Making the right impression to visitors from the get-go is crucial. The lobby can be a vital meeting point between customers and your business. It is likely that a customer will first walk into the lobby of your business. It is here where the all-important first impression is made and where lobby digital signage can wow.
First impressions are critical for generating and maintaining customer satisfaction and business. Lobby digital signage can completely modernise a reception area and assist customers in finding out the information they need.
Whether helping customers navigate a building or check-in at a hotel, this blog reveals the top 10 uses for lobby digital signage. These uses will improve both customer experience and business operations.
1. Improve Customer Navigation With Digital Wayfinding
New buildings can be daunting places for new customers or clients unfamiliar with where they need to go, especially those running late. It can make them feel lost and embarrassed if they cannot navigate the building.
By setting up a digital signage kiosk with an integrated wayfinding map in your lobby, you can remove this issue for customers. These digital wayfinding kiosks provide an easy-to-use navigation system. Unlike static maps, kiosks provide in-depth site maps, destination selection, and personalised routes.
The benefits of this system are particularly evident when interviewing new candidates. You want them to be on time and feeling confident; this will give you the best representation of them. Help this desired perception by aiding the navigation process with digital signage. It is also beneficial for when you have business meetings with clients; it demonstrates the forward-thinking nature of your company and puts clients at ease with your business.
2. Streamline the Check-in Process with Lobby Digital Signage
Businesses such as hotels may check in hundreds of guests a day. Other venues could include cinemas, bowling alleys, leisure centres, dental practices, universities, and more. In busy environments that thrive on guest satisfaction, these businesses need to do all they can to reduce customer irritation and dissatisfaction. When a guest enters a hotel or leisure activity, the first thing they do is check-in. Though a simple process, long queues can make this a tedious experience for both guests and staff.
Lobby digital signage has led the way in advancing the check-in process with touchscreen digital kiosks. Guests can take control of their experience and check themselves in, reducing hassle and wait times. With the availability of rapid self-check-in, customers will be greeted with a positive experience, setting the tone for the rest of their day or stay and saving staff time.
In hotels, for example, this digitalisation is particularly beneficial for guests who have had long days of travel or meetings. These guests may want to check-in and go straight to bed without human interaction. As a result, lobby digital signage with self-check-in revolutionises the guest experience whilst also improving hotel operations.
3. Promote Company Ventures on Lobby Digital Signage
Companies are always doing exciting things that they want people to know about. Whether this is charity work, new discoveries, or changes within the business, make these ventures visible to all with lobby digital signage.
Perhaps, your company is launching a ‘go green scheme’. To launch the scheme and get everybody involved, expose details to as many employees and customers as possible. The best way to capture attention and draw people in is by using a bright and attractive digital screen. On the screen, you can easily display infographics for what people need to know and do to get involved. Colour-vibrant imagery and media can complement appeals for people to bring in their own coffee cups or switch off lights.
Alternatively, display a scannable QR code on-screen so that people can receive information straight to their mobile devices. A QR code is a particularly strong method of communication because it means viewers have the information in a portable device that they can come back to.
Companies may also want to promote the charity work they are doing. Use lobby digital signage to showcase case studies of how employee work is making a difference, as well as how much your company has raised. Alongside this, promote your charities, spread awareness, and encourage people to donate. Digital screens have a high ability to capture attention due to their brightness – make the most of this and keep people informed with your company ventures.
4. Entertain Customers with Video Content
Waiting areas and lobbies can be dreary places. With little to do but wait anxiously for an appointment or meeting, the outdated magazines fail to capture attention, and the posters on the wall fail to help time pass. Instead, combat customer and client boredom by using lobby digital signage for entertainment.
Digital signage features include live TV and video streaming. With these software functionalities, there is an endless about of video content available for customers and clients. Using digital signage software and studios, you can cherry-pick videos that you want to play to your customers, fitting your company environment and tone. These videos could include funny YouTube videos, videos about the company, how-to videos, promotional videos, or music videos.
In particular, if you have a young audience waiting around in your lobby or a specific children’s waiting room, schedule children’s TV shows and cartoons to play. This content could vary from Peppa Pig to Bob the Builder to keep the children happy and the parents and guardians satisfied that their children are entertained.
5. Boost Social Media Reach on Lobby Digital Signage
Since 2004, the popularity of social media has grown exponentially. According to Statista, in 2020, 48% of the world population were social media users, a 5% increase from one year prior. These facts make social media a great form of content to display on lobby digital signage. Promoting your channels can increase engagement and growth, as well as further extend social media marketing campaigns.
