Most businesses that have deployed digital signage have seen tremendous benefits over the years, justifying the widespread adoption despite the high initial investment. But the question is, how do you quantify these benefits? This article will outline the most effective strategies for measuring the ROI of your digital signage, to provide decision-makers with the concrete data needed to secure funding for deployment or further expansion.
Define Your Success Criteria Before You Measure
Defining your objectives
Before you can measure your digital signage ROI, you need to define what success looks like for your campaigns. Are you hoping to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or generate leads? Once you know your goals, you can start identifying the metrics that will help you track your progress.
Defining success is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Your goals are unique to your business. By taking the time to carefully outline what success means for your digital signage initiative, you'll create a roadmap to measure ROI effectively, pinpoint areas of strength, and identify opportunities for improvement as you progress.
Identifying Key Metrics For Your Goals
Sales Lift: The most direct indicator of a campaign's impact is often seen in increased sales. Track sales data before, during, and after your digital signage campaigns. Look for any clear increases in sales figures for promoted products or services, especially if these increases align with the deployment of a specific campaign.
Social Media Engagement: If you have tightly integrated digital campaigns and social platforms measuring social engagement is crucial for ROI. Track metrics such as campaign-specific hashtag usage to determine if the hashtag promoted on your signage is seeing significant use. Monitor if people are inspired enough by your social wall to share photos or videos of them interacting with your product/service.
Foot Traffic: For businesses with physical locations, measure foot traffic using in-store sensors or observational methods before and after your digital signage strategy goes live. Significant increases in foot traffic, particularly if they coincide with signage placement or specific promotions, can translate to increased sales, greater brand visibility, or higher sign-up rates for loyalty programs.
Audience Reach: This metric assesses how many people your signage potentially impacts. It's most valuable when your goal is rapid, widespread communication. While audience reach alone doesn't directly translate to sales, it can signal success for campaigns centered on event/concert promotions. Digital posters and billboards advertising an event can lead to measurable ticket sales increases.
Operational Efficiency: Digital signage can improve processes in several ways, indirectly boosting your ROI. Consider tracking reduced printing and material costs when switching from printed materials to digital signs, as this can lead to significant savings over time. Additionally, digital signage that automates updates for menus or directories frees up staff to focus on other value-adding tasks. If placed strategically, engaging signage can lessen the perceived wait time in queues or waiting rooms, leading to greater customer satisfaction.
Content engagement: Engagement is a key indicator that your audience is resonating with your content. Consider:
- Dwell Time: How long do people linger in front of your displays? Audience analytics tools provide this data.
- Click-through Rates: Do you have QR codes or links embedded in your signage? Track their usage to assess direct engagement.
- Interactive Element Analytics: If your signage is interactive, monitor the frequency of touchscreen, quiz, or game element usage.
- Social Media Interactions: Track any upticks in social engagement that can be directly traced back to calls-to-action on your signage.
The Most Effective Tools and Technologies
Choosing the right tools helps you accurately measure your signage ROI and identify areas for improvement. Here's a breakdown of some key technologies and the metrics they help you track:
1. Audience Analytics Tools: These tools are essential for measuring dwell time which is a core component of understanding engagement. They use cameras and sensors to determine how many people interact with your displays and for how long. Some even analyze demographics to give you a better picture of your audience.
2. Campaign-Specific Tracking Tools: QR codes, unique URLs, and even promo codes displayed on your signage help you track the effectiveness of sales-focused campaigns.
3. Social Media Analytics: To gauge social media engagement driven by your signage, use the analytics tools built into platforms like Facebook, X(formerly Twitter), and Instagram. These tools reveal hashtag usage, shares, contest participation, and other key social indicators to track alongside your signage campaigns.
4. Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems: For a direct correlation between signage and sales lift, integrate your sales data tracking with your displays. This allows you to analyze real-time and historical sales figures that indicate any increases that coincide with specific campaigns.
The Power of Baseline Data
Before deploying your digital signage, gather baseline data on the metrics that matter most to you. Track sales figures of products your signage will promote, typical foot traffic levels (if relevant), and your current social media engagement. If aiming for efficiency gains log your printing costs and staff time spent on static signage updates. This baseline data is the benchmark against which you'll measure the impact of your digital signage strategy. How often you check your data depends on your goals – sales lift might need daily tracking, while foot traffic patterns are likely a weekly or monthly analysis.
Advanced Techniques: For When You’re Ready to Level Up
A/B Testing: Experiment with different content variations on your displays (layout, messaging, visuals) and use the metrics we've discussed to pinpoint which versions resonate most. Split-screen displays allow real-time comparison of content engagement.
AI-Powered Analytics: Intelligent signage will let you tap into AI to analyze audience emotions and sentiments in reaction to your content. The result is more profound insights into optimization for tailored messaging
Targeted Content Delivery: Use customer data from loyalty programs, purchase history, or even in-store sensors to tailor content. This personalization boosts sales and engagement, as customers feel the signage is directly relevant to them.
Hyperlocal Campaigns & Data: Location-based social media metrics or geofencing data enables you to determine the local impact of signage campaigns. You can adjust content in real-time based on factors, like weather or events, to maximize relevance.
Conclusion
Measuring digital signage ROI is an ongoing process that empowers you to continuously optimize your displays for maximum impact. By establishing clear success criteria, selecting the right metrics, and harnessing the power of data, you can effectively quantify the returns of your signage investment. As you become more confident, explore advanced techniques that will empower you to make more data-driven decisions that maximize your ROI.
