Businesses with physical locations often have customers/clients who have to wait for services — and at that point these customers/clients are captive audiences. It is at these times that captive audiences present businesses with an incredible engagement opportunity.
1) Grocery stores
Picture food shoppers stuck in checkout lines while the large TV display screen on the wall above them flashes news of a sale on cherries only for the next hour. The colorful photo of the cherries makes customers’ mouths water — and these customers are especially pleased that they don’t have to run back to the produce department to get the cherries. The digital signage has already alerted customers that each checkout line has a supply available for purchase!
2) Mall parking lots
Several-floored parking lots can be particularly bland. Now imagine that along the walls leading to the elevators, escalators or stairs are TV display screens promoting the specials of the day for the stores in that mall. Impulse buying can be encouraged when, for example, digital signage announces that t-shirts usually selling for $20 are $10 just for the day.
Yet shoppers have to know about these specials before taking advantage of the sales price. And that means cutting through digital clutter to get shoppers’ attention. Digital signage placed strategically on each parking lot floor can do this.
3) Medical practice waiting rooms
Medical practices often have a large TV screen in the waiting room for patients, many of whom end up stuck there for long periods of time. While the news or a home remodeling show may interest some people, using digital signage for messaging connected to the medical practice can be much more relevant.
For example, instead of a primary care doctor saying over and over to each patient how important it is to exercise, an animated cartoon character can remind patients of this fact. Or new procedures for such tasks as prescription refills can be provided via digital signage for captive audiences. A win-win for patients, medical staff and doctors!
4) Franchisors
If your franchise store has loyal customers who will stand in a line for 20 minutes for their favorite ice cream, these customers might especially appreciate watching engaging content on TV screens. Content can be as varied as announcing a half-off price day the following week or recipe tips for serving the ice cream in unusual concoctions. In both these examples the underlying message is eat more ice cream while entertaining your store’s captive audiences.
5) Brick-and-mortar clothing stores
Customers who still buy clothes in brick-and-mortar stores rather than online often face the frustration of trying to hunt up a salesperson in order to figure out the right size for clothing or footwear. Now picture large TV display screens giving shoppers this information, perhaps with colorful animated figures to clarify the information.
This type of helpful digital signage might even encourage more people to shop offline instead of online where, especially on such sites as Amazon, all the pertinent information is at shoppers’ fingertips in order to provide good customer service.
BONUS: Click here to read how digital signage is used for a “captive” school audience.