Two of my oldest girlfriends live way away and our conversations can last hour/hour 1/2 it's just a case of getting the right time ~ the precious time between the kids going to bed, eating dinner and rowing with the husband
A question about reading comprehension.
- Thread starter Tiberius Jim
- Start date
Two of my oldest girlfriends live way away and our conversations can last hour/hour 1/2 it's just a case of getting the right time ~ the precious time between the kids going to bed, eating dinner and rowing with the husband
Glad that this isn't just me. I hate talking to someone I can't see.
Two of my oldest girlfriends live way away and our conversations can last hour/hour 1/2 it's just a case of getting the right time ~ the precious time between the kids going to bed, eating dinner and rowing with the husband
It's good you have the arguments timetabled in.
It's probably habit to some extent. I never did the long phonecall thing growing up, so never got into the habit. Most of my calls are a few minutes long at most.
I've fully learned that reading comprehension and shopping do not come hand in hand. Infact, one almost negates the other either by choice or limitation in the human mind.
If people had reading comprehension then half of the "fires" I put out in any given week wouldn't of ever started.
Some common examples:
Which item is on sale?
Which item is on special?
How much is this package?
Why is the item on the right more expensive?
If people had reading comprehension then half of the "fires" I put out in any given week wouldn't of ever started.
Some common examples:
Which item is on sale?
Which item is on special?
How much is this package?
Why is the item on the right more expensive?
because the arrow is showing the price has been lowered.
"Trukey" was a typo. My bad.
You would think it was super clear. But it apparently isn't to many people. Many people try and get the item on the left for the special price. Why? Because the Ad Sign doesn't say "Turkey Salami" so they assume that the one marked as turkey salami isn't the one on sale. Never entering their minds that the ad sign is in front of a different I tem and, oh, the sign, and package, both say "Louis Rich." Had a customer tell me once "Your signs need to be more clear." Umm, how much more clear do we need to make them?
And understandable, yet common, mistake some make. But a bit of reading (and seeing) comprehension goes a long way. The arrow character is displaying that the price has gone down it is not indicating where the item is. Futher, simply reading the package would also go a long way to "understanding" which is marked down, further it's very, very common practice for the signs to be located BELOW the item they are refering to.
We've tried many, many different ways of writing those signs short of long sentences and paragraphs explaining the price, they all cause confusion. This is another case of reading/seeing comprehension (as well as a dose of common sense.)
One time we had 8-oz strip steaks on sale for "$3.99 each." A very, very good price. Such a good price that we package a bunch up and put them in a bunker (in stark contrast to our "bunker policy") in order to "keep up." To increase the rings on them we package them in packs of 2 an 4 (priced $7.98 and $15.96 respectively) put them in the bunker with a sign that says "8oz Strip Steak. $3.99ea." Now, a smart person with an ounce or two of common sense and R-C skills will be able to say, "Hey. They're not going to sell 4 strip steaks for $3.99 and all of the packages are marked at "$15.96" and there's way more than 8oz in that pack, that price MUST be per steak!
You might think a person would think that. In practice....
In our case we sell steaks by the weight. We have 8oz and 12oz sizes of Strip and Ribeye steaks. They're sitting in the case with signs above them that say "[steak] 8oz. [price]" and "[steak] 12oz. [price]" the prices are, more or less, the same per-ounce. (the 12oz ones are a bit higher as they're "more premium" and better sellers but they're not greatly more expensive.) Countless times people ask me why one is priced differently than the other, obviously oblivious to the fact that signs clearly indicate the weights of both and simple logic would tell them "one is more expensive because it's a bigger portion."
I would never mark a package with several items in as "price per each", it is just not done here in Sweden. When you make signs you have to think of all the arguments someone might come up with in advance
. This being one example. "See what a bargain, only 3,99 per steak! Sold in packages of 2/4/6." Otherwise one fails to understand that some people will actually be so underhanded as to fake not "understading it" just because they can have an argument. It is a sport to some. And considering people can be really mean and petty to the cashiers over the slightest wrong marking on the receipt, I would not put it past anyone to behave "wierd" in this way.
A whole lot more clear, or the customers wouldn't be asking about it.
The problem is that reading is not supposed to be necessary to understand the price tags; they are supposed to be understood at a simple, scanning glance. All you (need to see) is the price. In this case, an arrow that says that the price has been lowered. If someone needs to take more time to fully comprehend the tag, something is fundamentally wrong with it.
