Evaluating the Success of an Outdoor Digital Signage Campaign

The biggest hurdle in convincing somebody to embark on a digital signage campaign is the expected return on investment. No installer can make promises as to the extra revenue that it can create and for outdoor digital signage the problem is intensified.

Not only are outdoor screens more expensive to set-up – needing as they do, protection from the elements – but unlike a screen placed directly outside a store you can’t easily account for any increase in traffic with the screen itself.

Even if revenue is up after installation of the outdoor digital signage screen it can’t automatically be attributed to the sign as so many other variables can affect short-term sales. To make any assessment like this then at least two quarters need to have gone by to make any attribution to the outdoor screen.

Costs of Outdoor Digital Signage

The price of an outdoor digital signage campaign is also quite often a lot higher than the cost of indoor screens. This is due mainly to the added protection and need for high brightness screens. And while these costs can be curtailed with the use of LCD enclosures – it still leads enough uncertainty in people’s minds when it comes to thinking abut recouping that investment.

LCD Enclosures help preserve the LCD TV

However, there are methods to help you increase the ability to establish the return on investment:

Tips to help evaluation of ROI

Be specific – ensure your outdoor campaigns are not too broad. Promote particular products and target particular audiences. Digital signage is a flexible medium so advertisements can be time sensitive or tailored for a particular audience.

A good example is the way restaurants use outdoor screens to promote lunch menus, or special offers during times of the day. In this way it can be easier to establish a link between increase in sales of a specific item and the outdoor digital signage campaign.

Establish clear goals – always ensure you know what you want to achieve. Too many people embark on digital signage with just the intention of increasing sales with little thought as to how they are to achieve this.  Be specific in what you want to achieve and set goals.