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The Importance of Lighting to Your Customer’s Experience
Lighting is one of the first things people notice about a business. In order to feel comfortable on your commercial property, adequate light levels must be maintained at all times of day. Things like color temperature, brightness, and placement of fixtures can have a significant impact on the way your business is perceived, as well as on the safety of your customers and employees. It is critical that commercial property owners work with a lighting specialist to ensure their spaces are outfitted with the best, most up-to-date lighting fixtures that will provide the most clarified, quality illumination possible. Read on for some important reasons to make sure your commercial space is outfitted with modern, well-maintained lighting.
Safety and Security
While spending time on your property, customers, tenants, and employees should always feel safe. A major part of safety and security in a public space is clear lighting. Dingy, poorly lit areas, like hallways and stairwells, can cause serious accidents. Commercial property owners can end up liable for tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees or medical bills if someone is injured on their property due to improper light levels.
Beyond this, exterior spaces that are not well-lit can give way to automobile accidents or even theft and other crimes. Considerations such as making sure security cameras have access to clear lighting and times of day the most lighting is needed must be made. Properly illuminated exterior spaces, such as parking lots and garages, are also a critical part of ensuring the safety and security of the people who engage with your business.
Buying Behavior
Increased Sales
Lighting is known to have a strong influence over a person’s mood. Studies have shown that bright, clear lighting can encourage productivity, openness, and receptivity. People, of course, want to be able to fully examine products and read labels. Good lighting inspires people to make practical purchase decisions and heightens awareness. Conversely, dimmer light can influence customers to shop at a slower pace and employees to feel less motivated and energized. Commercial property owners can take advantage of this by placing fixtures throughout their retail and office spaces strategically to highlight products and provide optimal illumination within workspaces. From an exterior point of view, a well-lit parking lot or garage can encourage customers to visit your property the same way a dimly-lit one can keep customers away.
Repeat Sales
People who feel comfortable in a commercial space are much more likely to return. This is especially true for living spaces, such as apartments, hotels, and senior living facilities. Good lighting can contribute to a welcoming, comfortable, relaxing environment. Ensuring that your space is fully accessible and secure via adequate lighting levels throughout the entire property is critical. It is especially important for owners of businesses to encourage guests to visit again, and a well-thought-out lighting plan is a major part of that.
Customer Direction
Lighting can be used to direct your customers to specific products or parts of your commercial space. For example, a retail business may want to highlight certain products. Bright, directional light can be used to ensure customer attention is drawn to these products and that they can easily examine them and read any relevant information on labels or price tags. A commercial property owner may also want to ensure optimal lighting in high-activity parts of a store or multi-family property in order to encourage people to spend time in certain spaces. Subtle accent lights can also be used to capture customer attention in smaller spaces or more remote parts of the property. For example, for a residential property, accent lights can be installed along a path or walkway to direct residents to a lobby or main office building.
Branding
Color Temperature
The temperature, or kelvins, of the light in your space can have a considerable impact on the way your brand is perceived by customers. For example, a retail clothing company attempting to project a certain image may want dimmer, more relaxing lighting. Accent lights and other fixtures can be used to ensure customer safety while simultaneously promoting a calm environment. Similarly, warmer-toned lighting, which is often between 2700K-3500K, is ideal for residential environments that should feel more calming and inviting.
On the other hand, you may want to use bright, clarified LED lighting to present a clean, minimalistic image for your brand. LEDs project a low temperature that allows products to appear as clear and unfiltered as possible. 3500K-4000K is a good range for commercial and office spaces to create a productive ambiance. 4000K-5000K is ideal for industrial and manufacturing applications for its high levels of clarity. A range of seasonal lighting products are also available.
Atmosphere
Lighting can affect the atmosphere of virtually any space. Brighter light can give a room the appearance of being more spacious, open, and clean. Fixtures can be installed strategically in order to maximize natural light and create the appearance you want to project to your guests. Lights can also be placed where they might be most useful during the course of the day. For example, multi-family property managers may want to include undercabinet lighting in units to make them more appealing to tenants.
Lighting is also known to affect the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm influences the production of melatonin and cortisol, as well as alertness and energy. Depending on the type of environment you want to create, lighting fixtures can be used either to encourage relaxation or heighten attentiveness. Circadian rhythms also affect the limbic system, which regulates feelings of happiness and other emotions.
Curb Appeal
Good lighting levels can most certainly influence the way customers and the public in general perceive your commercial property. A dingy, dimly lit exterior can make your business seem neglected and unwelcoming. People are much less likely to want to spend time on your property if there are a lot of dark, shadowy areas. Accent lighting can also be used to spotlight your company name or logo for easy recognition and other branded lighting can invite people into your space and enhance the aesthetic quality of your building overall. Colored lighting can be used to show support of a cause or local team, and in celebration of a holiday all of which will leave a memorable impression on passersby.
Contact Us
If you are in need of lighting retrofit or turn-key project services, contact Bay Lighting. We outfit commercial properties throughout Maryland and Washington, D.C., with energy-saving lighting solutions. Give us a call at 301-858-9494 to get started.