Measurement in marketing is key.
Knowing whether an idea has been successful or not, is vital information towards your next campaign.
Given that digital signage is primarily a medium to be looked at - rather than interacted with - makes measurement more complex.
In turn this can make adoption of this exciting platform for communication and advertising very difficult. If senior managers can not tie the investment in hardware and creative time to an upturn in sales / attendance / interest, then the argument for digital signage moves towards the luxury, rather than the necessary.
Common Uses of Digital Signage
Attention
If a photo speaks a thousand words, then a video surely speaks a million.
Communication is now so dominated by moving graphics and video (TV, YouTube, gifs, most social media) that it is clearly more eye catching than a photo, or some wordy banner graphics.
According to a 2023 Insivia report, viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text..
Engagement
Engagement is different to attention.
As a passer-by goes from noticing to actually reading or watching, so they become engaged by the content. The takeaway opinion can still go either way, but at least they are actively engaging with your messaging.
Interaction
Turning engagement into interaction is the holy grail.
If a user is interacting with your content - pressing a button, answering questions or submitting (personal) information - then you definitely know you have their attention.
Action
The digital signage has done its job if its gained attention, engagement and some form of interaction between the user and your business.
If your video has delivered some key sales campaign information to a passer-by: job done. If your dashboard has helped your warehouse staff better understand their targets for the day: job done. If the interactive map feature on your touchscreen unit has helped a user get to the correct exhibition hall, or captured their event feedback : job done.
This then opens both the user and marketer to the next stage of action: sales might increase, productivity could rise, and more attendees could watch your talk in Hall 2B.
When it comes to sales, Google Research published on www.searchenginejournal.com states that 55% of consumers use video in their purchase making decision.
Your marketing team will have better insights into the popularity of a product launch, understanding the key features that excite the potential buyer. Your sales team will have leads to follow, with key questions already answered so they can fine tune their pitch. Warehouse managers and teams will be able to change operations to ensure they hit targets and keep customers happy.
Choosing the Engagement Path and Best Digital Hardware
For this funnel to be measured and adapted, those interested in digital signage need to see various touchpoints of data and understand the flow - or drop offs - throughout.
Setting Expectations
A crucial part of data measurement is to set expectations on the activity to be implemented.
Not every video or digital slideshow needs to capture a feedback form. Not every office or engineering dashboard needs to have catchy moving images to do its job.
When beginning your activity, it's sound business sense to first define the goals you have - as attention might simply be enough!
Placement and Personalisation
As a physical device - placement is important. As its aimed at human attention, personalisation may also become integral to your success.
Consider the placement of your hardware unit for maximum attention - should people have to walk around it or simply past it? Do you want people to linger - or would this create an obstruction?
Consider whether it is physically reachable if you require interaction - you can offer a questionnaire if the buttons can't be reached by everyone (including wheelchair users, or children).
Decide if you need language options, back buttons, or whether QR codes could move the experience into their handheld devices?
Maximising your Chances of Data
Touchscreen devices are the way to go if you want to maximise your chances of data collection. Put simply they give the customer more opportunities to engage and interact with your campaigns.
Got a menu? Let them click it.
Helping them get to the right store? View a map.
Interested in Turkish holidays? View available flights.
How to Effectively Measure Digital Signage Success
In terms of hard data - often for campaigns of interaction - there are several ways you can glean useful insights:
Use QR Codes
A powerful way to gather interaction data as well as extending the timespan of engagement is to use QR codes. By moving them to their mobile, you allow the user to browse at their leisure, and even come back time and again, making you more memorable and part of their life.
Ultimately the QR code will take them to a web hosted page that can be monitored - an event ticketing page, a downloadable product PDF, a video with views tracking. But imagine being able to track the location, duration and other activity after they've opened the QR code ... Flowcode could help.
Create Specific URLs
Similar to the QR code, specifically created web pages (urls) are trackable and continually editable so you can refine the message delivered.
Instead, a touchscreen DDV for example can show the webpage on the digital hardware unit directly - good for exhibitions, wayfinding, or answering immediate queries.
Using Tag Manager / Hotspots
Sometimes - to monitor engagement - you simply need to know a user has touched the screen. You might not wish to create multiple trackable web pages, instead wanting to keep the interaction on screen.
Whether an engineering floor passing crucial production data to its team, or a cafe customer being interested in the vegetarian menu options, a 'next page' or 'see more' click that reveals another screen can be enough to provide data - like how popular veggie options are.
Assess the Dwell Time
Data gathering can be more subtle and human than that, and can also have positive knock on effects.
Take a travel agency for example. Showcasing the latest hotels deals for Turkey, or the various destinations a user can fly to from Stansted, can increase dwell time - something easily noticeable by agency staff. In turn, the agents may be asked more questions, more brochures and leaflets might be taken away, or more sales opportunities might present themselves.
Monitor Footfall Changes
There's nothing like the buzz of a busy store, especially if your new digital promo get the people through the door. Your shop window sequence was far more eye catching than anyone else on the street, and it's you that are benefitting from so much more interest.
Yet footfall numbers can be harder to ascertain - which is why companies like HoxtonAI offer physical hardware to track incoming numbers. Hardware/software like these can help manage staff numbers, justify marketing spend, and can even relate to purchase conversion numbers.
Encourage Data Submissions
Feedback forms, questionnaires, offer newsletters sign ups - there's many ways to capture a person's email address or mobile number in order to begin follow up marketing.
A touchscreen unit makes it easy for your customers to claim offers, sign up for forthcoming events or leave a great review for your business.
Summary
Digital signage is clearly an exciting medium for advertising, communication and engagement. Learning how to extract the numbers behind its effectiveness is crucial.
If you can map the intention and the user journey, then you can obtain the right metrics and deliver successful messaging campaigns time and again.
