A Guide To Digital Signage Analytics

According to the MicroStrategy 2020 Global Analytics report, 57% of enterprise organizations use analytics and big data to drive strategy and change. With enterprises of all sizes and across all industries adapting digital signs, the analytics functionality of these signs continues to help drive strategy. 

Actually, digital signage software providers have, over the last few years, integrated data analytics into their digital signage solutions. This is a powerful audience measurement tool, providing information on the audience that interacts with the digital signs.

Intuitive Analytics Software

Early on, when digital signage analytics first came into play, the tools weren’t exactly user-friendly. As such, the average digital signs content creator and manager had difficulty using the software.

With this in mind, software developers have since made the necessary changes, and today, digital signage analytics is highly intuitive and easy to learn and use. This way, business owners don’t have to worry about spending extra on providing staff with specialized training. Additionally, you can have the in-house team manage all the data analytics and other functionalities of your digital signage platform instead of outsourcing.

Interestingly, the global digital signage market size is expected to expand by a CAGR of 7.7% in 2022-2030. As the industry grows, you can expect even more advancements, including in the data analytics functionality.

Top Insights From Digital Signage Analytics: Data to Analyze

Indeed, digital signage analytics has helped businesses, big and small, that use digital signage to streamline and optimize their content creation and content management strategies. These optimization efforts are in response to the insights digital signage analytics provide, which include the following.

1. Customer Characteristics

Cameras give a detailed look at individuals who interact with your digital signs. Similarly, you can get great insights into customer characteristics from the information they provide at your interactive kiosks. At the end of the day, you have a clear picture of the demographics of your target audience.

2. Customer Interests

In addition to understanding your target audience, digital signage analytics allow you to understand their interests. For instance, measured head poses will help you know where in-store customers are looking and what catches their attention the most.

You will better understand what content reaches the target audience best, guaranteeing higher engagement and a better experience. As such, you will know what content to put up on your digital signage displays and the best location for these displays.

3. Customer Behavior

Digital signage analytics give insights into customer behavior, such as dwell time on the various signs. Is there content that fails to capture customers’ attention, so they don’t give it a second glance? Which products do customers purchase the most?

4. Data Collection Tools

Digital signage displays function as data collection streams and an effective interactive touch point for your business, thanks to system-on-chip (SOC) technologies.

Some important data collection tools for these technologies include:

• Facial recognition, which determines gender, age range, and other crucial demographics
• Interactive innovations such as touchscreens allow customers to interact with your offerings and your storytelling.
• VR and AR applications for individualized customer experiences tailored from personal data.

Why It Matters: The Importance of Digital Signage Analytics

There is no doubt that analytics is a powerful tool for making better decisions concerning digital signage. The insights you get from digital signage analytics will help you see what works for your business and is not. This way, you are better equipped to make more informed decisions on how to go about using digital signage for the best results.

Getting to the specifics, here is a rundown of the benefits to look forward to with digital signage analytics.

1. Informing Better Content Creation and Management 

Content design’s ultimate goal is to ensure what you put up for display on digital signs is fresh, informative, and engaging. However, if you add too much content and many playlists in just one campaign, your signs’ viewers will more than likely get viewer and reader fatigue.

Again, if the playtime is too little for each content, then you can be sure that none of it may be playing long enough to leave a lasting impression on your target audience. Digital signage analytics will help you narrow down what truly works. Therefore, use only this content, and you can be sure of better engagement levels and customer experience.

2. Display Content Based on Footfall Data

Sensors on your store doors and cameras throughout the store are great for measuring footfall. The software analyzes the camera feeds and data from the sensors in real-time and uses the resulting data set to trigger a particular message on media players.

You can use this information to adapt your digital signs better. For example, when the store is busy, you can have special offers and discounts displayed across the screen for a more targeted reach. It’s also an excellent time for wayfinding content to help relieve your busy staff. You can then display content from your social media feeds such as Facebook and LinkedIn when foot traffic lessens.

Digital signage analytics will give insights into your peak period and what times of the day make up the off-peak period. You can then use this to schedule content displays such that you will always have offers and other key messages displayed during peak hours.

3. Manage Your Staff Better

Digital signage is a critical internal communication tool. Analytics give you insights into who is looking at the digital screens and at what time. You can use this information to schedule important memos, announcements, and other internal communications to all your staff members. For instance, announcements displayed on the break room digital screen during the various break times will be hard to miss

Moreover, if more customers ask about where to find a particular section, displaying wayfinding on your digital signs makes great sense. This way, your staff will not be too caught up with pointing customers in the right direction and can see to other tasks that require their attention.

4. Fine-Tune Your Campaign

Digital signage analytics takes the guesswork out of identifying what works best for your customers. You don’t have to wait long to see whether an ad works for your business and can quickly change your campaign.

For instance, by testing a new ad on your screens each day, or week, you can get insights from the analytics on what works. If an ad has a higher dwell time and translates into higher engagement and conversion numbers, then that is definitely an ad you want to keep. There is no better way for customers to tell you what they do or don’t want to be displayed across your digital screens.

ROI and Validation for Digital Signage Spend

Digital signage analytics open up many opportunities for businesses looking to reap the benefits of using digital signage. With the insights from data analytics, your business will better understand who its target audience is, their preferences, and their behaviors. All these are invaluable when optimizing your marketing strategy.

In conclusion, digital signage analytics is well worth the spend. In fact, studies show that 53% of end users will increase their spending on digital signage in the next two years. You will undoubtedly get a decent investment return as you attract your customers and retain your clientele by delivering an exceptional customer experience. Indeed, digital signage analytics provides a clear path to success for your digital signage campaigns.