Creating sensor-driven Interactivity with Digital Signage in Retail spaces

Digital signage displays, Panel PC's and touchscreens are becoming the cornerstones of experiences in retail stores, and adding user interactivity - which allows people to engage with the onscreen content - is a very powerful tool.

Interactivity can be achieved in many ways. An obvious one is the touch funcionality that's found on most ProDVX hardware or adding modules like a barcode scanner, but another way is to add sensors to the installation. This technology is becoming more popular everyday, so it's time to sit down with an expert in this field. One of the experts in this field is our technology partner Nexmosphere. They design and manufacture interactive sensors for digital signage. In this new guestblog Nexmosphere will introduce the concept of Lift & Learn. Happy reading!

The Impact of Interactive Retail

Fitting retail stores with large screens that provide beautiful content has become mainstream practice. Together with ambient music and scent marketing, vibrant screens play a big role in creating the atmosphere in retail environments.

As the digital world grows, the role of brick-and-mortar stores has transitioned from having solely a logistical functionality to providing lasting brand -and product experiences. Rich interactivity with both the merchandise as well as the onscreen content,- helps to engage with shoppers and spread the brand message.

Giving people a reason to visit and share what they have experienced in-store with others.

Interactivity done right equals Experience

Applying the right timing to content completely changes the way people perceive a digital message. Adding sensors to a digital signage installation can make sure content is played on the screen at the right time, thereby increasing the impact of the content on the viewer as opposed to having basic looping or scheduled content.

Example

Showing detailed information about merchandise while nobody is standing in front of the display, does not create an impact. Instead, it is much more effective to show an impressive call-to-action message to draw people closer, and only offer in-detail product information after someone has engaged with the physically presented product.

Lift & Learn technology

Lift & Learn installations including presence sensors are a good example of how this can be executed, using easy-to-implement technology.

Sensor-triggered Lift & Learn experiences where people are detected and invited to interact with the merchandise, create a product, and -content experience by showing perfectly timed content, while also allowing a physical exploration of the product on display, through the simple act of holding the merchandise in hand. Retail consultants agree that every second of a shopper’s attention and physical interaction with presented merchandise counts towards better product sales.

How to Design for Experience?

Start by designing the experience; think about how it should look, feel and work for the end user, before selecting any technical components to build it. This avoids limiting your creativity to what you already know is possible and allows enhancing your knowledge of available technologies.

This easy-to-apply change in the design process really helps to build original interactive installations that lead the way to impactful information provision and experiential shopping.

Learn, Source, and Integrate

The following must-have component listing will give you a good idea of where to start looking for the parts needed to build any sensor-driven digital signage experience:

a Digital Signage Player
a Screen
a Content Management System to drive the presentation,
and sensors.

These four components need to be carefully sourced to fit all the non-negotiable requirements, brought together, and integrated into a physical presentation. This is where the role of a System Integrator becomes essential: taking purposely designed technology “bits and pieces” and transforming these into full-blown user experiences that create impact.

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About the Author

Nexmosphere designs and manufactures interactive sensors for digital signage. Their collection of sensors and controls offers the ability to create unique interactive journeys wherever Digital Signage is applied. For more interactive inspiration and hardware advice, visit their YouTube channel or click below to watch videos that are directly related to this article:

Lift & Learn RFID

Place & Learn NFC

People detection

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