Digital signage for cafes has never been more popular with big brand franchises, independent coffee houses, and tea rooms.
Whether you run a modern cafe for city professionals or a boutique shop for families, pensioners, and tourists, digital screens offer a host of features that you shouldnโt operate without.
Here are five benefits of going digital in your cafe:
Easy to update menus
Anyone running a restaurant or cafe will know that menus never stay the same for long! They can change with the season, with the availability of ingredients, or at the whim of the kitchen staff. Updating menus can be a headache for management and the front-of-house team. The need to reprint menus, or worse, replace entire menu boards, can be expensive and tedious.
Digital signage for cafes makes this task much easier. With cloud-based software, cafe staff can update digital versions of a menu from any laptop or PC. Updates can be made instantly online from the comfort of your home or office.
Update your prices as necessary, indicate when items have run out, and make new additions with minimal hassle.
Highlight special offers
Specials boards are a common way to spice up your menu and offer something unique to customers. Just like with regular menus, however, they can be time-consuming to update. It can also be difficult to convey a lot of information in a way that is easy to read.
Using digital screens to display your specials is the answer. In addition to the ability to update your menu remotely as often as required, there is a huge space-saving advantage. Item lists and descriptions can be presented in a slideshow, enabling you to convey a lot of information.
Gone are the days when you would need a different specials board for different days of the week. You could deploy a different screen for each item, or you could transition your content to display everything in one place.
Digital signage for cafes can be used to showcase your specials like never before. Utilising its multimedia nature, you can add high-resolution images and videos to show off your dishes and offers. Promoting something on a special deal? Spread the word!
Share customer reviews
The most popular cafes have built their success through word-of-mouth.
Customers who have had a great experience are likely to tell their friends or leave reviews online, whether thatโs on Google, the cafeโs Facebook page, or a community platform like TripAdvisor. The online ratings and testimonials received by restaurants and cafes have never been more important.ย
Businesses can maximise this opportunity by installing a digital display inside the cafรฉ or in the window facing passersby. Showcasing positive reviews in person helps amplify their impact beyond online searches, attracting more customers.
More than that, screens can be used as a prompt to gather new reviews! Requests to like your Facebook page or post a Google review can even be incentivised with a special offer like a voucher to spend when customers next visit.
Extend your social media presence
The above directly relates to extending your social media presence. On our digital signage platform, you can embed your live updates and slideshows of images straight from Instagram or a Facebook gallery. Sharing pictures of your food and drinks is a great way to create a positive environment in your cafe and leave people hungry for more.
With social media, the most important thing is that restaurants and cafes engage with their customer base. Digital displays can encourage visitors to share photos of their food or tweet about their experience. When customers tag the cafรฉโs account or use a promoted hashtag, these posts can be automatically pulled in and displayed on the screen, boosting engagement and social proof.
Engage your audience
Using digital signage in your shops or restaurants makes it easier for your business to engage with customers. You can display intriguing products on your digital board to create a more immersive experience within the restaurant.ย
Customers can look at products like coffee or food items, read up on prices, and discover the latest specials your business is offering. However, itโs important to keep your content fresh and engaging if you want customers to pay attention to your ads.
You can display static image ads, provided that you are using high-quality photographs. Make sure to mix things up by integrating videos or motion graphics into your displays as well.
Donโt bombard your customers with ads and sales pitches. Incorporate content that delivers real value to them. For instance, you could integrate clips about local events into your video content or slide shows. These clips will keep customers up to date on whatโs going on in your community and can be a great way of supporting other businesses with your digital signage for cafes.ย
After you get your signs up and running, gather feedback from customers. Find out what they think of your content and implement their ideas to make your video wall solution even more engaging and impactful.ย
Save moneyย
When you use a screen instead of traditional displays, youโll be able to cut costs and reallocate those funds to sales, service, or customer support tasks within your cafe. Your team wonโt have to waste time updating physical boards; instead, they can focus on providing great service and boosting sales.ย
You can save even more money by pairing your signage hardware with free software and display templates. If you do so, itโs important to choose a video management solution that aligns with your intended use case. Make sure to explore digital menu board solutions that will help you generate more sales and better serve your customers.ย
Anytime you are exploring signage technology, look at reviews, watch videos, and consider various use cases for the hardware and software. Donโt simply focus on options that offer free templates and other add-on perks. Make sure the tech provider provides ongoing support so you can get the most out of your digital sign investment.ย
If you pair good hardware with user-friendly software and a great strategy, youโll be able to unlock long-term cost savings and eliminate the tedious tasks associated with maintaining physical signs. You can also improve revenue by keeping your audience informed about the latest deals and sales, which can encourage higher ticket sizes and more orders.ย
Advertise other local businesses
The most compelling reason to install screens in your cafรฉ could also be the most profitable opportunity. Cafes are often well placed when it comes to attracting footfall, usually located on a high street or sometimes adjacent to attractions such as museums.ย
Cafes can install screens and then offer the chance to advertise on them to other local businesses. A nearby attraction would be incentivised to pay for an advert on your screen as it could entice the tourists to pop in for a coffee to visit them too. The same can be said for restaurants, bars and various events.
When used for advertising, cafe owners can generate revenue on top of returning the cost paid to deliver their content and messaging alongside adverts. In terms of the content split, they have full control to dictate the terms of advertising agreements.
In this way, even the smallest of cafes can afford to go digital and reap the benefits.
If you are interested in launching an advertising platform, check out our ultimate guide.
To discuss digital signage for your cafe, call 02380 981110 or book a demo.
