5 Interactive Digital Signage Ideas to Start Using Today

The “experience” is at the top of companies’ minds these days. How do you create a satisfying customer experience? What makes up a positive job candidate experience? Where can organizations turn to build a memorable experience for their audience?

The short answer is digital signage software.

It’s smart to move away from only using static ways of sharing information and interacting with clients, patients, students, and employees. Those ways are not effective! Digital signage is an exciting vehicle to engage with your audience, increase interaction and expand your impact. Here are 5 interactive digital signage ideas that you can start using now.

There are many pieces of information that can be interactively shared that your audience wants and needs to know. For example, a grocery store may want to display nutritional facts about foods they are promoting. Churches may need to share schedule dates and times for services and events. Schools may want to share sports teams scores in real-time. Retailers can benefit from displaying up-to-date inventory and pricing. Consumers crave information, and digital signage is a dynamic way to give them the facts.

Companies of all industries can create ways for people to compete with each other, and use digital signage to make it fun and engaging. A company that’s offering employees a weight loss challenge may choose to report the weigh-in results. Retail stores and restaurants can create a promotion of who sells the most, and display the results, even across multiple branches. Non-profits may start a competition with all their volunteers to see who can raise the most money, and share updates via digital signage.

Nobody enjoys wandering around confused and lost. Malls, airports, large corporations, hospitals, universities, and more can use digital signage for wayfinding purposes. Use it to direct visitors to restaurants or cafeterias, elevators, bathrooms, parking, gift shops, doctors’ offices, and all the other places they may need to go.

Wayfinding helps visitors drive their own experience, and frees up employees who would normally be the ones answering the questions. In addition, digital signage reduces the clutter of numerous signs and maps, and displays the information visitors need in a friendly, engaging way.

Navigation isn’t just about wayfinding, it’s also about communicating with the visitors. Digital signage can provide translation services to visitors who aren’t native speakers. By being able to communicate in their first language, visitors can enjoy the same smooth experience as everyone else. This isn’t possible with most traditional signage.

There are various ways check-ins can be the low point of a person’s experience. Long lines and confusing processes are two of the biggest. Whether it’s checking into a room in a hotel, signing in to see a doctor or dentist, or checking in at a restaurant for a table, using digital signage software in an interactive way can help the user enjoy a positive experience. It’s less stressful, generally takes less time to complete than standing in long lines, and it allows the person using it to independently handle their check in. This process is as interactive as needed, and can inform users of wait times, required paperwork, and payments due.

People are obsessed with games. It’s one of the most powerful tools today and it’s being used in a variety of ways. Digital signage provides many scenarios for organizations to employ gaming to engage and entertain their audiences.

Doctor and dentist offices could successfully employ gaming to entertain patients while they wait for their appointment. Corporations could help their employees decompress on their breaks by adding gaming in the lunch room. They could also use them at trade shows to entice visitors to their booth. Retail stores can add games and, within them, run advertisements promoting the sales that are currently running. Schools and universities can use them for a more enriched learning experience.

By creatively using gaming on digital signage, you can engage and entertain your audience, promote your products, and keep them present longer.

Digital signage is a powerful tool to create an interactive, real-time, customized experience with your audience. You do, however, need to create the message to make it as appealing as possible. You can maximize your effort by hiring professionals to develop your content stream for you.

3 tips for creating effective digital signage content are:

• Make it exciting. Visually appealing content is essential for this strategy to work. Use interesting, eye-catching graphics and shapes, and add movement to them. Use color cleverly to draw the eye. But don’t go overboard and make it too busy or frenzied.

• Keep it fresh. It’s important to change up the messaging often so the audience doesn’t get bored and let the signage become part of their background. After all, there are so many messages bombarding the average consumer that you need to create something special. Use a content calendar to schedule the type of messages you want to convey. Changing your content regularly draws your audience in repeatedly and keeps their interest high.

It’s important to avoid letting your message grow stale, but you need to…

• Make it relevant. Decide in advance the type of information you’re going to share across your digital signage software and don’t deviate from that strategy. Your content needs to be on-brand with a look and feel that’s cohesive with your other communication channels. It also needs to be on topics your audience finds helpful, educational, or interesting. Sharing information that fails to connect with them weakens your credibility and can make them less likely to read your future content. Review every message and don’t approve it unless it meets your original goal.

If you’re considering using digital signage software as a tool to reach your audience, you’ve taken the first step. By creatively approaching it with your audience at the forefront of your mind, you can develop a way to increase your engagement and interaction. The people you are trying to reach will enjoy receiving relevant information they can use in this way, and you can maximize their experience in their interactions with you and your brand.