Signage at retail establishments serves a very basic function: identification. It can also convey messages to your customers and help you establish your brand. That basic function plays into human psychology as you guide people to become customers and then guide those customers to make purchases. While your exterior signage is about influencing people to come into your store, your interior signage then needs to guide them through their shopping experience.
So, how should you lay out the signage in your store to best direct customers? Here are the three fundamentals of effective interior signs that enable customers to have a great experience in your store, resulting in them making purchases and, even better, becoming regular shoppers.
1. Make your interior signage consistent with your brand.
Much like other types of marketing materials, your interior signage should be consistent with your branding. Part of establishing your brand and attracting customers is creating a distinctive experience for your shoppers – and your brand should be maintained significantly as shoppers navigate through your store. In other words, don’t let people forget they are shopping in your store.
Here’s another thing to consider: Many physical stores are feeling the pressure of competing with online shopping. Maybe you can’t offer lower prices than online competitors, but you can make efforts to improve the experience of shopping in person by using attractive, helpful signage.
2. Use directional signs to help customers find their way.
Wayfinding signs, also called directional signs, are used to guide the process of shopping and ultimately make a sale. Getting lost in a store and not knowing where to go negatively impacts the shopping experience. Wayfinding signs help people navigate your business while other indoor signs and displays complement them. In this way, your customers are enticed to follow them like Dorothy followed the Yellow Brick Road.
3. Make your interior signage as clear as possible.
If customers can’t easily find what they’re looking for, or they don’t even know that you have what they’re looking for, this can lead to them just getting on their mobile phones and making an online purchase instead. Your wayfinding signs and other interior signs must be as clear as possible to ensure this doesn’t happen. This means following the fundamentals of all signage: not loading your signs with too much text (people don’t have the time to read it), using clear fonts (avoid anything overly stylized), and using contrast to enhance readability (light text on dark background or dark text on light background).
It also helps to use signs with visual interest to not only establish your brand but to stand out: whether these are channel letters or dimensional letters to label a department or counter, or even LED displays to get people excited about products.
Bottom Line: Use your interior signage to win customers and increase sales
These three fundamentals can get you started down the right path when it comes to attracting and keeping your customers. It can still be a challenge to design your store and signage so that it best appeals to customers. Your sign company should be able to work with you to determine the best sign design and layout—and once you have the right wayfinding signs and other interior signs in place, you’ll be making more sales in no time.