the Importance of A Good Business sign

Last week I was thinking about the importance of having a good sign for a business, and how many businesses have a subpar sign - or don’t even have one at all.

For example, 81.5% of participants in one study reported annoyance and frustration with companies that have signage text that is too small to read. Another 40% of people in the study said they made quality assumptions about the company’s product or service based on the attractiveness of the signage.

Everyone should have outstanding signage for their business. Hopefully, this article will help you achieve that. To learn more about signs, click here.

Here are 9 great reasons why having a Good Business Sign is important.

Click on the links to learn more about each one.

1. Why Is A Good Business Sign Important? It affects 93% of purchase decisions.  Learn more ->
2. Why Is Business Signage Important? It Shows Your Professionalism.  Learn more ->
3. Why is Business Signage Important For Your Business? It Helps Foster Brand Recognition. Learn more ->
4. Why Business Signage Is Important for Business… It's a Low Cost Per Impression Marketing Vehicle.  Learn more ->
5. Why Is A Store Front Sign Important for Your Business? It Will Gives You a Positive ROI.  Learn more ->
6. Is It Important to Have a Good Business Sign? Yes, Because It Gives You Lasting Value.  Learn more ->
7. Why Is a Good Business Sign Essential for Your Business? It Can Be A Competitive Advantage  Learn more ->
8. Why Is An Outdoor Business Sign Is Important? It's An Effective Communication Tool.  Learn more ->
9. Why Is A Sign Is Important for Your Business? It Can Create Impulse Sales  Learn more ->

Easily Get A Great sign Built For Your Business At A Great Price.

Have a sign built and designed to drive sales. Learn More ->

1. Why Is A good business sign Important? it affects 93% of purchase decisions.

In order to gain new customers, you need to understand where people go and what they do when looking to find suppliers/products.

In today's world, this is a complex process with so many different options of where to look and find information.

Even with how much the world has changed over the last 100 years and how the internet has changed so much of how we do things, a good business sign is still important. It might even be more important than prior to the internet.

Since the invention of the internet, our patience, decision making progress, and ability to process information has dropped. That is why having a sign that can be quickly seen and quickly communicate who you are and what you sell is more important than ever.

Importance of A Good Business Sign: With 93% of purchases still involving at least one trip to a brick and mortar store during the research and/or final decision step of a purchase, it is important to have good business signage to make it easy for people to find your store.

If you don’t have good business signage, it is most likely having an impact on about 93% of opportunities your business has to make a sale.

Even if you sell mostly online, having a store is important for customers to see and feel your products or to be available for immediate pickup, especially for some industries. As of 2021, online purchases only accounted for 18.1% of all purchases across all industries.

This means that 91.9% of purchases still happen in person! A good example to show how important this is? Amazon! The online empire Amazon is opening physical stores because even they see the power and benefit of having a physical location. You can read more about it here.

2. Why Is business signage Important? It Shows Your Professionalism

Another reason why business signage is important for your business is that it shows how professional your company is. About 68% of consumers believe that a business’ signage reflects the quality of its products or services.

I know that if I’m looking to buy something and I see the business has an impressive high-quality business sign or reception sign, it elevates my opinion of that company.

On the flip side, if the business sign or reception sign looks unimpressive, unprofessional or they don’t even have a sign, it greatly reduces my thoughts on how good the quality is of the product or service they are offering.

For me, their sign and the outside appearance of their building help make a big first impression.

3. Why is business signage Important for Your Business? It helps foster brand Awareness

In order to create brand recognition for your company, you need to move people from not being aware of your company to becoming able to recognize parts of your brand (brand recognition). Then, help move them from recognition to a place where they are familiar enough with your brad to consider purchasing - and then actually making that purchase.

Below is a chart showing the whole process from creating awareness to building strong brand loyalty.

A great way to get people from not knowing your brand to being aware of it is for them to enter your store. Nearly 76% of consumers (8 in 10) said they had entered a store or business they had never visited before based simply on its signs. Once they enter your store, there are lots of opportunities to solidify your brand awareness with them.

It is important to make sure people become aware of your physical location, as the majority of shoppers still visit a brick a mortar store at some point during the purchase journey.

One study found only 7% were online-only shoppers, and 20% were store-only shoppers. The remaining majority, or 73%, used both online and store interactions during their shopping journey. 

If this study is reflective of most shoppers, then 93% of purchases still involve at least one trip to a brick and mortar store during the research and/or final decision step of a purchase. It is important to have good business signage and brand awareness to help bring people into your store.

Another study you can find here listed a business sign as the number one way customers found out about a business, even higher than word of mouth which is shocking!

Source: http://images.ebsco.com/pob/outdoorsignsamerica/cms/theimportanceandeffectivenessofsignage.pdf

4. Why is business signage is Important for Business? It's a Low Cost Per Impression Marketing Vehicle  

Having business signage is important, as it is an extremely low-cost per impression marketing vehicle. Depending on the quality and the placement of your sign, as well as the traffic on the roads that pass your location, it can greatly impact the number of impressions you get from your sign. That being said, even in a low traffic area, the cost per impression is still great unless your store is on the outskirts of civilization.

In terms of the cost for a business sign, generally the more professional, bigger, and more impressive the higher the cost. However, this is not always the case.

Sometimes you can get a very big, impressive, and professional-looking sign for less than a much smaller sign if you are careful at selecting a great company to make your sign for you.

An easy way to calculate the cost per impression you will get from the sign for your business is simple. Just count or estimate how many vehicles pass by your sign and would actually see it in a week, and then times that number by 52. Then, multiply the number again by the number of years you think you will get out of the sign before you need to repair/replace it. Then divide that number by the cost of the sign (including design, installation, materials, etc)

Below is a chart showing the average cost per 1,000 impressions by marketing channel.

