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| An in-branch bank digital signage network is an ideal proximity marketing medium because it provides a dynamic platform for customers to learn about current rates, mortgages, investing, auto loans, retirement planning, savings accounts and more. |
In-branch digital signage builds brand value, stimulates consumer message awareness and ultimately creates a better customer experience.
By Louie Hollmeyer
As financial services become more complex yet increasingly commoditized, educating customers and creating real differentiation becomes critical. As a means to achieve this and strengthen customer loyalty, banks and financial institutions are focusing more on the in-branch customer experience — and investing in digital media to do so. Here’s why — and how — banks can effectively utilize digital signage in their branches.
Optimizing Communication
The one place any bank will find more than 90 percent of its members, at least once a month, is in its branches. From the teller line and waiting area to the ATM drive-through, digital displays, interactive kiosks and in-branch media networks are becoming an adopted retail marketing solution for creating the optimal in-branch experience. An in-branch media network brings together the visual power of rich media with targeted relevance at the point of sale, creating a platform with the endless potential for personalized interaction.
Early adopters of in-branch digital signage are seeing real benefits. It’s proven to be an ideal proximity marketing medium by providing a dynamic platform for customers to learn about current rates, mortgages, investing, auto loans, retirement planning, savings accounts and more.
As customers juggle difficult financial decisions with the challenge of money management, banks can effectively brand themselves not just as transaction centers, but as trusted information centers where the experience increases perceived quality, brand loyalty and wallet share.
Strategy Shift
Digital signage is changing how organizations do business. Procter & Gamble (P&G), for example, rewrote its accounting definitions giving in-store advertising a place alongside other traditional media. This move represented a shift in ad spending from traditional TV and print to in-store media. Savvy financial institutions are paying attention to market leaders like P&G — the grandfather of modern brand management.
Coincidentally, P&G recently implemented its new “store back” philosophy. In doing so, it gave its agencies the edict to relate all campaigns back to the retail store. “If it doesn’t work at the store, it’s no longer a good marketing idea for Procter & Gamble Co.,” said P&G’s global brand-building officer Marc Pritchard in Advertising Age.
There is no better medium to execute on this philosophy than digital signage. However, repurposing traditional media ads to run on in-branch digital signage networks will not constitute “branch back”. Rather, leveraging digital signage 2.0- and 3.0-type functionalities such as interactivity, bluecasting (or other near-field communications) and dynamic merchandising will heighten the appeal of digital signage at the “moment of truth.” The branch represents the final and most effective marketing opportunity to close the deal, hence “branch back.”
Growing Acceptance
The number of banks adopting digital media is steadily growing as bank marketers realize the branch’s potential as a marketing medium. Smaller banks are realizing the benefits of having even one display located in select branches. There are many documented accounts of financial institutions adopting digital signage to improve the customer experience and cross-sell/up-sell financial products. At heart, in-branch marketing is a combined form of brand building and product promotion designed to influence purchase and loyalty. Moreover, in-branch digital signage can be used as a vehicle to build brand value that goes beyond price.
A study done by the Platt Retail Institute, Hinsdale, Ill., reaffirms the return on investment (ROI) and effectiveness of an in-branch media network deployed in a banking environment. Digital signage was shown to effectively stimulate consumer message awareness, decrease perceived wait time, increase customer satisfaction and ultimately create a better customer experience, according to the study’s findings.
The test bank also experienced a positive impact on branch productivity, product/services awareness, and increased revenue for products promoted on digital screens.
Falling Short
The success of a digital signage network requires careful planning. While there are a lot of ways to do in-branch digital signage the right way, there are a lot of ways to do it wrong.
Typical mistakes that hinder in-branch media initiatives include:
• Lacking a strategic plan and clearly defined vision
• Failing to establish clear metrics and means for measurement
• Neglecting to provide relevant and updated digital media content regularly
• Overlooking the major technical challenges associated with the project, and
• Failing to fully understand content distribution and the dynamics/variables involved, particularly for highly distributed branch locations.
Any technology project is only as good as its planning and implementation. A strategic plan must be developed for in-branch digital signage in order to avoid the pitfalls listed above.
Developing a plan will facilitate success and quicker return on investment, and be the first step in the successful launch of an effective, powerful marketing and communications medium that will benefit both the bank and its customers.
Louie Hollmeyer serves as vice president of marketing for STRATACACHE, a global provider of digital signage software and advanced digital marketing and merchandising applications for highly distributed retail and financial environments. Hollmeyer is an advocate of the “5th screen” (digital out-of-home) and its emergence as a powerful, proximity marketing medium. Hollmeyer can be reached at lhollmeyer@stratacache.com.
Stratacache CEO Chris Riegel will be leading a Lunch & Learn discussion on Thursday, February 25, at DSE 2010 on the topic “Deploying an In-Branch Digital Signage Network with a Clearly Defined Content Initiative.”