Then take the KISS principle: Just put the new price on there. Regular customers will know the old price, or at least, that it was higher then it is now. Nothing else is needed, if you look at the pure basics.
Nope, a smart person won't necasserily say that; someone who has the time to thoroughly think the issue through are most likely to say that. Most customers, however, are in a hurry. They don't want to think -- they don't need to think. If it says "$3.99', then that's the price, no matter what packages are in the basket. No wonder that, when those customers check out and find the price is something completely different, they believe they've been ripped off. Which makes for angry customers. Which makes for frustrated store workers.
You simply can't ask of a customer to stand there all day contemplating the prices. They want to be in and out as fast as possible with all the items they want. If a store values their customers, the only sensible thing to do is make the price tags as clear to understand as possible.
Besides, promoting the items as such is completely not done; you purposely confuse the customer to trick them into buying stuff they normally wouldn't buy. You make it look as if it's much cheaper then normal, even though you charge them the regular price, and you even expect them to not be confused/angry about it? The sheer arrogance of that is astounding.
I personally avoid stores with confusing price tags as the plague; even if they don't consciously make the tags as confusing as possible in order to rip off customers, they're still saying that they don't care about their customers and their store personnel likes price-related discussions, something I do not.
Last edited:
No slight is intended. We simply assume that the customer has a brain in their head and can think things through. No calculator, pad and pen or anything of the sort required. Just a couple neurons to rub together.
I admit the "down arrow" sign is confusing, I thought that when they introduced it, but it is what it is. The arrow is a character indicating a price decline, not pointing to where the item is. (As all items have their prices below them. This is pretty much a universal truth.) Further, being in the meat department, all my self-priced meat items have their prices clearly marked. So there's no "surprise" when you get to the register.
If a sign says "8oz Steak 3.99 ea" and you see a package laying there with two steaks in it and it's marked at "$7.98" it shouldn't take a calculator or anything to figure out that it's correctly priced.
People are just dense and lack basic reading comprehension. It's not complicated to figure out at all.
Here's another one I get more times than I should.
Why is this item marked $3.29?
I admit the "down arrow" sign is confusing, I thought that when they introduced it, but it is what it is. The arrow is a character indicating a price decline, not pointing to where the item is. (As all items have their prices below them. This is pretty much a universal truth.) Further, being in the meat department, all my self-priced meat items have their prices clearly marked. So there's no "surprise" when you get to the register.
If a sign says "8oz Steak 3.99 ea" and you see a package laying there with two steaks in it and it's marked at "$7.98" it shouldn't take a calculator or anything to figure out that it's correctly priced.
People are just dense and lack basic reading comprehension. It's not complicated to figure out at all.
Here's another one I get more times than I should.
Why is this item marked $3.29?
The point is not that it's not hard to figure out but that the customer shouldn't even be thinking about it at all.
Why?
You'll only lose sales this way.
The art of good advertising/signage is so customers DON'T have to think. Or rather, they think the way you want them to. If customers think, they might think they don't want to buy the product.
You're being very silly allowing them this sort of latitude.
Make your signs simpler. I'm serious. If the examples you've posted in this thread are accurate to life, they ARE unnecessarily confusing. If it's not instantantly understandable without a moment's thought, they're absolutely too confusing for use in retail and several of the examples you've posted fall in this category.
If people find this sort of signage confusing I'd HATE to see them do something like buy a home or a car as the pricing and (gasp!) reading one has to do with either of those is infintely more complicated than anything I've posted here.
People want to complain and whinge all of the time about misleading salesmen and signage like we're supposed to hand-hold people every step of the way. Sorry, some self-preservation is required.
The down-arrow sign. Sure, might be confusing, but, again, I didn't design the sign. And I'm not about to completely re-do the entire concept of where pricing is put in relation to the product -which actualy in some cases would impossible or impractical to do- because someone can't be bothered to understand what the arrow represents, or simply read the packaging to see what's marked down.
I'm not going to make long, drawn out, signs hand-holding people every step of the way to understand that when a sign says "8oz for 3.99" and there's packages down there with two in them marked $7.98 that there's no price mis-marking. (Because if the sign was marked $7.98 people would THEN say, "I thought it was $3.99.)
