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How to tell if your billboard worked

Updated November 14, 2026

Most people put up a board and then guess. The few who check do it by deciding how to count before the board goes up.

1. Write down your sales before the board

For the four weeks before the board goes up, write down your total sales each week. That is your baseline. Without it, you cannot tell a good month caused by the board from a good month that would have happened anyway.

2. Give the board its own way to be counted

• A code word. Put it on the board and tell people to say it. Every time someone says it at the counter or on the phone, write it down.
• A web page only the board points to. A short address that appears nowhere else. Count the visits.
• A phone number only the board uses. Only if you can give it its own line.
• Ask. For the first weeks, ask every new customer how they heard about you and keep a tally.

3. Keep everything else the same

If you start a sale, a mailer and a radio spot the same week, you will not know which one did the work. Change as little as you can for the first month.

4. Check at 30, 60 and 90 days

At each check-in, add up the customers the board brought in, multiply by the profit on each one and compare that with what you have paid so far. A slow first month can build. A board that is flat at 60 days seldom wakes up.

5. Decide before the contract ends

Keep the board and the same words, keep the board and change the words, move to another board, or stop. Many contracts renew by themselves, so tell the owner in writing, before the date, what you decided. Our free plan tool puts the dates and a tracking sheet in your hands.

OutdoorROI is not an advertising agency and does not sell billboards, so we gain nothing from a board being rented. We give you a way to check a price and track a result. We cannot promise sales. The traffic number comes from the board owner or your own count, and we have not checked it.