The popularity of digital signage has been on the rise in the recent past as businesses continue to learn about how they stand to gain from using this technology. Digital signage solutions have more to offer to the target customers relative to the traditional static displays that we were used to. You can influence your customers' behavior in real-time, offer live audience interactions and create an enabling environment for building your brand. Such aspects are vital in influencing your sales level. You are able to create a supportive playing ground to help influence your customers’ actions in the short and long-run.
While digital signage has several benefits to your business including being a catalyst for positive growth, it can be perilous to spend money on it without considering the return on investment (ROI). This explains why a significant number of businesses are hesitant to invest in digital signage. Every penny in the marketing budget counts, which is why every investor must know how to measure ROI. Below are tips to help you measure ROI in your digital signage project:
1. Develop key performance indicators (KPIs)
It is vital for business owners to first define their business's objectives before deploying a digital signage solution. A case in point would be when you want to convey a specific message or make your target customers spend more time interacting with your digital signs. Key performance indicators can help gain an insight into what draws your customers' attention to your products. It helps establish what attracts and maintains your customers' attention to your products instead of capitalizing on catching the attention of spontaneous buyers even though they contribute to the overall sales. Digital signage solutions' ultimate goal is to help your brand develop a unique relationship with customers and further enable them to make informed purchase decisions. Digital signage is an excellent marketing tool for posterity.
2. Set a baseline in profits before launching your digital signage project
Well, it is a step in the right direction, most business leaders ignore this critical aspect. Ideally, when new technology is incorporated into your business, you should make the change after you have obtained your baseline in profits. If you fail to do that, there will be no means of tracking growth if you do not know your current state of affairs. However, digital signage can help you get a picture of ROI if you notice increased sales after installation. The only downside is that it is challenging to get the exact percentage of business growth.
3. Return on Investments or Return on Objectives
ROI is quite useful due to its wide range of applicability. Business financials involve subtracting the monetary gains from what was initially invested. Return on objectives (ROO) involves measuring who takes a desired behavior or action towards achieving a set objective.
There is a close relationship between ROI and ROO. You can enhance your marketing efforts to help achieve a return on investment. It takes time before results can be obtained when using digital displays to project your businesses’ future performance. The use of technology affords more free time for employees to accomplish other aspects of your business, which indirectly leads to revenue increases. When using ROI to evaluate your business's success, you have to consider the timeframe. Mostly, depending on industry and size of the project, a digital signage system is a medium-term investment with payback period starting from 6 months. But here it is vital for business owners to understand, that the amount they spend both on digital displays and digital signage software might look expensive in the short run but are a saving in the long term. It will cost you more money to print posters or engage additional staff when using print media, which is why costs must be looked at from a long-term perspective.
4. Run a customer survey
At times, conducting a customer survey can be used to establish ROI from digital signage. You can seek answers such as where customers first received the information regarding a certain product or knew about your brand. This information can be useful in deducing what motivated the customer to make a purchase. When using digital signage to attract clients, short advertisements can inform a purchase decision after learning how a product can help improve their life. It is easier to measure ROI from digital signage when you know what triggers a purchase decision among your customers.
5. Identify clear objectives
Each organization has unique goals and objectives, and consequently, expectations in ROI when investing in new technology. There are various reasons why companies install digital signage including employee communications, streamlining customer service and engagement. It is vital for you to have a clear-cut meaning on what is a return on investment. Will ROI reduce perceived wait times, increase efficiency or sales level when employees save time and financial resources? The purpose of your digital signage solution is majorly informed by the returns you aim to achieve.
6. Be clear on what is to be measured
At times, ROI can subjectively be measured by recording down positive feedback from customers prior to and after digital disolay has been installed. This is an innovative method of finding out if the change will positively impact and whether the set goals are being met. Besides looking for verbal feedback, observing your target audience’s behavior can also be used to gauge the efficiency of your plans. Record how long customers spend on your digital sign and how many of them check out at the till for products being advertised.
Failure to assess the impact of digital signage solutions in achieving your business goals can be detrimental to your success. It costs a significant amount of financial, time and human resources to deploy and operate a functional system. It is impossible to allocate resources for designing, content management and system update when digital signage solution is devoid of positive rewards. It is critical to understand your digital signage project’s ROI, to justify putting money in it. Measuring ROI from your digital signage helps you to learn whether you should continue investing in this tool or not.