When you go into a store and look at signs and pricing you've got to practice an ounce of self-preservation in regards to how much you're spending. You cannot just assume. Because some less reputable retailers will take advantage of that. We do not. A recent audit gave us 100% scanning accuracy. Meaning 100% of the items on our shelves matched their marked prices. We're not trying to get away with anything. We just assume our customers are capable of thinking for themselves and considering the people who point out/have trouble with these signs are far fewer than the ones who do not we must be doing something right. (The down-arrow sign has been in use for some years now and I assume some college-educated guys who get paid way more than me came up with them.)
A bit of shopping advice: Do not assume. Read, comprehend, and understand. It'll prevent you from getting disapointed, it'll prevent you from getting upset, and it might even save you some money.
Retailers can't hold your hand and be your personal shopper to help you understand stuff every step of the way.
And in some cases I'm even limited to what I can put on the sign by law.
Just read.
The sheer arrogance that you presume to tell your customers what they should do astounds me. The customer buys something from you, not the other way around. They don't want to read, they want to quickly scan the price tags. The shop is supposed to make that as easy as possible. That's what you do; you make sure your customers are satisfied and you make sure they want to buy as much as possible. You don't want to throw up hurdles for them to overcome when they are the ones buying something.
It has been a truth in marketing in ages: The more clear and simple the signs, the more your customers will buy. Failing to adhere to that is making a big slash in your profits, simple as that. It's completely self-destructive.
Your signs are, for the most part, much more confusing then they need to be. As such, there will be a large percentage of people who a) ask clarification, thereby costing time and money, b) will not buy in the first place and c) get irritated by the shop and don't come back.
It has been a truth in marketing in ages: The more clear and simple the signs, the more your customers will buy. Failing to adhere to that is making a big slash in your profits, simple as that. It's completely self-destructive.
Your signs are, for the most part, much more confusing then they need to be. As such, there will be a large percentage of people who a) ask clarification, thereby costing time and money, b) will not buy in the first place and c) get irritated by the shop and don't come back.
I'm not asking them to read novels or long signs. Just to friggin LOOK at signs and COMPREHEND them. It's something a first grader can do. Asking people to read is very, very little to ask.
If reading a sign is a "hurdle" then I pity that person should they need to: a)buy a car. b)buy a house. c)buy a cellphone. d)start a credit card. e)open a bank account....
Considering my numbers have been consistantly good, and up, to the point I have to hold-back my inventory a bit to prevent them from being TOO good, I must be doing something right despite the few mouth-breathers I encounter who cannot understand a simple paper sign that says "8oz Steak for 3.99" and then look at a package with TWO steaks in it CLEARLY INDIVIDUAL MARKED AT $7,98.
Please, take my examples and explain to me how they are confusing.
You still don't understand the fundamental point here. I'm not saying that you're trying to mislead people deliberately and I don't think others in the thread are saying that either. For once Trekker, we're not all out to get you. 
It isn't about reading comprehension or what customers should do. Those are irrelevancies; it's about maximising your sales and reducing overheads (caused by lost time dealing with customers' confusion).
It absolutely is NOT about "helping customers understand stuff" as you put it - it's about "stopping them from having to understand anything in the first place".
As a customer, I might have different priorities and a lot of what you say is accurate in that respect. But my advice to you is not being offered as a customer but trying to help your bottom line. Simpler signs that don't allow for a shadow of a doubt do that. Customers having to think carefully, does not.
The whole point of signage is to convince them to buy by triggering the "that looks pretty" or "that looks cheap" subroutine in their brains that ends in "oh what the hell; into the basket it goes" without triggering the "is it really as cheap as I think?" process.
Once they start thinking, they question. Then they compare. Worst of all, they start second guessing purchases. Do you really want them to do that?
Of course not; ideally you want them mellow and in a trance-like state, pushing a trolley round the shop, idly picking up items and placing them in the trolley without having to exert more than a moment's conscious thought until they pay for it at the tills. Thought slows shopping, especially in supermarkets and other environments where the individual cost of items is low, and the retailer depends on volume.
Good signage triggers purchases without triggering too much thought - just enough to think "that looks cheap and also looks nice".
It isn't about reading comprehension or what customers should do. Those are irrelevancies; it's about maximising your sales and reducing overheads (caused by lost time dealing with customers' confusion).
It absolutely is NOT about "helping customers understand stuff" as you put it - it's about "stopping them from having to understand anything in the first place".
