Scheduling
Scheduling your content involves the amount of time each piece of content will be shown on the screen.
This is all about the timing – keep in mind everything from where the screen will be displayed to what time of day each message will be aired. Scheduling can make or break the success of your digital signage strategy, so pay attention to these factors!
Wait times
Footfall and location have a huge impact on the timing and scheduling of your content. For instance, a captive audience (e.g. pubs/bars, waiting rooms, cinemas, music venues) will have a longer waiting time than that of passing or moving traffic.
Put yourself in front of your own content and calculate how long you look at it before losing interest. How well does it fit the setting for your display? This is a great first step in understanding your customers' viewing habits.
Here’s a good rule of thumb to remember:
Static messages: No less than 10 seconds for static messages and no more than 40 seconds.
Dynamic messages/video: No less than 25 seconds and no more than 2 minutes.
Keep the above in mind, especially when the time comes to change the content (i.e. a breakfast menu to lunch menu to afternoon menu to evening menu).
Short Wait Times
When you have pavement traffic, traffic held at traffic lights, or slow-moving traffic looking at a digital window display, focus on content that communicates the key points of your message quickly.
In these short wait time situations, promotional adverts and messages should be around 12 to 15 seconds in duration. Anything over 20 to 25 seconds and your audience may well lose interest or not have time to see the whole message before moving on.
Any repeating information should be scheduled no less than 1.5 to 2 minutes apart, unless it is practical information like flight times, timetables, opening times, box office, etc.
When to Change Content
No content or messaging lasts forever, if for no other reason than ad fatigue. With that in mind, be prepared to change or phase any that’s coming to the end of life (i.e. time sensitive promotions) over a period of 1 to 2 months.
This is to ensure your target audience won’t see the same message more than 12 times within that period.
Screen-Splitting
One really good trick when it comes to scheduling and rescheduling your content is to split your screen in half with separate content, a practice known as screen-splitting.
Digital signage lends itself very well to businesses looking to attract new audiences to their
product and services. For instance, you may want to consider running content featuring a product video on the left-hand side of the screen and prices shown on the right hand side. Or perhaps a countdown to box office ticket availability for a particular theatre or film showing.
By connecting with a third-party application, you can even show a live web feed that interacts with the app to display waiting times on parking spaces or other dynamic content!
For more support and expert advice on how to engage your target audience with digital displays, get in touch with us at James Hogg Display and speak to one of our team!