GlobalShop: Seven strategies for effective digital signage content
Bill Gerba, CEO of Wirespring, shared a wealth of real-world experience in an information-packed session at GlobalShop.
March 21, 2010 by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance
If an award were given for "most generous session content" at the recent GlobalShop event, it surely would have gone to Wirespring CEO Bill Gerba for his remarkable talk on "Seven Proven Strategies for Better Digital Signage Results."
The talk was just under 45 minutes, but Gerba packed in what was surely several weeks' worth of education. He broke his tips for digital signage content into seven broad categories; here are selected highlights from his talk.
Copywriting
When writing copy for digital signage, keep in mind the "serial position effect." That is, if you have a list of items, placement has a big impact on how likely viewers are to recall them. Specifically, the last item in the list is the most remembered, and the first item on the list is the second. So, he says, put your most important message at the end of the list.
Be sure to allow ample time at the end of a text message to enhance the recency effect. Don't wipe text off the screen too soon. Allow users the opportunity to read it, then read it again.
Take advantage of "chunking and coding," which refers to the human tendency to better remember things that are prearranged into groups of like items — for instance, phone numbers printed in the XXX-XXX-XXXX pattern are much more memorable than 10 consecutive digits strung together.
Some practical uses of chunking and coding:
- Pre-order: Group key phrases or concepts into distinct areas/times.
- Repetition: Repeat key words, phrases or ideas two or three times in a row.
- Alliteration: Use words starting with the same letter or sound.
A call to action should be on-screen at all times. Actions that can be taken immediately work the best (e.g., "Ask a salesperson for details," "Get 15% off," etc.).
"If you only take one thing away from this talk today, your message must have a call to action," Gerba said. "It is the thing that is going to convert someone who might merely be glancing into someone who is going to look at your content ad maybe take an action later on."
When it comes to writing the message, turn to Google AdWords as a brainstorming tool. Search for your intended topic and see what kinds of messages competitors are using to try to draw people in via text ads. Chances are, you'll find a highly effective 5-6 word piece of information that is trying to compel someone to take an action, which is exactly what you need for digital signage content.
Visual elements: color, contract & fonts
There are some basic rules of thumb when choosing fonts and the visual layout of text:
- Don't use multiple font types. Stick with serif for readability.
- Don't use all caps.
- Don't stack lines - try to keep each message to one line to reduce comprehension time.
When it comes to colors, the pressure is off a little bit. Gerba says there is no over-arching relationship between color and content performance.
"When push comes to shove and we tried to find colors that turned out to be more or less effective than others, we just couldn't do it," he said, noting that his company ran several hundred experiments with minor deviations in color. "You're probably not going to see any significant uptick or downtick because you've chosen a color."
But what does matter is contrast.
"Contrast is what everybody is actually messing with when they think they're messing with color," he said. Any combination of colors with similar color values, hue or brightness will reduce visibility, thereby reducing effectiveness.
Motion and timing
When it comes to making images move on the screen, the important element is the silhouette, the outline of the thing that's moving. Since the silhouette is the only thing that you can actually see/perceive in your peripheral vision,it's important to choose visual elements with distinct outlines. (For instance, a silhouette of a woman is instantly identifiable as such, but the silhouette of a baby sitting down might look like an amorphous blob.) Elements that don't have a strongly discernible silhouette are harder to see unless you're staring directly at them.When it comes to timing, don't allow motion to interfere with readability or comprehension. Keep in mind that in most cases, you have between 1.5 and 3 seconds to convey your message before the person looks away. That's not much time, and anything that confuses the senses or muddles the message needs to be avoided.
Likewise, allow ample time for the viewer to read any text. For designers, make sure you can read your copy five times in the allotted time period. For other parties reviewing the design, make sure you can read the message three times before it is moved or wiped from the screen.
Static elements should be the most important features of the ad. Whatever is the primary focus, make sure it stands still. Subtle motion surrounding or behind it can enhance the scene without reducing recognition or comprehension.
Gerba cut right to the chase on tickers:
"I hate tickers," he said. "They are so terrible at what they do. If anybody started to do a little research, they'd start agreeing with me.If you have any important information, it should not go in a ticker."
Tickers have a 10-22 percent lower recall rate than static text on a screen, Gerba says, and take anywhere from twice as long to 10 times as long to recognize/comprehend.
Scene composition
In Western countries,the eye moves from top-left to bottom-right in a zigzag pattern, as if reading a newspaper. Keep this in mind when placing visual elements and text relative to one another on the screen.
Visualy separate, distinct elements of a shot speed up comprehension. Therefore, think like a filmmaker and split clips into scenes and shots: One 15-second clip becomes two 7.5-second scenes, which become four 3-second shots. Every frame or shot should function as a standalone "poster" — in other words, all information should make sense to the viewer if the screen were frozen at that moment.
Screen location and placement
The "decompression zone" is a "messaging no-man's land" at the store entarnce, lasting for 15-20 feet inside the store. As a general rule of thumb,don't put digital signs near entryways.
Put your screens as close to head-height as possible, because that is where people look. And keep in mind the "angle of awareness," the 20-degree field of (vertical) view that is actively viewed by customers as they move through an environment.
Readability is crucial for onscreen text, and that leads to some general rules of thumb for the size of text relative to distance from the viewer:
Distance from viewer to screen | Minimum readable height of text |
5'-50' | 1"-2" |
50'-100' | 2"-4" |
| 4"-8" |
As they move through the store, consumers tend to look down on purchases; we "buy on our left" when pushing a cart down a walled aisle, otherwise we buy on the right.
Dominant flow is from the back of store to the front. The beginning of a trip favors new, less familiar items; end-of-trip (near checkout) favors "grab-and-go" and recognized brands. Likewise, front endcaps favor recognized brands, and rear endcaps are more suitable for less familiar brands.
Campaign integration
In-store multumedia campaigns marry digital and static media, but why bother? Becauserecall is significantly better when contents across various in-store channels (screens, printed ads, shelf ads, cart ads, audio, etc.) are consistent and reinforce one another.
The simplest form of integration marries the product being advcertised, complete in its packaging, with the digital media promoting it. Agencies are starting to get the hang of this, Gerba said.
Pitfalls to campaign integration include clean store policies, managers being selective with what they deploy and the fact that only 45-60 percent of POP materials sent to stores ever get used. Make sure the content on the digital screens will make sense to the viewer if other pieces of the campaign are left out or don't execute properly.Sound
There are two approaches to using sound with digital signage: passive (which influences shopper behavior without their specific knowledge) and active (where the goal is to interrupt current behavior in order to introduce a new behavior).
Annoying soundscapes reduce dwell time. If your sounds compete with the host venue, screens might be shut off. And employee fatigue can lead to employees disconnecting or sabotaging the equipment.
On the other hand, a well-designed soundscape has been shown to lift sales as much as 5-10 percent.
Here are a few rules of thumb when considering/using sound:
- Don't rely on sound alone for the message.
- Use sound to augment an already compelling message.
- Visual messages should always work without the sound.
This session was based on material published on theWireSpring blog.
About James Bickers
