How effective is digital signage?

Digital signage is popping up more and more, with many businesses seeing it as a flexible alternative to traditional signage. The pace of change in business now means that traditional, static, printed signage that regularly needs changing can become a costly burden on a company. Many are now seeing digital signage as an investment worth making.

However, for many organisations, it feels like a high-cost move. They want to know if the return on investment for digital displays is worth it. This blog explores whether it is or not.

Benefits of digital signage

Digital signage comes with a few clear benefits:

Visibility – Screens can attract attention with brightness, movement, or animation.

Dynamic content – You can update, rotate or schedule your messages in real time.

Targeted messaging – You can show different content to different audiences or locations without having to purchase separate print jobs.

Consistency and professionalism – Digital signage makes it easy to maintain consistent branding across multiple locations. 

Comparing digital and static signage

Both digital and static signage come with strengths and weaknesses in different areas.
When it comes to creating ads or messaging for your signage, digital comes with a clear benefit. It can be easily and efficiently updated and is instantly ready to go.

Found a glaring mistake? It’s a quick fix.

There are no printing costs or waiting times. There’s also no labour involved in putting it up and down, and no rewrites in case of errors.
Digital signage also offers the opportunity to rotate through promotional material, display seasonal campaigns, and react quickly to trends and events.

You can easily test and improve things when they aren’t performing as well as expected, without needing to involve multiple people or outsource production.
However, digital displays require occasional updates and cleaning and have ongoing running costs associated with them. PAT testing is also necessary to ensure they’re safe to use in the workplace.

As with any technology, digital signage can also have its hiccups. But the long-term costs are often minimal when compared to static signage, which needs to be regularly replaced, and can fade or tear easily. Digital displays are undoubtedly a significant investment, but over time, they’ll often work out cheaper than repeatedly paying for printed materials.

Where digital signage is especially effective

Once you start looking, you can find plenty of use cases where digital signage has been well-utilised. Here are a few examples:

Healthcare

Screens are more than just furniture in waiting rooms. You can use them to display live updates, health campaigns and appointment information to those awaiting appointments. You can also let them know about any services they might have missed or important upcoming dates they need to be aware of. 

Retail

You can showcase in-store promotions, sales and new and exciting products with well-positioned digital content, and keep it regularly updated to reflect your current stock.

Hospitality

If you have a rotation of menus throughout the day or a selection of regularly changing specials to display, why not use digital displays to do so? You can display pricing, promotions and availability of services in real time, to avoid time-consuming extra tasks like changing over menus, renewing hand-written display boards or switching out-of-date posters.

Showrooms and corporate spaces

You can showcase product demos or adverts, as well as key product information on digital displays around your showroom. You can also stretch your investment further by using them to keep your customers, clients and colleagues in the loop with key dates, events and campaigns.

Making the most of your digital signage

Your investment needs to work hard for you. Screens are most effective in spots where people will naturally pause and linger. Spaces like queues and waiting rooms automatically have a captive audience.

Our attention spans are famously short these days, so keep the messaging short, snappy and to the point.

Change your content regularly, throughout the seasons or even throughout the day, to ensure that your messaging speaks to the right audience at the right time. Your early morning audience might want something very different to an evening crowd.

Consider using animation to capture your audience’s attention or interactive elements to encourage engagement.

And remember, you don’t have to ditch your static signage altogether. Use it alongside your sleek new digital signage for maximum visibility. 

How can PB Signs help?

Investing in digital signage is a significant financial decision. When considering whether it’s the right choice for your business, you might consider the following:

How frequently are you currently updating your static signage?

How quickly will the costs be ‘paid back’ by the reduction in printing costs?

Do you have the budget for it currently?

Are you able to commit to upkeep costs?

Will digital signage be effective in increasing the visibility of your best offers?

Will you make use of the interactive elements of digital signs?

If you’ve answered yes to any (or all) of the questions above, get in touch today to find out how PB signs can help make digital signage part of your strategy.