Rather than blather on about the “Benefits” of digital signs, let’s get right to the meat of “HOW” digital signs make your business profitable. Here are just a few ways that other companies are improving their profit margins with digital signs.
1 The Classic McDonald’s Example
McDonald’s rolled out digital signs very quietly and with very little fanfare. This is partial because it involved the slow phasing out of serving staff (the people who take orders), and they wanted to gently massage their stock price so that it could rise over the months and years in line with their earnings. They didn’t want to hype their stock price into a peak only to have it tank later down the line and stay in lowlands limbo.
McDonald’s was able to remove staff members from their teams simply because people make orders on the large digital signs or in-store tablet devices. There is no need for as many serving staff. In fact, some McDonald’s that don’t have a drive-through is able to run on a skeleton staff, and it really helps to keep costs down.
2 Theaters and Live Events
Removing staff members from the team is a solid way to improve earnings. Theaters that run pantomime and stand-up shows have been removing ushers and other helper staff and replacing them with digital signs. Customers walk in, and the digital signs point them to the various seating areas. During the interval, the signs point people to the bar and bathrooms.
At the end of the show, the signs change again and show people to the various car parks. It stops people milling around without having to hire shift staff to work that night. It also reduces losses when billed events have a very low turnout on the day/night. The idea of navigation through digital signs is a growing trend. We are seeing it more in private hospitals. There are interactive signs that show people where they need to go.
3 Scheduling Content to Drive Sales
There is a digital signage app that allows users to schedule content based on more than a timeline. It works by setting up triggers. Certain parameters will trigger certain pieces of content. As odd as it sounds, this type of content schedule works very well with larger-branded marketing. Here is how it works.
Let’s assume you run three home and building supplies stores. You only have three of them, they are not too big, but you do good business. You have learned to time your promotions based on the advertisements that bigger home and garden companies run. For example, when they start pushing their Christmas ads on the TV, that is when you decorate your stores. When they run grass seed, weed killer, and lawn mower ads, then that is when you start promoting the same products. The reason you do this is that big companies pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into market research, so when they start advertising certain products, they know that their ads will be successful.
The promotions run by bigger companies are copied and mirrored throughout the digital signs in the various stores. When the big companies start promoting ice removal and plumbing supplies, then the small business owner starts running similar promotions on their digital signs. Thanks to the marketing messages put into people’s minds by the bigger companies, and thanks to their (market-researched) ad timing, the small business owner has far more success with his or her digital sign adverts.
4 Drawing Attention with Clever Digital Sign Content
We all know that it is our natural instinct to look at movement when it appears in our peripheral vision. Digital sign users have been trying to exploit this for years, but they have been doing it wrong. Firstly, where you position your signs is very important. Putting them in your shop windows may not be a great idea unless you have a very good promotional offer that will draw people in right away. The best positions are near the entrance of the store so that people see the signs briefly when the doors open.
Secondly, if you are putting your signs in a prominent position, such as in your windows, then lots of movement and action is “Not” the way to attract attention. People have learned to tune out non-stop action, be it crowds or on screens and signs. Instead, you need mostly static video images that have large and sweeping transitions. It is the transition from not moving to move that will draw the eye. If used correctly, even a digital sign in your store window can attract people, draw people in, and hopefully sell a product or service to them.
