Vehicle wraps are an excellent investment; their low upfront cost, long lifespan, and high impression rate make them an effective marketing tool when compared to traditional ads or digital ads, and even more effective when paired with them. Here’s why: 

What ROI Really Means When It Comes To Vehicle Wraps

Return on investment (ROI) tells you how valuable a particular investment is; the methods used to calculate ROI differ based on the type of investment you’re making. When it comes to vehicle wraps, one effective formula for calculating ROI is:

(Number of impressions x conversion rate (%) x value of conversion)/Cost of wrap

The ROI on vehicle wraps tends to be quite high. As you’ll learn in this article, the low conversion rate of vehicle wraps is offset by the high number of impressions and the low cost of the wrap. Business owners can often see a positive ROI on vehicle wraps in less than a year!

How Vehicle Wraps Generate Business

Vehicle wraps generate business by boosting brand awareness and visibility. A few examples of customer journeys will help illustrate how a vehicle wrap can generate leads:

Scenario #1: A customer sees your vehicle while stuck in traffic; they’ve never heard of your brand before. Later on, they’re researching the services you offer on Google, and they remember your brand from your vehicle wrap. They decide to learn more about your company because they’ve seen your brand before.

Scenario #2: You are parked at a customer’s home or place of business for work. Another prospective customer who is looking into the services you offer passes by; they write down the phone number on your vehicle wrap because they live or work in the area, and they now know that your business serves the area.

Scenario #3: A prospective customer sees an advertisement for your business online. As they are driving along, they see your wrapped vehicle parked at your place of business. Later that week, they see your vehicle driving beside them on the road. Months later, when they need the products or services you offer, your business is the first to come to mind.

Customers grow to trust your business as a presence in their community when they see your vehicle regularly; they also learn that you offer your services in their neighbourhood. Awareness, visibility, and trust all generate leads, and those leads turn into paying customers. 

How Many People See A Wrapped Vehicle Each Day?

This is a tricky question to answer; it depends on:

• How often you use your wrapped vehicle
• Where you drive your wrapped vehicle
• Where you park your wrapped vehicle

Imagine a roadway that sees 50,000 cars worth of traffic each day. Rush hour each day might see about 10%-15% of the road’s daily traffic; if you drive down that street each day during rush hour, you may get seen by 10% of that rush hour traffic. Imagine there are about 2 people in each car; you’d get seen by 1000 potential customers a day.

Now imagine you’re parked right next to that major roadway; you might get seen by tens of thousands of people each day. Unfortunately, major arteries rarely have shops lining them, so you’ll probably be parked somewhere a little quieter.

When you’re parked on a smaller street, a few thousand cars might pass by each day. Some of them might not actually see your vehicle, but that’s accounted for in the conversion rate (which we’ll discuss next); let’s say five hundred two-person cars see you while you’re parked.

2000 people a day is our rough estimate; that’s 10,000 people over the course of a workweek. Add another 2000 if you’re driving your vehicle on weekends, and we’ve got a rough estimate of 12,000 vehicles a week. 52 weeks in a year: that’s 624,000 potential customers in a year.

This is rough napkin math; you’ll see estimates that are much higher and estimates that are much lower. The reason it’s so hard to determine how many people will see your vehicle is that it depends entirely on where you’re driving, where you’re parking, and how often you actually use your vehicle.

Our advice? Use your wrapped vehicles as often as possible to maximize impressions. 

What’s a Realistic Conversion Rate From A Vehicle Wrap?

Estimates for conversion rates for vehicle wraps vary, but they typically range from 0.005% to 0.02%. 

Using our napkin math for how often commercial car wraps get seen, you would successfully convert 31 to 125 people in a year with a vehicle wrap. The higher the value of your average customer, the more valuable vehicle wraps become; if you only sell $1 worth of product per conversion, the value isn’t there, but if you sell $500 worth of products or services to the average customer, they become extraordinarily valuable.

