Houston outdoor signs are a great investment for your business. However, many business owners want to know exactly how their signs benefit the company. Just like any other investment, you can measure how impactful your signs are through return on investment (ROI) as well as return on objectives (ROO). In this article, we’ll discuss why signs are important, how to calculate signage ROI and ROO, and some design tips that may help improve returns for your signage.
How to Tell if Houston Outdoor Signs are a Good Investment for Your Business
If you need a brand new sign or need to replace old signage for your business, you might wonder if it’s really worth it. After all, creating and installing Houston custom signs does require time, thought, and money. It’s important to know if signs help with your business strategy and goals. We understand why you might want to know about potential returns before purchasing new signage.
Simply put, signs are still some of the most effective and economical tools for advertising. Compared to many other forms of advertising, signage is incredibly cost-effective. Signs also do a lot for your business, such as promoting your brand, spreading brand awareness, and making it easier for people to find your location. Signage can have a direct impact on sales and also help influence your reputation. This can help boost future sales and brand loyalty.
However, you don’t have to take our word for how great business signs are. There are ways you can measure their impact for your company. These measurements can help show the value of your investment in new signs.
How to Measure Signage Impact
Just like other business investments and advertising tools, you can actually assess how important signs are for your business. While determining returns for Houston outdoor signs can be a little more tricky compared to some other forms of advertising, it is possible. It’s important to track how effective your signage is.
The first step to really understanding how your signs are working for you is knowing your goals. Not every business has the same aim when creating signage. Knowing your goals not only helps with the process of designing a new sign, but also is essential for determining performance metrics you want to measure. So, ask yourself what you want your signs to accomplish. Generally there will be one main goal and maybe a few secondary or tertiary goals. For example, you might want your sign to draw attention to your brand if you’re a new business. On the other hand, if you’re well established in the community, your goal might be to reinforce brand loyalty and engage with your current customers.
Two of the main ways to help measure the value of your signs is return on investment and return on objectives. In most cases, you’ll want to look at both to really evaluate the impact of your signage.
ROI for Houston Custom Signs
Now, you’ve likely heard of ROI before and probably use it frequently for various things. Essentially, it’s looking at the cost of your investment versus the direct effect of that investment on revenue. So, when it comes to signs, you want to look at the cost of your investment compared to your sales.
First, you need to understand the true cost of your sign, which includes upfront costs like the price of the sign, permitting fees, and the cost for installation. Also, you’ll want to know ongoing costs for things like maintenance and electricity for illuminated signs.
Of course, you likely can’t ask every single customer whether your sign made them do business with you. It would be impractical for most businesses. Also, signs often work on a subconscious level, with many people not realizing how much signs affect their purchase decisions. So, how will you measure ROI for your business signs?
One of the most common ways is to look at sales before and after installing a new sign. For retail, you might look at sales per square foot, while other industries might look at total revenue. Whatever method you generally use to track your sales, you use that number and compare it to the signage costs to determine ROI.
ROO for Houston Outdoor Signs
Now, at the end of the day, you might say that everything is about sales. That’s the whole point of your business! Of course, you’re right, but signage can have impacts on more than just direct sales. ROI really measures immediate effects on revenue, but signage can also affect future sales through things like brand awareness, brand loyalty, and customer experience. Therefore, it’s also important to look at ROO for your signs. ROO measures things that are somewhat less tangible than dollars, but is still invaluable for understanding the usefulness of your signs.
For instance, ROO might look at how your Houston outdoor signs affect customer experience, brand awareness, and brand loyalty. Here, you’ll need to really dive into your goals for your signs and determine signage performance metrics based on those goals. If you want your signs to primarily improve customer experience, you might compare net promoter scores before and after installing your sign. For brand awareness, you might look at your company’s social media interactions or your website traffic. This is really dependent on your goals, but tracking ROO for your signage can absolutely be done and used to inform decisions and determine signage value.
Tips for Boosting Returns for Houston Outdoor Signs
If you’re in the beginning phases of creating new signs for your business, then you might be wondering how you can actually increase returns. Your signage experts can help you create incredibly effective signage based on your business and goals. Research from the Sign Research Foundation can also help inform design decisions for improving ROI for your signs.
The study looked at several large brands throughout the country and they found some common characteristics of those signs. Based on that research, there are some signage design factors to consider for better returns, including:
- Legibility
- Visibility
- Quality
- Architectural integration
Essentially, the better your signs look and communicate your message to your audience, the better returns you will see. For help creating the most effective signs for your business, it’s important to work with an experienced team for design, manufacturing, and installation.
Signage Experts since 1968 at 4D Signworx
When you need high quality, cost-effective signs in Houston, choose our specialists at 4D Signworx. We’ve been creating signs to help businesses advertise and improve sales since 1968. With over 50 years in the business, we are proud to be one of the leading sign companies in H-Town. As a family owned and operated business, our goal is your complete satisfaction. Whether you need brand new Houston channel letter signs or need some maintenance to keep your current signage operating, our team is here for you. Call us now at (713) 984-2010 to learn more and get a free quote!