The storefront as your flagship is one of the most important physical parts of your business. It is the very first thing a visitor sees locally before even making a purchase. As such, it’s vital that the impression you make is the best it can possibly be. Utilizing digital signage is a great way to make sure of that. There are many other ways to upgrade your storefront, though here we’ll focus mainly on those related to digital signage. Naturally, pick and choose which of these guidelines fit the style and goals of your business.
Sharpen your quick-messaging skills
The ability to communicate a message in just a few seconds is a must-have for storefront content, be it printed or digital. Work on your messaging to trim down unnecessary words, create visuals which are easy to recognize from a distance, and build color schemes which complement each other.
In one of our posts on the topic, we talked about clever tricks to use context, and even nostalgia, to quickly bring a pre-existing thought or feeling in the viewer to the surface. Give it a read and get inspired to create content which hooks the viewer at a single glance.
Polish your format and style
Storefront displays, much like most outdoor signage, reach thousands of eyeballs at random, without a specific time-table throughout the day. In very high-traffic areas, it is hard, and often even impossible, to predict when a specific target audience will walk by. As such, you might abandon the notion that your content needs to run on a schedule. You might think, why bother sticking to a schedule or a content format if the passersby won’t notice the pattern. While they certainly won’t learn your entire schedule for the day, maintaining a consistent format, style, and schedule of content will leave an impact in the long run! Here’s how.
A well-structured playlist of content ensures that whenever someone walks by, they see something engaging. Even if they don’t always catch the same message, they’ll passively remember that the information on that particular display is worth their time. This will only happen if your digital signage consistently has something new to say. Additionally, keep in mind that we are creatures of habit. Commutes and routines will bring people by your store in consistent intervals. The impact amplifies even further as you push content aligning with the preferences of the audience. Perhaps they don’t care about new arrivals, and instead respond to discounts on existing products. That’s for you to find out. Rest assured, having a consistent publishing schedule and a recognizable format can be a huge benefit in the long run.
Ensure visibility!
We need your content to be well-lit and visible from a distance. The very first step here is to ensure your digital signage isn’t competing with sunlight. Commercial-grade displays are very important in this field, as they’re built for longer high-brightness functionality. Consider viewing angles from the audience, as well as the distance and anything that may be obstructing the view of the display. Run your own tests and ensure the content can be read and understood quickly.
Brightness is an important topic, as the visibility of your display changes throughout the day if it’s exposed to sunlight. For this, you may want to use displays that adjust brightness automatically. Meanwhile, with software like OnSign TV you can set brightness on a schedule. Make displays brighter during the day, and darker at night.
Create eye-catching content
Digital signage is excellent at catching attention, even in a crowded street where there’s a lot of visual competition. Use motion graphics and videos to draw the viewers’ attention. You don’t need to be aggressive. Transitions and the way content appears on the display can be enough to tug at the attention of the viewers. Otherwise, you run the risk of tacky and irritating content.
Improve your window displays
As you occasionally run campaigns of a higher value, such as seasonal promotions or new arrivals, put some effort into upgrading your entire storefront. Switch up the view into your store, rotate products, and add themed decorations. Any commuter who walk past your store each day will quickly notice the change and give your storefront renewed attention.
Add interactive elements
Interactivity is a great way to engage existing and potential customers and upgrade your storefront. It doesn’t need to be anything overly exciting or complicated. A “Scan me!” text next to a QR-code is enough to create a sense of curiosity. Let customers redeem a discount code, trigger a video of a product demo, or load up a list of the latest arrivals. All information they can even take home. As long as the outcome is worth the time and evokes a positive response in the customer, it’s worth the effort! Best of all, these little interactive nuggets of triggered content don’t take a lot of space. In fact, you can have people scan printed QR-codes to trigger exciting accompanying content on your displays.
Upgrade your technology
In the world of digital technology, there are many marvels that convey a sense of elegance and excitement. Some of the latest advancements that are becoming more popular include transparent and curved displays, video walls, 3D digital signage, and even stretchable displays. All of these are a great way to upgrade your storefront significantly. Of course, it depends on your own context which of these are best. We recently saw instances of displays attempting to blend into their surroundings until they’re activated. There’s already an idea for you: a display which is invisible until someone scans a QR-code, or does another specific action. Perhaps you could ask the viewer to wave at the storefront to see something exciting.
Consider your own context, what makes sense for your brand, style, and consumer base, and start exploring ways to upgrade your storefronts. In terms of uniformity, schedule consistency, and design, digital signage software is a must-have ingredient to keep everything organized and tidy. Try out OnSign TV for free and get inspired!
