Advertising has gone through many changes over the years. Remember when putting an “AA” at the beginning of your company’s name to show up in the front of a phone book was a commonly accepted marketing method? Now in the digital era, that type of strategy won’t get you very far.
Similarly, marketing signage is going through a change. Instead of the standard, boring, static signage that has filled business locations for centuries, many companies are swapping to digital signage. And apparently, it works!
According to research from the Neilson research firm, 80% of businesses that adopted digital signage solutions saw sales increase by up to 33%. But additional sales are only the tip of the iceberg. Here are several reasons why your business should consider digital signage.
Grab customer attention
Brightness and movement are two things the human eye is naturally drawn to. With a static sign, you don’t get either of these, but when you make the switch to digital signage, you can take advantage of human nature to attract more customer attention.
Digital signs are both backlit and can display moving content. They naturally attract customers’ eyes to the display, better showcasing your products or services. It’s easy to walk right past a static display, but digital displays draw the eye and capture attention, especially if you use your digital signage to play promotional videos instead of just images.
Boost recall and retention rates
Not only will digital signage attract more customer attention, but it’ll also help customers remember and recall the content much better than static signage.
According to research from Arbitron, digital signage marketing solutions have an incredible 83% recall rate! Because they’re more vibrant and “interesting,” viewers tend to remember what they see on digital signage. Even if you don’t score the conversion while the customer is in the store, your brand is likely still in their mind when they get home.
Customer interaction
Some digital signage solutions come with touchscreens that allow customers to interact directly with the content. When people can interact with something, they’re more engaged with the content. As any good marketer knows, an engaged browser is more likely to become a customer.
Using interactive digital signage around your store allows customers to help themselves without needing to track down an employee. If they have a question about a service or product, they can just find the answers themselves.
Not only does this help shoppers stay engaged with the content, but it also frees up your employees to focus on more important tasks without getting distracted.
Decrease perceived wait times
Nobody likes to wait. Luckily, if you have something to look at, the wait won’t feel as long.
If you have a business that requires customers to wait in line—like healthcare, for example—digital signage providing queue-management information like directions or estimated wait times can reduce perceived wait times by up to 35%.
Shorter perceived wait times means your employees can take their time to do their jobs correctly without irritating customers. As you know, happy customers are paying customers!
Simplify content updates
How long does it take to update information using static signage? You have to come up with the content, create the design, send it to the print shop, wait for it to print, pick up the prints, then hang them in your store. All in all, a simple content update can take weeks!
With digital signage, content updates are easy and instantaneous. All you have to do is create your design or download digital signage templates and upload them to your media player. That’s it! The entire process takes only a couple of minutes.
Because content updates are so easy, digital signage also lets businesses update their content more frequently. You can highlight special offers or time-sensitive information. For example, you wouldn’t update your regular signage for a one-day deal, but you can with digital signage. You can even change your displays multiple times daily!
Customers also won’t get tired of seeing the same signage over and over every time they come into the store. When customers see the same images all the time, they become blind to them. Regular digital signage updates will keep information fresh, meaning customers won’t walk past your signage without first taking a look.
Showcase more information
How much information can a static sign display? The answer is whatever fits on the single display. With digital signage, you can increase the amount of information you can display almost infinitely. You’re not limited to simply what fits on one screen because you can make your digital display work like a slideshow, displaying several pages of information. Just build a digital signage playlist and let your media player do the rest.
For example, a simple 18” x 24” sign in a grocery store can showcase a deal on apples. If you add more than just that one deal, it could make the sign too busy, hurting your conversion rates.
However, if you have a digital 18” x 24” sign, it doesn’t take up any more space, but you can use it to display deals on apples, peaches, pears, tomatoes, and whatever else you want. The ads can be just as clean as the single static sign, but you can display more of them in the same space. You’re not limited by the dimensions of the sign.
Save money
Yes, digital displays are more expensive to purchase than static signage, but that doesn’t look at costs over the course of the sign’s lifetime.
Let’s say one static sign costs $25, and a small digital sign costs $250. While that’s definitely a big difference in price, think about the costs over time. Every time you want to update a static sign, you have to spend another $25. Updating your digital signage is free.
For example, if you choose to update your signage once per month, it would take only 11 months for digital signage to become the cheaper option. The more frequently you update your signage, the faster digital signage becomes the more affordable option.
Better analytics
What kind of analytics do your static displays provide? Likely none. It’s very difficult to determine if a static signage campaign is working or not. But that’s not the case with digital signage.
If you use interactive touchscreen displays, you can easily see which products or information customers search for the most. This can tell you what customer interest looks like. You can also cross reference this with sales data to determine conversion rates. If an item is getting a lot of attention through your displays but you’re not selling many units, it could indicate it’s time to lower the price.
Some types of digital displays also have cameras that can track customer eye movements. Similar to the touchscreen analytics, tracking eye movements can reveal which information gets the most customer attention.
It also tells you whether your campaigns are effective or not. For example, if your digital display plays a 30-second video, but the eye tracking shows customers only watch the first 15 seconds, you know you should probably make shorter videos next time.
Ready to take your business digital?
There’s no doubt that digital signage can bring many benefits to your business. Not only does it draw more attention from customers, but it’s also easier to update and more affordable over time. The future of business signage is clear. Static signs are out, and digital is in!
If you’re ready to make the leap to digital signage, PosterMyWall is here to help. They have thousands of digital signage templates available to make designing killer displays easy. Plus, their software also integrates easily with several signage delivering companies like Raydiant to provide a complete end-to-end digital signage solution. You can create and play your content all from one place! Ready to take on the future of in-store marketing? Start your first digital signage campaign with PosterMyWall.