As a customer, I might have different priorities and a lot of what you say is accurate in that respect. But my advice to you is not being offered as a customer but trying to help your bottom line. Simpler signs that don't allow for a shadow of a doubt do that. Customers having to think carefully, does not.
The whole point of signage is to convince them to buy by triggering the "that looks pretty" or "that looks cheap" subroutine in their brains that ends in "oh what the hell; into the basket it goes" without triggering the "is it really as cheap as I think?" process.
Once they start thinking, they question. Then they compare. Worst of all, they start second guessing purchases. Do you really want them to do that?
Of course not; ideally you want them mellow and in a trance-like state, pushing a trolley round the shop, idly picking up items and placing them in the trolley without having to exert more than a moment's conscious thought until they pay for it at the tills. Thought slows shopping, especially in supermarkets and other environments where the individual cost of items is low, and the retailer depends on volume.
Good signage triggers purchases without triggering too much thought - just enough to think "that looks cheap and also looks nice".
You still don't understand the fundamental point here. I'm not saying that you're trying to mislead people deliberately and I don't think others in the thread are saying that either. For once Trekker, we're not all out to get you.
It isn't about reading comprehension or what customers should do. Those are irrelevancies; it's about maximising your sales and reducing overheads (caused by lost time dealing with customers' confusion).
It absolutely is NOT about "helping customers understand stuff" as you put it - it's about "stopping them from having to understand anything in the first place".
As a customer, I might have different priorities and a lot of what you say is accurate in that respect. But my advice to you is not being offered as a customer but trying to help your bottom line. Simpler signs that don't allow for a shadow of a doubt do that. Customers having to think carefully, does not.
The whole point of signage is to convince them to buy by triggering the "that looks pretty" or "that looks cheap" subroutine in their brains that ends in "oh what the hell; into the basket it goes" without triggering the "is it really as cheap as I think?" process.
Once they start thinking, they question. Then they compare. Worst, of all, they start second guessing purchases. Do you really want them to do that?
Of course not; ideally you want them mellow and in a trance-like state, pushing a trolley round the shop, idly picking up items and placing them in the trolley without having to exert more than a moment's conscious thought until they pay for it at the tills. Thought slows shopping, especially in supermarkets and other environments where the individual cost of items is low, and the retailer depends on volume.
Good signage triggers purchases without triggering too much thought - just enough to think "that looks cheap and also looks nice".
We try and to have the best signage possible, and the vast majority don't seem bothered by it, it's the on-occasion mouth-breathers who do have problems. No matter what the sign says chances are someone isn't going to get it.
It might be little to ask, but even that is too much. They don't want to read, they want to scan. If you make sure they can, they'll be much more inclined to buy something.
But you're not a shop where they buy a car, or a house or start a credit card, or am I missing something? Simple retailers (with electronic stuff, or groceries and such) do not ask questions and the customers don't need to think, that's how it is. And that's good; as Holdfast has already rightfully stated, you don't want the people to think. You want them to simply buy stuff, no more.
If your signs are anything like those you posted here, I believe that your numbers could be much, much better. Now, you might not have the capacity to deal with that at the moment, but that's no excuse to put up signs that are clearly confusing.
I don't have to explain; shut your mind off (go think about something else) and quickly look at the signs in a simple, microsecond glance. The moment one requires any sort of thinking is a clear sign (pardon the phun) that the sign isn't clear enough. And do remember that, because you know these signs, half of those you find instantly understandable, customers who've never seem them before might find very confusing.
But I'll go over a few:
The "as advertised" has no function. It is unnecessary, and everything that's unnecessary can confuse matters. The "2/400" is unclear; it can mean multiple things. It can mean "2 packages of 400 gram for the price of one", it can mean "each package has 2 items of 400 gram" or it can mean "2 items for 400 currency". The currency is a problem also; you regular store customers might surmise that 4 is a normal price, therefore, you actually mean 4,- instead of 400. But foreign visitors may not. Also, the currency itself is not displayed, which is generally not done. You might mean Euro's, for all your visitors know.
The "price decline" has no function. The happy arrow has no function; a simple arrow would suffice. The arrow points downward; this can mean multiple things: "the item below is on sale", "the item's price has dropped" or it can even mean nothing at all. Without reading, there is no way to be sure.
