Coronavirus has impacted all our lives in various ways. For businesses, the pandemic has hit hard; many staff continue to work from home, whilst other businesses remain closed. Post-pandemic, the business world will look a lot different, including the way companies use digital signage for marketing and communication.
The recovery period out of the pandemic will be one of digital solutions. This blog highlights 5 ways post-pandemic digital signage will be used, from delivering hygiene reminders to increased use of cloud-based software.
1. Hygiene Reminders On Post-Pandemic Digital Signage
In light of COVID-19, worries about hygiene have increased throughout our daily lives. Post-pandemic, it is unlikely these worries will immediately disappear. As a result, businesses need to demonstrate their maintenance of good hygiene practice to provide reassurance to customers and ensure their return.
Digital signage is the perfect medium for promoting good hygiene and deploying hygiene reminders, from washing hands or using hand sanitiser to respecting other customers’ space, even after social distancing. Messages can be delivered through multimedia content such as animation or video, ensuring people do not ignore or get bored of seeing hygiene-related content. Moreover, if messages change, such as rules on mask-wearing or social distancing, this can be updated immediately using digital signage software.
From a customer point of view, post-pandemic digital signage presenting hygiene reminders demonstrates that your business is putting in the effort to maintain good hygiene practice behind the scenes. This clarity makes customers feel comfortable as life resumes normality.
2. Increased Use of Cloud-Based Software
As more businesses turn to remote working and reduced human contact, the method of downloading content onto a memory stick and plugging this into a screen for deployment has become unsustainable. Cloud-based software has, therefore, risen in popularity as an easy to use and seamless way to deliver content across digital signage screens.
The pandemic has proven that remote working works. Therefore, it is likely many businesses will continue with flexible working post-pandemic. Due to this, being able to control your digital signage remotely is critical. This situation is where cloud-based software shines, removing the hands-on approach to content deployment.
With cloud-based software, you can control your on-screen content from anywhere in the world from one central dashboard, removing the need for manual deployment. Also, you can update screen content within seconds – ideal for urgent or spontaneous announcements. As soon as “publish” or “update” is clicked in the online studio, the software sends the content to the media player via the cloud, displaying on-screen right away. This immediacy ensures your content never goes out of date.
Cloud-based software has a range of benefits for businesses. It is sure to increase in popularity in a post-pandemic world that values remote working and increased efficiency in business operations.
3. Voice-Activated Post-Pandemic Digital Signage
Since the beginning of the pandemic, businesses have worked hard to reduce and limit human contact. This reduction has been achieved in various ways from increased working from home to self-checkouts. As more businesses return to the office and customer footfall increases, new solutions have become necessary to ensure business runs smoothly and safely.
While touchscreen checkouts have increased in popularity throughout the pandemic, reducing the need for customers to talk to staff members, voice-activated screens will rise in popularity post-pandemic. Significantly, voice activation has already proven its success and popularity; in 2020, 4.2 billion digital voice assistants were being used in devices around the world.
This form of post-pandemic digital signage allows your audience to interact with digital displays using tailor-made conversations and voice recognition. The screens can decipher phrasing to trigger actions, operating autonomously.
Use voice activation for various functions, from ordering food in a restaurant to asking FAQs at an informational hub. Through minimising touch, voice recognition is a safe way to activate on-screen content and help customers interact with your business without compromising hygiene.
4. Positive Reinforcements And Thank You Messages On Post-Pandemic Digital Signage
After many months of lockdowns and restrictions, society is finally starting to reopen and resume normality. Many businesses were hit hard by the pandemic and must do all they can to draw customers in and boost sales. One way to do this is showing you appreciate your customers, new and old, on post-pandemic digital signage.
Deliver multimedia welcome messages and positive mantras to make customers feel welcome, wanted, and happy in your store, encouraging interaction with your brand. Additionally, deploy thank you messages across your screens; whether as the prime feature or via a text ticker displaying scrolling information across all your screens, expressing your gratitude will make customers feel comfortable and valued.
Post-pandemic, digital signage will be used for positive and thank you messages. These positive reinforcements will help your business stand out from others and boost brand trust. In turn, people will be more likely to recommend your brand, and sales will increase.
5. Gather Analytics To Get Your Business Back On Track
Getting back on track once normality resumes will not be easy for many businesses. Despite this, having access to data on how your business is performing can help you set and meet your goals and KPIs. Use post-pandemic digital signage to gather analytics and data that can help your business grow in the right direction.
Gather data in various ways via digital signage. Measure how many scans a QR code receives, the number of times a call to action is acted on, the number of trees you save by swapping from print posters to digital signage, how often your digital kiosks are interacted with and what buttons are clicked the most, or even track footfall into your store via digital signage linked to the Internet of Things.
The possibilities for post-pandemic digital signage data collection are near limitless and should be optimised. Use this data to help your business thrive in the post-pandemic world.
Businesses will need to adapt to the post-pandemic world, including how they communicate with their customers. Post-pandemic digital signage offers various ways to ensure customers feel safe, welcome and have a great experience with your business on their return to a more normal world.