The Impact of Custom Signs on Customer Perception and Experience
In business, custom signs can make all the difference between a successful business and a failure. Now, you may be wondering, are signs really that important? Realistically, a single sign will probably not determine your business’s entire success or failure, but improving customer experience is only one of many custom sign benefits.
Today we’ll talk about how custom signs influence customer perception of your business and how you can use that information to ensure that your custom signs are improving your customer experience — not detracting from it.
How Do Your Business’ Custom Signs Influence Customer Perception?
First off, using custom signs helps improve the visibility of your business. With so many businesses offering similar services, reminding your customers of your business is crucial. Thankfully, using signs is an efficient (and easy) way to get more customers thinking about and actually visiting your store when they need something you offer and reaching new customers who may enjoy your products. They also help you promote what makes your business different from your competitors and allow you to create a consistent brand image.
Many businesses think they no longer need to invest in brick-and-mortar signs if they post regularly on social media. However, while keeping up to date with your online presence is crucial to keeping your business in your customers’ minds, traditional signs are still just as valuable for your business as before the rise of the digital market.
A lot of what makes up your customers’ perception of your business is what you share with them. Signs are a great way to share valuable information about your business and help your customers understand your offer. This is why signage is commonly associated with customer service today. Customers rely on regular and up-to-date signage to help them understand what is happening in a business.
So, how can you use your custom signage to improve your customers’ perception of your business?
How to Make Good Signage Choices
Now, you may be wondering how you can ensure that you are using your custom signs to craft a positive influence on customer perception rather than a negative one.
Make Good First Impressions
Signs are often the first thing a customer will see of your business. Whether this is a sign on a billboard or your custom sign right outside your business location, you want to ensure that this first impression is good.
Your sign should reflect your business. Ideally, it should give your customers an idea of what they can expect from your business, what you offer, and how their experience working with you will be. Ensuring that your signs are well-maintained and looked after shows your customers that your business concentrates on providing them with the information and services they seek. Conversely, a rundown or broken sign may signify that your business is on its last legs and cannot offer what they are looking for.
Go for Quality
Typically, consumers will associate a high-quality sign with a high-quality business. This is especially common in younger consumers, so if your services skew to a younger target audience, quality signage is crucial for you.
Because of this tendency to do business with brands who have high-quality signage, ensuring that your signs are made with good quality materials, designed well, and easy to read and understand is crucial. To make your signs of higher quality, ensure that you keep your branding consistent, use durable materials, keep them informational but easily digestible, and maintain your signs regularly to ensure that they are not suffering from wear and tear or damage.
Design Matters
As mentioned briefly above, design is a crucial aspect of a good sign. If you cover your signs with information about your business, but it takes someone three minutes to figure out what everything says, chances are you will turn people away from your business rather than towards it.
Ensure to include a balance of valuable information, white or empty space, and design elements (like your company logo, slogan, or other design). This will help grab the attention of new customers without making them sit there and try to decipher a wall of text outside your front door.
Build Trust, Don’t Ruin It
If your signs say “entire store sale,” your customers will expect a sale on everything in the store. This is a pretty simple example, but the point is to ensure that the things you include on your signs are accurate. Nothing is more annoying to a customer than when something is advertised as one thing, and they get to the store, and it is something else.
So, use your signs to build trust with your customers — not disappoint them. Trust us. You do not want disappointed customers. They are the ones who are likely to leave negative feedback, discourage others from going to your business, and never come back.
Provide Valuable Information
Signs are a great place to keep customers updated about your business’s various sales, new products, and other developments. Signage is essential to customer service today because it helps a business communicate with its customers.
Because of this, many consumers rely on signage to notify them about changes in a business. They also expect businesses to provide sufficient signage with any information they need. When businesses do not provide these signs, customers are much more likely to view them as less capable regarding customer service.
Want to Improve Customer Perception of Your Business?
Using signs can be a great way to draw more attention to your business and your services. There are endless possibilities when it comes to signs for your business, but if you want to improve customer perception, you’ll want to consider opting for personalized custom signs. These can help you ensure that your customers get all the information they need about your business while setting you apart from your competition.
So, if you are looking for ways to improve your customer experience and ensure that your customers know what you are offering, contact us today at Spotlight Strategies to make a custom sign to help out!
Erin Smith is co-owner of Spotlight Strategies, a marketing solutions firm specializing in print, apparel, promotional product and signs. An accomplished health care administrator turned business owner, Erin brings rare behavioral expertise to the world of small business.
With a Master’s degree in social work, and a thriving business she is a sought after advisor, coach and mentor to many of Indiana’s small business owners and support associations. Erin demonstrates unwavering commitment and facilitates profitability to any organization to which she directs her time and talent, and is successful in motivating and empowering people whether supporting a cause or building a company.