Not all integrators have dove into digital signage feet first, but many modern, interactive customer experiences often begin with digital signage. Today’s digital signage technology transcends a simple electronic screen; the benefits go beyond ease of use and lower costs over time as compared to traditional paper advertising and signage.
Marketers are trying to grab customers’ attention any way they can get it – and smart, connected digital signage backed by big data is the way to do so. Consumers receive an immersive experience driven by big data, with hyper-personalized advertisements on in-store displays and their mobile devices. Marketers reap the benefits of in-depth behavior tracking to further personalize the shopping experience. And it’s all made possible by digital tracking technology combined with location-aware advertisements pushed directly to consumers’ smartphones.
Creating a Custom Digital Experience
Digital signage capabilities have expanded tremendously since the technology’s inception. Early on, digital signage involved installing a monitor with a “player” feeding it content. The present – and future – is dominated by the move to an intensely personalized digital experience for individual consumers, thanks to data collection, eye-movement tracking, and facial recognition.
If you can provide experiences with digital signage solutions, you’ll be doing more than just adding a screen to a store or an office – you’ll be driving business outcomes like improved branding and revenue, and even employee engagement.
Here’s what a customized user experience might look like in the not-too-distant future:
- You go into a clothing store.
- A camera captures an image of your face.
- Within seconds, your image is transmitted to a data center and checked against customer records.
- Your purchase history and previous engagements with in-store advertising are processed.
- Sophisticated algorithms crunch numbers to reveal what people in your demographic are likely to buy this time of year.
- A digital screen springs to life in the back of the store, displaying an ad for an item similar to something you purchased there in the past.
- Did you look at the ad? If so, for how long? Eye-tracking technology determines your engagement with the ad and stores the data.
- If you decide to buy the item in the ad, then that information is stored and used to help create the next interaction with you (or a customer like you).
Sound scary? Not if you’re a marketing professional. This super-personalized info is too valuable to pass up; the scenario represents the future of in-store advertising.
The retailer possesses the necessary data to sell you something it knows you want. You enjoy an enhanced shopping experience because you don’t have to waste time hunting down the products that fit your needs and desires. Instead, the retailer serves them up for you.
Humans crave personalized experiences, even if it’s just a digital display in a store. People may even engage with the ad if they feel they have control over it, opening up a whole new world of marketing possibilities. Hyper-personalized advertising seems to be a win-win for consumers and increasingly creative advertisers.
Thinking Bigger with the Small Screen
For modern consumers, smartphones have become the target of most specialized digital advertising. Many retailers and grocery stores already have apps that offer coupons, discounts, and special perks to customers who download and use them.
Consumers benefit from the conveniences of these apps, such as Walmart’s Savings Catcher price-matching program. In turn, the retailer gains access to a treasure trove of information about the user, which allows for further specialized targeting at the store-signage and mobile-advertising levels.
The information flows from the customer’s phone, but consumers also receive direct messaging from the advertiser, creating much more interactive digital signage. Beacon technology can determine the precise location of a user in a particular store and push alerts to his or her phone. This is how it might work:
- When you enter the store, you’ll find a push notification on your smartphone offering a coupon for something you’re likely to purchase in that store.
- Location-aware beacons placed throughout the store detect your location within the store. If you’re shopping at Macy’s, for example, you don’t just get a general store coupon – you might receive a coupon for items in the shoe department, which is where you’re currently browsing.
The Future of Advertising
The future of advertising involves carefully profiling customers based on various demographic data to zero in on what they want at the exact moment they’re poised to buy. This hyper-personalized advertising seems to be an inevitable direction for marketing professionals, as long as privacy concerns can be effectively navigated.
This customized digital experience is the future of advertising, thanks to improved technology, with big data collecting information and crunching the numbers behind the scenes. The result? Consumers who enjoy more relevant ads and discounts – resulting in a more satisfying purchase – and marketers who achieve improved results from digital-advertising efforts. —Dan Newman, Cofounder of V3*Broadsuite
Image by: hyena_reality