Can 'attract screens' lure in customers?

When retailers examine kiosks or digital signage, their first question is, "How will this attract customers?" Today's consumer isn't an easily impressed by fancy displays, so there needs to be some sort of hook to drag them over. Some retailers are using attract screens on their kiosks, displays and touchscreens to draw in customers with looping content.

What is an attract screen?

Essentially, an attract screen is content that is played prior to customer interaction. For example, a retail interactive display that provides information about the store might offer an attract screen that showcases a key promotion or a branded message.

"Relevant, targeted, rotating and timely content is always going to attract more users than old, stale, outdated content, and attract screens are no different," Laura Miller, director of business development and marketing, KioWare Kiosk Software, said in an interview. "When content is on a loop, and is changing at regular intervals, you are able to convey multiple messages, appeal to various demographics, and promote multiple products, offers, or services."

Attract screens in the field

Card Isle, a custom greeting card kiosk startup, has experimented with attract screens to appeal to customers at various seasons.

"We update them[attract screens] often as holidays change and to promote new features. We often coordinate our messaging with physical posters around where the kiosks are placed and our digital marketing efforts," Stephan Sabo, co-founder, Card Isle, said in an interview.

The Billiard Factory, a pool table retailer, used attract screens as a virtual sales assistant to offer demos, game room designs and other information to help customers get an idea of how to craft their ideal game room.

"The primary idea behind the attraction screen was to showcase design ideas as well as provide demonstration videos from some of our products, and current promotions," Ken Santoro, IT director of The Billiard Factory deployment, said in an interview.

Some companies make attract screens a regular part of their software offerings, whereas others might make it an add on. The overall price for such a packaged deal might range anywhere from a monthly cost of $10 to a one time total of $300.

What are the hardware/software demands?

When retailers consider whether they should integrate looping digital signage, they should carefully consider whether their software and hardware packages can handle it.

Miller said some companies may integrate looping content into their software packages, whereas others may have separate applications that retailers need to purchase individually.

Retailers also need to consider the type of content they are using. Using static images in their looping signage will be less demanding on their hardware than videos and animations.

"We have experimented with animations and videos on our screens from time to time. We try to keep this action to a minimum due to stress it puts on our graphics and computing hardware," Sabo said.

Gathering analytics

Even the best attract screen is pointless unless you have a way to measure its overall effectiveness. When choosing a software package, you need to take a close look at its analytical tools. One example would be examining the click-through rate on an interactive display.

"You can view the click-through rate on an interactive attract screen. . . Basically, if an offer is up on the screen and the click through rate to that offer's page is higher than another offer, you can see which offer is more popular," Miller said."This can allow you to modify/add attract screens that resonate and increase conversions, continuing to customize the message to increase conversions and improve the looping content."

Image via Istock.com.