What makes great shop front signs?

Feb 1, 2023

Shop front signs, much like the businesses and units they identify, are available in a near endless variety; wooden, metal, flat, 3D, illuminated, dull, loud… Depending on what you are trying to achieve, they say a lot about what is under them. However, get them wrong and you could be losing out in more ways than one.

A poor shop front sign can be the difference between being found by a new customer or visitor. It could also be the difference between attracting and not attracting custom versus your competition on the high street. So when it comes time to invest in your shop front sign, remember it is not just a name badge for your premises, it is one of your most important marketing tools.

Unfortunately with the recent decline of footfall on the high street, things have not gotten any easier for shops, restaurants and other businesses vying for custom. So let us help you in this very important choice.

Good Vs Bad Shop Front Signs

We would never like to name names or embarrass any businesses over their signage. So let us simply list some things to look out for in bad shop front signs:

  • Obvious errors such as misspellings or wrong colours – These shows a lack of care and attention to detail.
  • Poor quality manufacture or print – What does this say about the quality of your products or service?
  • Broken lights/illumination – Unfortunately these things happen. However, not to fix them promptly will not only make your sign look bad or hard to read, but it shows another lack of care… Not a connection you want to be made with your shop or business.
  • Poor design – This could include difficult to read fonts; poorly scaled text or images that make the sign hard to read, or look unprofessional; poorly chosen colours that do not contrast; simply a design that is not ‘on-brand’, therefore making it hard for customers to make the connection between the sign they see and your business.

In contrast, let’s discuss and look at some good and very effective signage:

As you can see in the examples above, the shop front signs manufactured and installed by Centurion Signs, are always manufactured to the highest quality and highly effective. Whether the customer wishes to be eye-catching and easily found, or highlight their brand and ensure their brand style is clear to all passers-by.

Although our customers will always have final say on their design, Centurion Signs will always provide our expert advice on fonts, spacing, sizing and illumination to ensure their signage is as effective as possible.

Some Statistics to Consider

If we’re yet to convince you on the importance of your signage, consider this statistic from a recent FedEx Survey:“76% of customers would enter a shop they’ve never visited before based on its signs.”