How to Measure Return on Objectives in Digital Signage

Digital signage has big benefits for those looking to share information, communicate better and make the walls in their office, restaurant or store become seriously useful. We’ve seen the benefit first-hand, from schools where students can perform better in lessons due to information delivered in corridors, to agencies who help their teams stay on the pulse of the company.

Yet in ‘offline’ or OOH marketing we still want to see a win on the return on investment. Whether it’s to impress stakeholders or seek better budgets, return on objective (ROO) and return on investment (ROI) are both essential to tracking success.

While ROI measures direct sales (which can be difficult to track from offline channels), ROO allows you to measure who takes a desired action or behavior. ROO is objective rather than sales based, so you can target any organizational goal and adapt accordingly based on the results. 

Where ROI allows you to measure financial return, ROO allows you to improve your marketing methods. 

In this article we show you how to measure the effectiveness of your digital signage campaign, when you can’t easily measure sales ROI, using ROO. 

ROI vs ROO in digital signage

Return on investment is the measurement most are familiar with. It relates to sales made directly before and after digital signage. Some examples of measuring ROI in digital signage include:

Products sold - product sales figures before digital signage compared to after. Also the variation in products sold.

Frequency of sales and return custom - how many sales were made per customer before digital signage and after. Whether this leads to repeat sales from customers or a higher transactional value.

You can also flip the ROI measurement by looking at cost savings (rather than additional revenue).

Staff time - the saving in staff time required for servicing customers, answering questions and so on, that is being fulfilled by digital signage.

Advertising and printed material costs - reduction in the cost of flyers, leaflets, schedules and printed billboard or poster campaigns, that all now come under the cost of digital signage. 

Return on objective examples in digital signage

Before you gain insight into the ROO of your campaigns, you need to know your objectives and how to measure them. In digital signage in particular, there are a wealth of options outside of the standard examples discussed above.

If you use digital signage for wayfinding, you may decide your objective is to help visitors get to where they need to be faster. This is the objective, then the measurement may be quantitative visitor feedback delivered at the end of each visit by email or iPad survey (how easy did you find your visit today?). 

In education, the objective may be to increase the conversations students are having online around a specific department. To implement, you include social media dashboards outside every room, tailored for that class. You then measure volume of social conversations before and after.

At a tradeshow your objective may be to increase the perceived value of the show for key sponsors. Your strategy is to implement digital signage displays which allow key sponsors to receive extra coverage or to share their social media handles, competitions or news. The measurement is a survey on sponsor satisfaction levels at the end of each show. 

For a company that wants to showcase its creative work in its lobby for example, it might be measuring the level of awareness of the types of projects that the company does, or even whether visitors’ perceptions about the company have been changed because of something they saw when they came in for a meeting.

How to measure ROO in digital signage

Here are a few ways you can measure different elements of ROO within digital signage. As you’ll see, many cross over depending on which area and digital signage content practice you’re using. Just remember - you’re looking for a measurement of improvement to your organization.

Education

• Volume of positive online discussion from students on social media
• Engagement with departmental social media channels
• Enhanced student knowledge - Merchant Taylors’ use digital signage to improve student knowledge of world events prior to economics and finance lessons.
• More engaged students through digital rather than print methods of communication
• Faster response times to emergency situations or drills
• Higher levels of staff or student satisfaction reported

Retail

• Improved product awareness
• Easier customer navigation of products or floors
• Increased social media engagement and reach
• Increased customer awareness of specific campaigns and initiatives
• Better inventory management 
• Higher staff awareness in health and safety information

Employee internal communications

• Increased staff engagement
• Higher positive staff feedback on feeling connected to the company
• Higher staff awareness of specific campaigns, initiatives or opportunities
• Better communication between teams and individual staff members
• Higher regularity of meetings, sprints and project tracking
• Increased or more efficient use of meeting spaces, cafes or breakout areas
• Improved visitor experiences
• More successful recruitment of potential employees visiting the building

Events and tradeshows

• Higher levels of satisfaction reported in post event or campaign surveys
• Better engagement with social media channels throughout the event
• Faster response times to issues reported on social media
• Increased sponsor satisfaction and faster re-book
• Reduced perceived wait times
• Higher engagement with restaurant and onsite catering options through digital menu boards
• More efficient use of meeting rooms and open spaces
• Better navigation and wayfinding experienced by event delegates

Hospitality

• Improved wayfinding, reduction in staff time spent on directing guests
• Improved use of meeting rooms and conference facilities
• Perceived wait time reduced for guests
• Better engagement with online channels and social media
• Higher visitor awareness of local events, campaigns and special offers
• Higher use of spa or fitness facilities
• Improved staff satisfaction through better internal communications

How to calculate digital signage ROO 

Measuring return on objective takes a bit more work, as you can’t only compare sales figures year-on-year. This is why it’s usually qualitative; surveying employees, customers or partners. 

If you use Net Promoter Scores to gauge customer customer relationships, measuring any changes to that in the light of a new or changed digital signage exercise, could also give a good insight into its effectiveness.

Some objectives can be measured in data, for example the positive sentiment across social media following a new campaign. The key is to ensure you have a baseline; to see how much your social media traction has improved, you’ll need to know what it was to begin with. 

You could also implement a specific web landing page or offer code to tell you exactly who actioned your digital signage request. With this method, ensure you ringfence that particular offer or URL to ensure it can’t be found or used on any other medium. 

ROO in digital signage - find out what works

We like to believe that there are three parts to digital signage. The first is implementation - deciding on hardware, seeking approval and getting setup. The second is deciding on strategy, what purpose you want to use digital signage for and how you will measure it (where ROO comes into play). Once you’re setup and know your strategy, you’ll create a content plan, handpicking the content that will support your strategy and help achieve your objectives. 

Without each of those key areas, you’re going to miss out a big chunk of what makes digital signage so great. Actionable insights into your audience and real business returns and results. 

At ScreenCloud we’re determined to help everyone create better digital signage displays. To find out more or setup a free trial visit https://screencloud.com.