Signage is an important part of your business. Your business’ signage could be anything from wall signs, window signage, sidewalk signs, floor signs, and more. While each of these may serve a different purpose, if done right, good signage provides your customers and potential customers with subtle, but important, communication cues, increases brand awareness, and in the end, it can help you convert a sale.
Whether you’re using signs for functional purpose or branding, it’s important to remember that a customer’s takeaway isn’t just your logo, it’s the whole experience from introduction to close of sale, and everything in between. Presenting your customers with clear, concise, and branded signage is one important part of your business puzzle. To help ensure that your signs are working for you and to bring light to some new ideas, here are our top 5 reasons why signage is important to your business.
When customers are bombarded with too much information—think signs that contain excessive text and/or graphics—they can experience what’s called cognitive overload. When this happens, your customers’ working memory can’t process the “overload” of information they’re receiving. Since customers do have a limited amount of working memory, when they’re faced with too much information all at once, it can not only give them a negative perception of your brand, but it can also adversely affect their decision-making abilities, which is the last thing you want as a business owner. Providing clear communication through signage is a great way to eliminate that barrier between cognitive overload and increase the chance for purchases by the end-user.
Two common types of communication through signage are directional signage and safety standards signage.
Related: Click here to read more about how proper signage can help during COVID
Consider this: if your business uses a whimsical font like papyrus, and you’re a doctor’s office, from the outside in, your office looks more like a card shop and less like a doctor’s office. The choices you make in branding are important, and keeping consistency throughout your space is even more important.
A 2012 FedEx survey found that 76% of consumers will enter a shop they’ve never visited before based on the strength of the signage, but more importantly, 52% said they would be reluctant to shop if the signs were not well done (cognitive overload can come into play here). What does this say to businesses? Signage is important, but making sure it fits your brand vision is potentially more important. Additionally, your interior signs expand the branded experience, giving you more opportunity to not only convert a sale, but to also present yourself as a leader in your space.
So, how can you ensure that your signage reflects your brand’s character and identity? Working with a designer and following your band guidelines is imperative. Pay special attention to your logo creation (generic is a brand-killer), font size (larger is usually better), colors used (think of the colors used for brands like Coke, apple, Home Depot, etc.), and the contrast between colors used on your signage—more contrast is usually better.
As with brand character and identity, you want your signage to quickly and simply tell potential customers what your brand is all about, so your signage needs to give a great first impression to anyone and everyone who sees it. Additionally, having your interior signage, whether it’s for branding or safety, properly branded will further increase the number of times a person sees your logo, keeping your brand at top-of-mine.
Keeping in mind the two tips above, brainstorm the best ways to portray your brand through your signage—including graphics, fonts, and colors—allowing you to stand out from competitors in various places throughout the customer journey. This will allow you to push your customers closer to a sale without being pushy. Remember, with good signage, the tiniest tweaks can make all the difference.
To be effective, your signage must reach the customers you’re going after in look, in feel, and in messaging. While businesses seek to break through the noise, once a customer is in your place of business, the only “noise” to break through is your own. You have the right customer, at the right time, but do you have the right message? Clear signage can make all the difference (see our tip on clear communication above if you need a refresher).
While many forms of marketing impose upon the customer, consider the on-air commercial that breaks your favorite TV show, signage helps the customer. When done right, it provides the customer with what they need and allows them, with your help, to be in control of their experience. It’s for this reason, that signs can and likely will turn potential customers into customers. It’s not pushy, and you’re reaching the right audience nearly every time, which can’t be said for other forms of marketing.
Signage can be extremely cost-effective when compared to pay-per-impression (PPI) style advertising where you pay for each advertisement that is placed via email, on social media, and through other media outlets like television, radio, print, and so on. Signage, on the other hand, is a one-time, up-front cost that can last almost indefinitely, making it a wise and lucrative investment of your hard-earned business dollars. Partner with all of the above reasons, and you’re got a sure fire strategy that will lead you to better customer experiences and lower cost of acquisition.
Have questions about how to create the optimal signage for you and your business? Contact us today, and our experts will help you make your signage investment pay dividends now and well into the future.
Wherever you are, wherever you look, chances are you’ll see a sign or two. At work, at the mall, at the park, and even at home. They all have their own specific purposes, and usually fall into at least one of the most common categories.
This blog explores the purposes behind signage and why particular businesses may use certain signage. To find out more or to get started on making your own sign, contact our team at Signworks Thinks today.
Anything that is graphical and conveys information to people is a sign. Graphical doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be colorful or elaborate (or both)— this includes text, too! Some signs are just pictures, some are just text, and some can be a combination of both.
There are several purposes behind signage, such as:
Brands use recognition to build trust and a connection with their audience or customers. When you see a familiar fast food company’s logo in the distance on a long drive, the recognizable color and shape let you know you’ll be able to stop for food soon. This goes for all types of businesses, regardless of the industry. When you’re going to a new dentist for the first time and you know they’re somewhere on Elm Street, you’ll most likely search for their logo or brand’s color to guide you to the correct building.
Wayfinding, or directional, signs offer directions to customers and the general public. These can be the large signs on highways to guide you towards the next town, or small signs within an office to direct you to the room or area where your appointment is. They can be simply an arrow, or include words and/or pictures to depict the information you need to get where you’re going. A business certainly doesn’t want any customers getting lost on their way to them, and they also help both foot traffic and road traffic flow smoothly, so these signs are quite common.
Like with our fast-food restaurant on the horizon, a familiar sign can entice customers to stop in to visit a business when they weren’t necessarily planning to. This type of signage also applies to advertisements such as window displays in clothing and retail stores. If you’re planning to go directly from Store A to Store C but Store B is along the way and has an interesting window display, that signage can be irresistible! Enticing signage draws potential customers in to take a look, which can then lead to a sale.
You’re familiar with the rectangular glowing EXIT signs— these are an example of when a sign can fall under more than one category, as they’re both directional and a form of health and safety signage. It’s important to know where your closest exits are in case of an emergency, whether you’re in a movie theater, store, or airplane.
Health and safety signage is used in just about every industry, and is especially common in places like construction sites and hospitals. Additionally, health and safety signage has become even more commonplace today with COVID-related signage popping up since early 2020. Stand 6 feet apart, wear a mask, sanitize your hands— we’re all very familiar with these by now!
These signs alert the public to what is illegal within a designated area. A sign depicting a cigarette with a line crossed through it instantly informs you that smoking is prohibited outside of that business, in that cab, and so on. The same goes for anything else with a line across it, such as ‘no dogs in this national park’ or ‘no skateboarding outside the mall’. Legal signage is often instantly recognizable on the road, for example, speed limit signage which indicates the maximum speed you can travel at legally.
We hope this blog has helped to explain different types of signage and how they can be useful in particular businesses, industries, and scenarios. At Signworks, we have over 30 years of experience in creating signage for many types of businesses across the US and would love to help you get started on yours. To get started on making your own sign, click below to get in touch with our friendly and knowledgeable team today.