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What Shoppers Want
McDonald's has
found that 75% of customers read the menu board after
they order, while they wait for their food--during the "meal
prep" period, which averages around a minute and 40 seconds.
That's a long time, and that's when people will read almost
anything--they've already paid and gotten their change, so
they're not preoccupied. That's a perfect window for a longer
message, something you want them to know for the next time
they come.
Banks also expend
a lot of energy trying to figure out which signs work and
which don't. Banks and fast-food restaurants have this in
common: lots of customers standing still and facing the same
direction--ideal opportunities for communication. The difference
is that banks are some of the worst offenders in the art and
science of sign placement.
We were hired
to study all aspects of a certain bank's branch, including
the large rack that held brochures describing money-market
funds, certificates of deposit, car loans, and other services
and investments offered. The rack was hung on the wall to
the left of the entrance, so customers would pass it on their
way in. Everyone passed within inches of it. No one touched
it.
The reason seems
obvious: you enter a bank because you have an important task
to perform. Nobody goes into a bank to browse. And until you
perform that task, you're not interested in reading or hearing
about anything else. The fact that the rack was to the left
side of the doorway, when most people walk to the right, only
made it worse. We took that rack and moved it inside, so that
customers would pass it as they exited rather than entered.
With that change alone, the number of people who saw the rack
increased fourfold, and the number of brochures taken increased
by 800%.
Banks aren't
the only places in which task-oriented behavior must be reckoned
with. Customers enter a drugstore intent on seeing the pharmacist
and turning over their prescriptions, and they don't notice
a single sign or display they pass until that mission is accomplished.
Then they've got some time to kill, only they're in the rear
of the store, and all the signs and fixtures are positioned
to face shoppers approaching from the front. Or customers
enter a convenience store hot on the trail of barbecue-starter
fluid, and until they're sure the store has it, they won't
be distracted by anything else. In all those instances, it's
futile to try to tell shoppers anything until after they've
completed their task.
The world of
signs today is actually enjoying something of a renaissance.
Just look at what's happened to billboards. Some are among
our most visually exciting, inventive, and clever forms of
commercial expression. They can be more stylish than print
ads, hipper than TV commercials, and more fluent in the language
of imagery and graphics than anything you'll find on the Web.
Some billboards are to print ads what MTV is to network TV--the
edge of the envelope, the lab for experimenting with new ideas
in communication. Technology has given us three-part shifting
billboards, video jumbotrons, rotating sports-arena message
boards, and digital menu boards featuring flying french fries.
At a fast-food restaurant we studied, a moving digital-menu-board
panel was read by 48% of customers, compared with 17% for
the same menu board--a nonmoving version--tested earlier.
Those numbers have held up over many tests we've done comparing
moving and nonmoving signs.
But a sign need
not be on the cutting edge of technology to leave an impression.
Not long ago I entered the elevator of a hotel in the financial
district of New York City. On the wall was a mirror, below
which were the words You look famished. And below that
were the names and brief descriptions of the hotel's restaurants.
I guarantee that sign gets close to 100% exposure and that
all the people who see it smile, then check in with their
stomachs to see if they really are famished. A good
sign.
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