In this tech-savvy and digitally-fuelled age, restaurants which have deployed digital signage systems with video integrations most often garner strong financials.
While digital signage menu boards have become imperative for point-of-sale locations of QSR’s, menu item promotions through video presentations have elicited unmatched visual appeal in enticing the potential customer and standing out in the fiercely competitive business milieu.
Recent researches and studies show extremely favourable trends. Digital signage videos are 600% more effective than print and direct mail. Further, on a shorter duration video (30 secs to one minute ) a whopping 80% of respondents could retain and recall the content. Thus, on point-of-sale locations it has unmatched supremacy over all other advertising platforms.
Impact Analysis of Digital Signage Videos from two main perspectives :
- Impact on Engagement between the Customers & the Restaurant
- Impact on the Restaurant’s Sales, Margins & Profits
Impact on Customer Engagement
- Audio-Visual appeal : Digital signage videos go a step further than television advertising as the content can be tailored for select audiences and can display a range of emotions such as being humourous, tantalizing, appetizing, informative, sensitive etc.
- Video display as appetizers : Captivating runs of a barbecue or a sizzler together with sound effects have an impact of making a hungry customer voracious ! And very often the costs of the items become secondary.
- Placement & Positioning : Given the importance of viewing the video run by the target customers, the restaurateur has options of placing it at the entrance, or the wall opposite, on the front window, near the sales counter or at the check out/exit.
- Software Cameras : Placed at strategic locations in-store assists in answering the basic questions : How many people have watched ? How much time did they invest ? How many people actually came in after watching ? These statistics provide the business the opportunity to strategize video content effectively.
- Entertainment Value : We humans are emotionally conditioned to react positively to entertainment. Thus, as the dynamic food images on the video, with dialogues or narratives, exhibit entertainment value, the customer will be enticed to check out the menu indoors.
Impact on Sales, Margins & Profits
An effective and compelling video presentation of it’s menu items will either increase revenues or saves costs for the restaurateur. Here are a few pointers :-
- Induces Impulse decisions on eating / purchase : Nothing pleases a restaurateur more than seeing people who are passing by abruptly deciding to come in and check out the menu, after having watched the video menu board only for a few seconds.
- Content Options are endless: The restaurant can innovate depending on its menu listings. However, the content needs to be relevant and appropriate, given different audiences for different times of the day ie, rotate it’s menu displays for break, lunch & dinner.
- Highlights Branding of the restaurant ; Attractive moving images exhibiting the name / logo of the restaurant with a short narrative of it’s history and success makes for an effective promotion. Loyalty programs can be built around it.
- Promotion of new or lesser known items : Given the relevant target audience, the video can market the restaurant’s up-sells, cross-sells, combos & add-ons, throughout the day or week. A schedule ( daily or weekly) therein needs to be chalked out by the restaurateur.
- Promotion of Popular Items : These bring in quick sales and improve the top line of the business. Thus, video presentations – short and sweet – on these menu items assist in retaining existing customers and bring in new ones.
- Better Management of Inventory : depending on it’s stocks the restaurateur can promote the items on which stocks are available and strike out items on which stocks have been depleted.
- Enhances the aesthetics of the business : Compelling video presentations have an impact in drawing in customers quickly and the restaurant is usually bustling with activity. This provides the perception of a ‘happenning’ place while motivating the staff and employees of the restaurant as well as the various vendors of the business.
The digital signage accelaration is poised to touch $20 bn by 2020, as indicated by most surveys. While footfalls in most restaurants who have deployed video menu boards have increased by 30% on an average, this has translated into 35% additional revenue in sales, and expected to increase further.