His post at FB
So having good signs outdoor is a good practice. Avoid nega ads: no littering, no parking Be positive No smoking. People hate being ordered. People hate authority figures.
But sales kept dropping.
Shoppers walked in…
Browsed…
Touched the merch…
Tried things on…
Then quietly slipped out the door.
No complaints.
No bad reviews.
Just… no purchases.
The owner blamed the economy.
Then blamed competition.
Then blamed the location.
Until one day, a retired retailer walked in, looked around for twenty seconds, and said:
“Your problem is the sign.”
The owner looked confused.
“What sign?”
The man pointed to a tiny handwritten sign taped to a rack:
ALL SALES FINAL - NO RETURNS
The owner said it had been there for years.
“That sign is not protecting you,” the man said.
“It is scaring buyers out the door.”
He was right.
Customers did not want a risk.
They wanted reassurance.
The owner replaced it with a new sign:
30-DAY RETURNS - NO QUESTIONS ASKED
Sales doubled in a week.
Doubled again in a month.
Nothing changed except the feeling of safety.
The store did not need new customers.
The store needed new confidence.
THE MARKETING LESSONMost businesses lose sales not because their product is bad…
but because their customers feel unsafe.
One hidden friction.
One scary phrase.
One unclear policy.
One small rule that creates big hesitation.
Your offer might be great.
Your brand might be strong.
Your price might be fair.
But if the customer feels even a tiny bit uncertain… they freeze.
That is why top-performing brands obsess over trust:
• Amazon offers instant returns
• Zappos built an empire on free shipping both ways
• Apple stores let you touch everything
• Costco practically begs customers to return products
• Nordstrom built their brand on “no questions asked” service
Trust is the highest-converting feature in the world.
THE NERDY TAKEAWAYThe “Broken Sign Principle” teaches this:
A customer’s fear is more powerful than your features.
People buy when they feel safe.
People hesitate when they feel uncertain.
People disappear when they feel risk.
Your job is not just to create a great offer.
Your job is to remove every signal that says:
“This might be a mistake.”
Because most businesses don’t lose customers at the pitch.
They lose them at the sign.