Importance of Business SIgnage: Low Cost Per Impression

5. Why Is a storefront sign Important for Your Business? It Will Give You a Positive ROI

Roughly 60% of businesses reported that changing the design or enhancing the visibility of their signage had a positive impact on sales, number of transactions and profits, and had an average increase of about 10%.

Another great reason why having a storefront sign is important is that it will give you a positive ROI. How much will it cost you to get the storefront sign you want? How many sales do you need to generate to pay this back?

If you are in a business-to-business market, it’s possible that you may only need one sale to make your front sign investment worthwhile! If one sale is not enough, you may only need a handful more to make it worth it.

Even if you are in a business-to-consumer market, how much in sales would you need to make the storefront sign investment worthwhile....$75,000 maybe? Generating $75,000 over the course of 25 years from a storefront is peanuts!

Keep in mind nearly 75% indicated that they had told others about a business simply based on its signage and about 67% of the consumers surveyed said they had purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye. 

Here is a great tool for calculating the ROI of a sign Click Here->

Roughly 60% of businesses reported that changing the design or enhancing the visibility of their signage had a positive impact on sales, number of transactions and profits, with an average increase of about 10%.

6. Is It Important to Have a Good Business sign? yes, because It Gives You Lasting Value

The great part about a good business sign is that once you invest in it, you have it forever and it continues to work for you forever. What other advertising methods are there that once you pay for it once, it continues to work for your business forever? Not many, aside from maybe investing in your website and investments you make inside your store.

For example, when you pay for a Google Search ad, you get that one ad and any benefit that one ad generates. But after that ad it is done, unless you spend more money to run it again.

That money you spent on the Google Search ad is gone and you can never get it back. If you don't get a return on investment from it, you never can. The same is true for Instagram Ads, Facebook Ads, Radio Ads, Newspaper Ads, magazine ads, etc.

Whereas with a business sign, if you don't make a positive ROI in the first year, it is not a big concern as you have from now until the sign needs to be replaced or your business closes/moves locations to get a return on your investment. Having a good business sign that is designed well can drive more sales. Learn More ->

Importance of A good business sign: Its value lasts

7. Why Is a good business sign essential for Your Business? It can be a competitive advantage

A sign can be a competitive advantage in a number of ways:

1. It can be easier to see from farther away and therefore attract more people to your business than a competitor’s sign.

2. It can be more attractive and professional, making customers want to enter your store more than another

3. It can be more attractive and impressive making employees more proud to work at a company and potential employees have a greater desire to work for your company

4. It can convey that your products are of superior quality and make customers willing to pay more for your product or service than competitor offerings

5. It can do a better job communicating what you offer, better than a competitor sign, creating a greater understanding of your brand with the general public.

6. It can create better and more word-of-mouth advertising for your business. Nearly 75% indicated that they had told others about a business simply based on its signage.

Here's a great story that illustrates this. In the town I live in, there is a business that has a big sign out front and a big sign on the wall of their building that is along the highway. Because the sign and wall is so big and such a bright yellow, it is impossible to miss when you drive past it on the road or on the highway.

As a result when I think of a shoe store, I always first think of this store. This is just one example of the competitive advantage of a good sign.

8. Why Is an outdoor business sign Important? It's an effective communication tool

Having relevant information on your business sign is not only a great resource for your customers, but it will also help you attract more people to your store.

Think about how many times you have seen a sign outside that has communicated something new to you that you did not know about before.

Maybe a special a store has on? Maybe what the store inside the building sells? Maybe if the store has premium-priced or value-priced products inside? The list could go on and on.

Keep in mind when designing your sign that legibility is the most important factor. Research studies have shown that legibility was chosen by both consumers and businesses as the most important characteristic of signs.

9. Why Is A sign Important for Business? It can create impulse sales

Another advantage of having a good sign for your business is that it can create impulse purchases. Did you know that 79% of people make impulse purchases when in a store, versus only 13% of people making an impulse purchase online?

A great sign that is visible from far away, stands out, is easy to read and attractive can do wonders when it comes to increasing the number of people that decide to actually enter your store. Nearly 76% of consumers (8 in 10) said they had entered a store or business they had never visited before based simply on its signs.

On the contrary, one research study found that nearly 60% of consumers said that the absence of signs deters them from entering a store or business and having poor signage (e.g., poor quality, misspelled words) deters over 50% of consumers from entering a store.

If you can get more people to enter your store, it is easy math that this will lead to more impulse and unplanned purchases, which will help boost your revenue growth and increase the size of your customer base. About 67% of the consumers in one survey said they had purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye.

What should you put on your signage to attract people inside? Talking about seeing products, feeling them and trying our products before buying, one study found that this was the primary reason shoppers will enter a store. This is especially true with female shoppers as they overwhelmingly want to touch and feel products before buying them.

Article Sources:

https://savemycent.com/statistics-on-online-shopping-vs-in-store-shopping/

https://www.askattest.com/blog/articles/how-to-measure-brand-recognition

https://profitworks.ca/blog/297-why-having-a-website-is-important

https://profitworks.ca/blog/455-marketing-return-on-investment-what-is-a-benchmark-average-and-what-marketing-methods-have-the-best-roi

https://www.lhsigns.com/some-statistics-on-why-signage-is-important-for-your-business.html

https://hbr.org/2017/01/a-study-of-46000-shoppers-shows-that-omnichannel-retailing-works

https://www.lhsigns.com/some-statistics-on-why-signage-is-important-for-your-business.html

https://www.hardwareretailing.com/customers-impulse-buys/

https://www.retaildive.com/news/why-most-shoppers-still-choose-brick-and-mortar-stores-over-e-commerce/436068/