General Services Administration signs, referred to in the industry as GSA signs create a predictable format for presenting people with information. And in a time when everything else in the world seems to be turned upside down, it is encouraging to know that GSA signs help people who visit government offices, schools, and other public places find the information and the directions that they need.
From municipal signs at the public courthouse to the outdoor LED sign for schools that help parents and students alike know important scheduling information, these markers are often something that we take for granted. One trip out of the country, however, often shows people the true role that GSA signs and various kinds of highway signs play. Having a standard for the way basic information is presented, people across the country are more easily able to find public restrooms and elevators inside buildings, as well as hospitals, schools, and public libraries while traveling outside.
GSA Signs and Other Public Markers Play Important Roles in the World
It certainly should come as no surprise that more than 37% of people report looking at an outdoor ad each or most of the time they pass one. And while we so often think of signs as a marketing tool for commercial businesses, the fact of the matter is there are also many more signs that are required by the government to predictable mark many kinds of public spaces.
Consider some of this information about the more traditional and commercial roles that signs play in the world where we live, and consider how these same applications can be used to help the greater good:
- The most recent studies show that adding or changing a sign directly improve sales revenue. Replacing a store front wall sign with a larger sign, in comparison, increases revenue by 7.7% Updaing the GSA signs in a building can have similar effects.
- Not surprisingly, 85% of a business’s customers live or work within a five-mile radius of its location. When government offices are tasked with serving a general public that may come from further away, however, it is important to have a standard of signage requirements that will create a comforting familiarity.
- 35% of people indicate that they would not have discovered a business had it not been for their sign. Using this statistic when it comes to public spaces like government offices, the requirements for GSA signs help the public more easily locate the spaces that are most needed.
- The latest marketing research indicates that the value of an on-site sign is the same as 24 full-page newspaper ads each year. Economically speaking, updating the signs for a private business is a very worthwhile investment.
- Using one specific business as an example, 17% of Best Buy’s walk-in customers did so because of its sign. Taking the success of one business and implementing it in other applications can produce profits for other kinds of platforms.
- Other poll respondents reported that 26% noted a phone number or Web site address, 28%, written on an outdoor billboard.
- 71% of people often look at the messages on the combined traditional and digital roadside billboards. And while many of these roadside signs are specific to unique and local businesses, it is also important to note that standards for directional GSA signs is even more common.
- 58% of poll respondents indicate that they learned about a restaurant they later visited from a billboard they saw while in their car. So while many travelers may start off looking for a road marking to more quickly and efficiently reach their destination,
- In the fast paced lives that we live, 68% of poll respondents report that they frequently or sometimes make their shopping decisions while in the car.
- 32% of poll respondents visited the retailer they saw on a billboard later that week. Likewise, there are many ways that outdoor public signs can help direct both foot and car traffic.
- In an effort to more efficiently light the signs that are used across so many platforms, in the year 2019, LEDs are estimated to achieve a 53 percent penetration of the global lighting market.
Many travelers will look for common directional signs as the nation’s economy continues to reopen in the future.