Seven expert digital signage tips for summer
With the current crop of good weather, people are generally happier and more excited. Now is a great time to change your to change your tactics and continue to push your messages to customers, taking a slightly different tack to presenting your information from earlier in the year. We're rounding up the best digital signage tips for the new year, to demonstrate what you can do.
Amazing things are being done with digital displays to capture customers’ attention - and the contents of their wallets - but it’s important to remember the basics if you want to use digital displays to drive sales this new year. Typically, sales increase by 29.5% when digital signage is present, and it can increase brand awareness by 47.7% - you can see more in our Display Insights infographic. However, this is only if it is done intelligently. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you use digital displays to get more people to spend more cash in your stores.
Get the right design for Summer
You need your digital signage to match the current mood of shoppers. Summer is bright and fun, just like the weather, and people want to feel happy. Make sure that your digital signage designs reflect this and that you're not just running new messages placed over older designs. Think about what your customers want at this time, and use your signage to push the problems that your products and services solve at this time of year. Think about different ways of doing things, such as advertising in-store events to hook people in a different way. Offer convenience for a better customer experience
Digital displays shouldn’t just be about advertising products, they should be there to help customers save time - and hopefully encourage them to make on-the-spot purchases. You should enable customers to scan or enter product identity codes at your display points so they can find out more about a product. They should also be able to check if it is in stock, the sizes available and where it is located in the store. Allow them to buy direct from the display if possible, with a pick-up point located elsewhere in the shop.
Upselling
You should also use your display point as a digital salesperson by offering people interacting with it alternatives to the products being searched for, or providing promotions on linked products or bundles of products. Remember, a better-informed customer is one who is more likely to be convinced to make a purchase – so add reviews and endorsements to product listings to help them make up their minds, or encourage them to consider a more expensive, but more recommended, alternative.
Quality content
Try to avoid loud repetitive music and audio to sell your products via digital displays – this can quickly be a turn off (and can send your staff mad if they are located close to them as well!). The rule of thumb is that if you find it annoying, your customer is likely to too. It’s worth investing in quality, active, eye-catching content that people will find interesting or useful and want to engage with. If you are on a tight budget, silent displays, even only showing rolling text over professional photos of what you are selling, can be more effective at making a sale than a brash jingle on a loop.
Timing is essential
Match the products you are displaying to the conditions outside. Umbrellas and holidays are likely to sell more in dark and rainy weather, and sun loungers and cocktail makers will do better if the sun is shining.
You may think, “It’s summer, I know what it will be like” – but even in July there will be days of rain where shots of outdoor furniture and people happily having a BBQ won't match what people are looking to buy at that moment. The beauty of an interactive display is that you can plan various display scenarios and if you keep on top of changing them to match the changing conditions, you are likely to get more sales.
Location, location, location
If you are using digital signage in your store for single items, it’s good practice to position it next to the product it is advertising. That way you can persuade consumers at the most opportune time – which is just as they are at a position to buy it. Research from SignStix says that "almost 1 in 5 of those who have seen an ad via digital signage have made an unplanned purchase after seeing an item on the screen".
Also think about where there is likely dwell time. An interactive display next to the changing rooms will get played with, and expose bored shoppers to more impulse buys, than one in a corridor between two different shop sections.
Connectivity is key to later sales
Use downloadable coupons or discounts that work by customers scanning the displays using their mobile phones. That way, even if they don’t make an on-the-spot purchase, you have another chance for them to buy the product at the online version of your store. Follow up with an engaging sales message to remind them of the product the day after their visit, so you can extend the shopping opportunity with minimum effort.
