“Out of home signage” and “eCommerce business” might not be two phrases that you’d put together – after all, one is distinctly online, and the other is not. However, combining these two practices can yield impressive results for your online store and sales.
In this week’s blog, we’re exploring how out of home signage can boost your eCommerce business through customers, sales, and profits.
What is out of home signage?
We won’t go into the depths of digital out of home signage (also known as DOOH), because we’ve already done that here.
However, as a quick recap: out of home signage is any visual advertisement placed outside the home.
Digital out of home signage uses digital screens to display this content in an animated, interactive, or dynamic way.
This could be on the highway, on the street, in retail stores, in malls, or in a transport station, and it can be used by sellers with or without a physical presence.
How out of home signage can boost your eCommerce business
We know what you’re thinking – eCommerce predominantly takes place inside the home, so how can out of home digital signage reach your home-based audience and boost eCommerce sales?
Six ways:
1. Reach new audiences
First, not all of your potential customers are sat at home on their sofas and browsing the internet. In fact, digital signage has been shown to reach 70% of the public, compared with the 45% that Facebook adverts reach.
Out of home digital signage gives you an opportunity to connect with different audiences, who don’t already shop online, or members of your current audience who just haven’t heard about you online.
And, by placing your digital signage in areas frequented by your target audiences, you can expose new people to your brand and more traffic to your online store, without worrying about your email being seen or your social media audience metrics being right.
2. Establish your brand
Speaking about your brand, it can be particularly challenging to establish a reputable name for your brand online.
Unscrupulous sellers give online marketplaces a name for cheap prices and even cheaper quality, while retargeting ads struggle to shake the reputation of being a little bit creepy and knowing a little too much about your audience.
In contrast, out of home signage is a respected and even enjoyed form of advertising that can boost brand awareness by nearly 48%. Digital content such as video, interactive sessions, and animated content helps bring your brand to life, tell your story, and connect with your audience – meaning that you spend less time analyzing keywords and CPC metrics, and more time handling increased sales.
3. Provide a seamless experience
You will, no doubt, have invested a lot of time and money creating a seamless online shopping experience for your customers – using social media, quick checkouts, fast delivery, and multiple communication channels to enhance the experience.
Why should that experience stop beyond a customer’s front door?
Out of home digital signage forms part of a multi-channel marketing approach that smooths the gap between online and physical shopping. A customer can be shopping in-store, see a product on your digital screen, scan a QR code to order, and have their product waiting on their doorstep the next day.
This blurring of in-store and online shopping makes it easy for you to increase sales when your audience is in the mood for shopping, or to hold on to sales when your physical store can’t offer the customer what they want there and then.
4. Stand out from the competition
Online retail is highly competitive, making standing out both essential and tough. Digital out of home advertising is a fresh, unique, and effective way to pitch yourself differently.
With other online sellers caught up in Google Ads, online marketplace CPC campaigns, and social media, you can stand out by using digital signage to present your online brand in the real world – increasing your chances of being seen.
And, with many physical retailers yet to enter the world of eCommerce, you can use out of home screens to compete against bricks and mortar stores – offering a more extensive product selection and easier shopping experience.
Together, this can help to pitch your brand as fresh, different, and memorable.
5. Engage your customers
Everyone talks about the importance of customer engagement online – liking your customer’s Instagram photos, sharing their reviews, and getting involved with influencers. But it’s all been done before.
Digital touchscreen displays and interactive content offer customers a unique way to engage with your brand, and they have been shown to help customers feel more connected to your products, increasing overall sales volume by 31.8%.
You can use this different form of engagement to drive traffic to your website or social media profiles, where you can further engage with customers to build a long-term relationship.
6. Improve your offering
Interactive out of home signage isn’t just great for sustaining attention. Polls and quizzes can be used to acquire valuable information on your customers that can be used to improve your eCommerce business.
Information such as buying preferences, popular products, spending habits, and preferred marketing channels can be obtained and used to fuel your marketing and sales strategies.
You can also use interactive content to collect customer contact information such as an email address, telephone number, or social media profile for future marketing about your online store and products.
Where to get started with digital out of home eCommerce advertising
There are plenty of places to use digital screen advertising for your eCommerce business, including:
- Shopping malls
- Inside your bricks and mortar store
- Transport stations
- Highway billboards
- Public streets
This means that it doesn’t matter whether you operate an online-only store or a physical and online store. All that matters is that you have the drive to try something new that yields incredible results when combined with your existing multi-channel marketing strategy.
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