2022 has seen businesses turn away from traditional print signage in favour of digital signage kiosks. But what exactly is a digital signage kiosk? These devices are freestanding units with a screen designed to display your digital content. This gives you the option to use videos and animations, something which traditional print signage is incapable of.
The main purpose of digital signage kiosks is to attract customers and encourage them to engage with your business. This is why industries such as retail, hospitality and the corporate sector are implementing more and more of these freestanding kiosks. They are the most effective way of getting more eyes on your products and services. In fact, it is estimated that kiosks will become the largest segment of the digital signage market by 2030.
Keep reading to find out how you could use digital signage kiosks in your business.
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Digital Signage Advertising
In retail, digital signage kiosks are becoming an increasingly important part of the marketing strategy. You and your competitors will be vying for the attention of any passing customers, so it’s important to make sure that your business catches their eye. In the image below you can see how a business has made use of a digital advertisement kiosk outside of its store to reach the customers first.
Compared to the traditional print advertisement, digital signage can offer movement to your adverts. Instead of a still image of your latest product, you could play a video of it being used. Or if you have lists of available products, you could add a transition that changes which list is displayed. Potential customers in the area of your business will be drawn to you, over local competitors using static imagery, as the motion graphics will stand out.
Not only do digital advertisements attract passersby in the moment, but they have a longer-term effect. 84% of UK retailers believe digital signage creates significant brand awareness. Customers are able to retain your message and branding more effectively via digital signage, compared to traditional print advertisements. This means that the people who see your digital advertising will remember your business and will be more likely to return in the future.
Wayfinding
Another use for your digital signage kiosk could be as a wayfinding tool. Large retail environments or business complexes can be quite tricky to navigate for people unfamiliar with the layout of the building. Your visitors could feel lost or confused with no guide, which leads to a poor visitor experience and a negative feeling towards your business. A digital signage kiosk that features a map of the building with clear labels identifying where the user is and where key locations are, can help to prevent this.
Your wayfinding solution could simply be a 2D map which points out where the key locations of the building are. However, if your building has multiple levels, a 3D map will be better for clearly identifying the different floors. With either solution, the aim is to be as clear as possible, making it easy for your visitors to navigate your building.
A digital signage kiosk implemented as a wayfinding tool will be easy to use for your visitors, as they simply have to walk up to the device to gain the information they need. Making the device stand out at strategic locations, such as near an entrance, will further help to improve your visitor’s experience. They’ll spot the kiosk as they enter and if they are unsure where to go, they can quickly check for this information using the wayfinding tool.
Interactive Information Kiosk
A digital signage kiosk can be used to provide helpful information to your customers which can help inform them about their purchasing decisions. This information could be product or service related and inform your customers about the benefits they provide, as seen in the image below.
As well as helping to promote your products, the information displayed could be key knowledge you’d want your customers to know, such as your opening and closing times or ways they can contact your business. Providing this information on an outdoor kiosk can help to reinforce this information in your customer’s memory. They’ll maybe have glanced over the opening times on your door as they entered your store, but seeing them again outside on an eye-catching screen will help them to remember this information. In the future, they’ll be able to recall this information and will be more likely to return to your business.
Another way you can use a digital signage kiosk as an information provider is by displaying product availability. The screen could show a list of your products and how many are in stock. If you have a touch screen solution, like the LamasaTech Guida kiosks, your customers could interact with the kiosk to search for their desired product to see if it is in stock. 92% of shoppers say real-time product availability impacts where they shop, and signage helps provide this information upfront. By utilising a digital signage kiosk to display live stock information you can encourage more customers to purchase from you. If customers know that you have the item they want, then they are more likely to purchase it there and then rather than looking around to see if it is elsewhere.
Digital Menu boards
A popular use for digital signage kiosks, which many Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) employ, is as a digital menu board. This lets the QSR display their current menu items as well as promote products that have offers or they are looking to sell more of. An example of this technique can be seen in the picture below.
A method most QSRs use is to have different displays on screens in each location of their restaurant. For example, a window display could have a product promotion to draw the customers into the store, while the screens around the point of sale display a list of all the available products to choose from.
Learn more about LamsaTech’s window displays here.
The flexibility of digital menu boards is what appeals to QSRs over traditional print menus. This is down to being able to pair digital signage software with the device. The software allows you to schedule exactly what content is shown at any time. For example, if you have a breakfast menu which ends at 11:30 AM, you can schedule the lunch menu to begin being shown on the screens at this time. This saves time and effort in changing over all of the menus manually.
74% of customers say an easy-to-read menu is their top priority. Having access to digital signage software allows you to make changes at any time which will take effect immediately. This means, for example, if you notice the font isn’t clear enough on your menu, you can use the software to quickly edit it. By instantly updating you reduce the chances of missing out on customers as the issue can be fixed at that moment, without having to wait for new printouts like with traditional menus.
Learn about LamsaTech’s digital signage solution, PeakSignage, here.
Entertainment
Entertainment takes the use of digital advertisement to another level by incorporating the interactive elements some digital signage kiosks can utilise. Gaining the attention of customers is achieved in the same way as standard digital advertisements, with the use of a mixture of movement and audio. In comparison to traditional displays, it has been proved that digital displays have a higher attention retention rate, approximately 80%. This is due to the combination of features like movement, graphics and sound. However, the entertainment is what helps to keep the customers around for even longer.
Gamification is a popular strategy that businesses use to add elements of gaming to aspects of their business, in this case, advertising. This provides your customers with an interactive and engaging experience with your brand. These games can be simple challenges such as a trivia quiz or Sudoku-style activities. A leaderboard of high scores can also be incorporated to encourage customers to come back to your store and try to reach the top. All of this results in your customers spending more time in your store which increases the chances of sales being made.
On top of this, you can have your branding feature in the game or around the border, allowing you to remind the customer about your business while they interact with the game.
Ready to add a digital signage kiosk to your business?
LamasaTech is a leader in digital display technology with over 12 years of experience. We support customers across a range of industries including retail, military and defence, government and public sector, technology, hospitality and education.
You can explore our kiosk range here.
