How Billboards Facilitate Buying Impulse

Imagine you’re flying down the freeway on a road trip. You begin to feel hungry and then you look to your left and see a billboard ad for McDonald’s with a meal deal. It only takes a few seconds before you put on your blinker and exit to find the nearest McDonald’s. It’s a set of steps that is familiar to most people. That’s because billboards help facilitate people’s buying impulse.

Billboards are out in the wild, where people are ready to buy. It can sometimes take seeing a billboard only one time to push a customer to purchase. This is often true for restaurants since Americans are typically impulsive with their eating habits. “..67% of those who saw a restaurant's billboard made a purchase at a physical store” (Source: OAAA). Showing a photo of the food coupled with a special deal or directional pointing to the nearest exit is a winning combination.

However, this isn’t only true for the food industry. If your AC breaks in the summer and you see a billboard advertising Air Conditioning repairs, you might impulsively call them to see what they can do for you. Maybe you are trying to think of fun family activities on your way to the Oregon coast and your kids see a billboard for the Oregon Coast Aquarium with a cute. They will ask you if you can take them during the trip. If your fuel light turns on as you pass a billboard advertising cheap gas, you might move into the right lane and exit the freeway to fill up. There are all kinds of reasons why people would see your sign and make a split-second decision to go to your business and make purchases.

To increase your chances of impulse buys from consumers, consider these two statistics. “..57% of U.S. adults are more likely to notice billboard ads aligned with their needs, and 54% of U.S. adults are more likely to notice billboard ads tailored to their location” (Source: OAAA). Therefore, the best two things to do to facilitate impulse buying is to make sure your creative speaks to common needs, and that the location of your billboard is relevant to your target audience.

If you want to learn more about how we can help you bring in those spur of the moment customers give us a call or email!

If you are interested in advertising on one of our billboards call us at 800-221-4114 or email us at meadow@meadowoutdoor.com!