’s inside? Give them the sign.
If you are a business owner wanting to increase your roadside presence, contact Forerunner Signs & Graphics today! www.forerunnersigns.com
