Are you taking your business signage seriously enough?
In this era of digital shops, many overlook the value that brick-and-mortar signage adds to a business. In reality, physical signage greatly impacts consumer opinions about your business and brand.
Read on to learn 4 ways that your signage can influence consumer perceptions of your business, as well as how to leverage this knowledge for better marketing and public relations outcomes.
4 Ways Signage Influences Consumer Perceptions
- Consumers associate quality signs with quality businesses. Your sign is often the first thing that a potential customer sees. As such, it’s only natural that signage factors so strongly into our first impressions of a business. That’s great news for Signworld customers, but bad news for those whose signage is worn down, out of style, or nonexistent.Simply put, your low quality sign could be costing you sales and irreparably damaging your reputation.34% of participants in a 2012 study by the University of Cincinnati indicated that they strongly associated sign quality with store and product quality.Similarly, in one study by Kellaris et al., 29% of American consumers reported that they had been drawn into unfamiliar stores based entirely on the quality of a store’s signage.This effect was particularly prominent for younger audiences, which was partly explained by the “impressionable years hypothesis” offered by Krosnick & Alwin (1989). In simple terms, younger shoppers have less experience upon which to draw, which makes them more reliant on “heuristic cues” like high-quality signs to make their purchase decisions. Thus, if your business caters to younger audiences, high-quality signs are a huge asset.
- Signage is essential to get your business noticed. The first step in generating leads is letting potential customers know you exist. Signage is one of the most effective ways of increasing local audiences brand awareness.Without adequate signage, nobody notices your business–even if they’re actively looking for it! According to research by Rexhausen et al. (2012), 50% of Americans surveyed indicated that they have driven by a desired business without finding it due to insufficient signage. Furthermore, 29% of participants indicated that they relied “mostly” on signage to determine where they would shop that day.
- Signage is now considered “customer service.” Signage is part of the consumer experience, and good signs serve your customer by providing valuable information, wayfinding confirmation, safety warnings, and more. Businesses who neglect to post adequate signage, or who create signs that mislead, confuse, or frustrate their readers tend to be perceived as less capable in customer service than those with proper signage. Thus, it doesn’t matter if you have the best salespeople and customer service workers in the world if you don’t have the signage to reflect it.
- Signage generates more trust than any other medium. Research by Kellaris et al. (2012) determined that “signage trumps radio, internet, [and] newspapers” when it comes to generating impressions and cultivating favorable brand opinions. For whatever reason, we still value brick-and-mortar information higher than what we hear on the radio waves or read in the digital world.
Boost Consumer Perceptions Of Your Business With Signworld
Are you unhappy with the way your current sign represents your business?
We can help.
Visit http://www.signworld.org/go or call 888-765-7446 today to find a Signworld partner near you.
References
Kellaris, J., Womack, J., & Lindner, C. (2012). 100,000 shoppers can’t be wrong: Signage communication evidence from the BrandSpark / Better Homes and Gardens American Shopper Study. Retrieved from http://www.signresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/BrandSpark-Better-Homes-and-Gardens-American-Shopper-Study2011.pdf
Rexhausen, J., Hildebrandt, H., & Auffrey, C. (2012). The economic value of on-premise signage. University of Cincinnati. Retrieved from https://signresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/Economic-Value-of-On-Premise-Signage-University-of-Cincinnati-2012-1.pdf