Comparing these conversion rates to traditional advertising can be helpful. The most obvious comparison is to a billboard. BrandXR estimates that digital billboards have an average conversion rate of 0.03%-0.07%. This conversion rate is higher than our estimated vehicle wrap conversion rate, but the cost is much higher, both for installation and maintenance. 

You may also have to rent your billboard, which has an ongoing monthly cost, compared to the one-and-done cost of a vehicle wrap (which lasts for 5 to 7 years). 

Let’s Do The Math: A Real-World ROI Example

A plumber in Winnipeg makes $500 per conversion. Every day, they drive down Lagimodiere during rush hour; they’re seen by about 1000 people each day. They mostly serve commercial customers, and they’re often parked in fairly busy areas; they’re seen by another 1000 people when they’re parked. Each weekend, they drive around in the company car; they’re seen by another 2000 people.

Each year, they’re seen by 624,000 people. Their professionally designed vehicle has a good conversion rate: 0.01%. This means they net 62 customers each year; at $500 per conversion, their wrap nets them $31,000 a year.

The wrap costs $5,000. In this scenario, the wrap provided an ROI of 520%, paying for itself within the first two months. Over the course of 5 years, the ROI becomes 2600%. 

This is, of course, just an example; a wrap may cost more or less than $5,000, and your value per conversion and conversion rate may be higher or lower (as can your number of impressions). A well-designed wrap will offer a higher conversion rate. We encourage you to contact your local SpeedPro to get an accurate estimate on your vehicle wrap! 

To help you find out what your ROI might be, we’ve built a calculator that you can use below: 

Calculate Your Own ROI

Why Brand Awareness Matters (Even If You Can't Measure It Exactly)

Vehicle wraps generate leads; they also boost brand recognition. Brand awareness is harder to define than hard sales; it can fall to the wayside when small businesses are designing their marketing strategy. Fortunately, vehicle wraps offer both conversions and increased brand awareness; they’re an all-in-one solution.

Why boost your brand’s visibility? There are a few reasons:

• It increases trust
• It leads to repeat business
• You’ll get more word of mouth

Imagine an electrician who generates leads through digital ads or SEO. Their website is well optimized, but their branding isn’t strong. The customer absolutely loves the work the electrician does, but when they have another problem, they can’t remember who the electrician was. In the end, they work with a different electrician because they can’t remember the one they used before.

The same scenario could occur if a friend asked for a recommendation.

Unlike digital ads that focus on selling products as quickly as possible, traditional advertising methods like print ads and television ads work because they increase brand recognition. Vehicle wraps do the same; they’re eye-catching and rely on logos and graphics to drive leads and promote brand awareness. 

How To Get The Best ROI From Your Vehicle Wrap

We have three recommendations to maximize the ROI from your vehicle wraps:

• Get your vehicle wraps designed and installed by professionals.
• Drive your wrapped vehicle as often as possible.
• Park your wrapped vehicle to increase visibility.

The last point is very important; you should park your vehicle wrap so that your call-to-action is facing the most traffic possible as often as possible. 

Is A Vehicle Wrap Right For Your Business?

You should consider fitting a vehicle wrap into your marketing budget if:

• You frequently drive in high-traffic areas.
• You provide services away from your brick-and-mortar store; think deliveries and in-home or in-business services.
• You have a high conversion value.
• You want to increase brand awareness.

One of the most attractive things about vehicle wraps is that they have virtually no recurring costs; once they’re installed, they can last for 5 to 7 years with proper care. This means that most small businesses can fit a wrap into their budget without significantly affecting their overhead costs. 

Thinking About Wrapping Your Vehicle? Let’s Talk

There is a SpeedPro franchise near you that offers high-quality vehicle wraps. Each SpeedPro franchise helps local businesses in their area; they know your market, and they can help you incorporate vehicle wraps into your advertising strategy.

Ready to generate leads and boost brand awareness with vehicle wraps? Contact SpeedPro today!