On your digital screens, display a particular account or hashtag or feature images sent into your account. In particular, display reviews customers have left on social media. Positive reviews are free promotional content for your business. Displaying reviews can benefit your business; 72% of customers say positive testimonials and reviews increase their trust in a business.
Overall, displaying social media on digital signage is a great way to encourage customers to get involved in social media campaigns. Ask customers to tweet in or post about your brand or a product, service, or venture. Use social media to build a community, connecting your physical business with your virtual business.
6. Deliver Welcome Messages on lobby Digital Signage
Ensuring customers feel welcome and comfortable is critical for any business. Lobby digital signage has a wide range of benefits that can guarantee this. In particular, the ability to schedule content and plan messages for incoming customers.
Use electronic screens in the lobby to display welcome messages to customers, whether generic or personalised for an expected entrant, such as for a business meeting. These messages can be scheduled to display at a particular moment, minimising worries that staff will be too busy to welcome every customer.
Most critically, this lobby digitalisation will make customers feel included in your business, triggering a sense of community. This spirit boosts customer satisfaction and the chance of return and recommendation.
7. Reveal Business Promotions with Digital Content
Lobby digital signage is a great way to display live offers and deals for your business. Perhaps you are having a limited-time-only sale or buy one get one free on a specific product. With digital signage, immediately update on-screen content or schedule deals to go live on particular days.
For example, in a leisure centre, remove the signup fee for buying a membership at reception or, at a dental practice, offer 20% off a specific procedure. Make these discounts on-location exclusives to induce the fear of missing out amongst visitors and boot sales and footfall.
Partner these deals with colour-vibrant imagery and large and bold text to capture attention. Significantly, research has shown that 77% of shoppers claim discounts can influence where they shop, and almost half (48%) admit a discount has sped up a purchasing decision. As a result, displaying promotional offers in your lobby can boost your sales.
8. Display Live Information Using Digital Signage Features
In your lobby, whether a hospital or a hotel, use digital signage to keep patients, customers, and clients updated with live information feeds. These feeds will help customers make informed decisions about their day and provide a distraction to waiting times.
Live feeds can include travel updates, perhaps on flights or buses, to allow people to plan their journeys, improving customer satisfaction with your business, even if not with the travel company. Alternatively, present the live weather. This content can be particularly beneficial for activity and leisure centres – if people know the weather is poor, they may be encouraged to stay longer at your centre.
Also, display live RSS news feeds or live news TV channels on-screen to keep people informed. Presenting the live news on lobby digital signage can stop people from clock-watching, providing a distraction to wait times.
9. Display Sponsorship Content to Boost Revenue
Alongside promoting your own events and offers, digital signage is also a valuable platform for external business promotions, providing a revenue booster for your business. Digital signage is an attractive method of marketing and communications; one in five customers make impulse purchases after seeing digital signage advertising. As a result, a screen in your lobby is desirable to external businesses hoping to attract your audience.
In hotels, for example, sell advertising space on lobby digital signage to local businesses and attractions. This content not only helps external companies capture your hotel footfall but simultaneously boosts traffic to local places, improving the success and buzz of the area.
Innovative sponsors can provide a scannable QR code to display on your lobby digital signage. This code could give viewers an exclusive discount or lead to a webpage with further details.
10. Increase Brand Recognition with Digital Content
With an estimated 6 million private sector businesses in the UK in 2020, understanding how to build brand awareness and brand recognition is crucial. One of the best ways to do this is by adopting a consistent brand colour palette, font, pattern, and style.
Use digital signage to put your style out there with bright colours and easily identifiable text. Digital signage is, therefore, the perfect platform to help get your brand noticed. By doing this, customers will begin to subconsciously make associations with your brand identity upon seeing particular colours or styles, improving brand recognition.
Using your consistent style, display company details, such as contact addresses and opening times, to allow people to learn more about your brand. Additionally, use lobby digital signage to display your logo to help people make later associations and improve brand recall. Lobby digital signage is the perfect location for this; it will greet all people entering your business with branded content.
First impressions count. Modernise your reception and ensure you make the right impression from the very start with lobby digital signage. This form of digital communication can serve various valuable functions that will secure customer satisfaction and business.
If you have any questions related to lobby digital signage, speak to an expert today. Call our friendly team on 02380981110 or Email info@troudigital.com for a no-obligation consultation. Alternatively, click the button below.