The items are packed per two in a package. Each package is 2 bucks. But the sign says "2 for 2 bucks". It's not clear if it means "2 for the price of one", or "one package with two items for 2 bucks". People are going to have to assume, and when people assume they will always assume in their favor. And when they do that, the feel ripped off when their assumptions are proven incorrect. You really don't want to allow any possible doubt in interpretation of the signs. In this case, people would assume that it's 2 for the price of one, which is probably not what you meant.
Again, the customer always assumes in their favor; and there's going to be assuming going on here. All a customer sees is the actual price. As such, while the product says it's $ 2,99 per lb and that item itself is $ 3.29, the sign below it says $ 2,99, because even the 'lb' addition doesn't make it clear that the sign is about the product per lb. If you put a single price sign on a piece where every package has a difference price (like with meat), people are going to assume every package has that single price, even if the package itself says differently.
With respect, you do not.
You yourself said upthread that you paused momentarily when you saw the "arrow down" sign the first time. And yet, you used it. Therefore you do NOT try to have the best signage possible. Your threshold for using it is "I think it's good enough" not "the best possible".
You don't actually know this* without either doing market research (expensive) or improving the signage and seeing the effect on your bottom line (cheaper, plus delivers more income).
(*because the ones who actually admit confusion may only be the tip of the iceberg, and in reality, you're losing sales from others who don't comment negatively, without your realising it.)
Sure. But also irrelevant since what's the harm in simplifying/clarifying more to reduce that percentage? Costs very little, has no downside, and potentially could increase your sales.
The "as advertised" has no function. It is unnecessary, and everything that's unnecessary can confuse matters. The "2/400" is unclear; it can mean multiple things. It can mean "2 packages of 400 gram for the price of one", it can mean "each package has 2 items of 400 gram" or it can mean "2 items for 400 currency". The currency is a problem also; you regular store customers might surmise that 4 is a normal price, therefore, you actually mean 4,- instead of 400. But foreign visitors may not. Also, the currency itself is not displayed, which is generally not done. You might mean Euro's, for all your visitors know.
I live in America. If people think the sign is speaking of Euros...
It was also a typo on my part when making the image. The sign is "2/$4.00" (silly me I thought that would've been obvious to my intended audience).
The "price decline" has no function. The happy arrow has no function; a simple arrow would suffice. The arrow points downward; this can mean multiple things: "the item below is on sale", "the item's price has dropped" or it can even mean nothing at all. Without reading, there is no way to be sure.
The happy arrow and "price decline" are just silly things the higher-ups came up with. "without reading there is no way to be sure." = Exactly!
The items are packed per two in a package. Each package is 2 bucks. But the sign says "2 for 2 bucks". It's not clear if it means "2 for the price of one", or "one package with two items for 2 bucks". People are going to have to assume, and when people assume they will always assume in their favor. And when they do that, the feel ripped off when their assumptions are proven incorrect. You really don't want to allow any possible doubt in interpretation of the signs. In this case, people would assume that it's 2 for the price of one, which is probably not what you meant.
The package is also clearly marked as $2.00 with two items in it.
Again, the customer always assumes in their favor; and there's going to be assuming going on here. All a customer sees is the actual price. As such, while the product says it's $ 2,99 per lb and that item itself is $ 3.29, the sign below it says $ 2,99, because even the 'lb' addition doesn't make it clear that the sign is about the product per lb. If you put a single price sign on a piece where every package has a difference price (like with meat), people are going to assume every package has that single price, even if the package itself says differently.
Now you're just being obtuse. Meat items are weighed up individualy at a certain price per pound. In this case the item is advertised at $2.99lb as such there's a sign on it saying so. But, since each item is priced individualy and not every package weighs exactly one pound each package isn't going to be priced at exactly $2.99. By law, on the package, I have to have the price-per-pound on the sticker on the product. So, a smart person, would look at the sign "2.99 lb", look at the pacakge, "1.10 lb" and then say, "Ok, so this is going to cost a bit more than that $2,99, and hey right there it says the price is $3.29. (omitted from my image: Those three numbers are in smaller print along the top edge of the label, at the bottom of the label is the bar code, next to it in larger numbers the final price, $3.29.)
You're either being obtuse, pedantic, or both.
When they first made the signs I knew they would cause problems. I have no control over the types of sings corporate wants us to use. If I want to mark something down with an in-store special those are the sings I have to use. I agree that they can be confsuing on a glance, but with some reading their meaning comes out quite clear.
Similar threads
- Poll
