Article
How to optimize digital signage in financial institutions
John Ryan's European survey and recent webinar offer insight into digital signage improving messaging in the modern retail bank branch.
July 22, 2009
Much was revealed from a survey of European banks with digital signage performed this spring by digital marketing agency John Ryan. The company compiled the findings and presented them in a webinar last month entitled "Digital Signage in Retail Financial Services: What John Ryan's European Survey Means for Your Bank."
The panel for the presentation consisted of Paco Underhill, Envirosell founder and chief executive; Mike Hiatt, former director of Wal-Mart's "SMART" digital media network; and Bob Steele, vice chairman of John Ryan.
Although many good points were made in the hour-long presentation and Q&A, there were three key points that emerged from the research and conversation:
Insight #1: Early adopters are facing real challenges in creating, localizing and managing content.It seems that the enthusiasm for digital signage for European bank branches is there
— the survey said that 90 percent have deployed digital signage or are planning to deploy soon — but the real challenge comes after the fact. Keeping content fresh, or "feeding the monster," as it is sometimes called, seems to be causing the most grief for deployers.
"The very promise of this medium — the ability to narrowly target fresh and relevant messaging — is far more laborious than expected," Steele said. "Even more banks would be using digital signage for in-branch messaging if they could find an easy way to do it."
The reasons cited for not keeping content fresh were many: lack of tools, management systems not being Web-accessible, a lack of internal workflow systems and a lack of awareness about how to manage the medium.
Few bank branches are going to have staff whose sole task is to update the digital signage content. But there are other ways of keeping it fresh without extra personnel.
Steele talked about the Japanese bank Toyota Financial Services, where kiosks were put in place that encouraged female patrons to share their views on family finances. Responses are dynamically posted on the media wall behind the kiosks. Thus, the content is always fresh and completely user-generated.
Steele also mentioned some other ways to easily update content: link to the Web so that updates automatically update screens; use weekly sales results to determine what promotions appear in the content; provide portals for segment managers to update templates specific to their branch or segment; use content from external news sources, but be sure to visually render them in your brand format.
Insight #2: Relevance is the new king.
The word "relevance" seems to be taking over "content" in the digital signage cliché "Content is king," and rightfully so.
"At Wal-Mart, when we tested more relevant content, customers responded favorably," Hiatt said. "Even the most simple use of context helps patrons understand that the content is specifically for them, and it's not broadcast TV. Content is something they can act on."
So what is relevance? According to Steele, it's the result of putting marketing analytics to work in the branch for the first time. In other words, banks can now take action on improving in-branch communication based on what their customers want.
He cited the example of Caja Mediterráneo,which offers its Channel CAM network in 500 European branches. However, no two branches play the same content and each branch can control what is shown locally. Messages are displayed in any one of eight different languages, depending on the location. About 70 percent of the content is public service information, such as local employment and real-estate listings. The rest is bank promotions and brand messages, and most of that is based on individual branch sales performance from the previous week.
Relevance isn't just about the content, either. It also can come in the form of screen placement within the branch.
"When we consider relevance we also have to think about where and when content will seem most relevant to the bank customer," Paco Underhill said. "We have recognized customers are actually more receptive to messages after they have accomplished their mission at the branch. One of the classic issues with marketing messages is to recognize that the journey from the back of the branch to the front is often one of the most important places to communicate."
Insight #3: Digital signage represents strategy from the top down, but the tactics have to come from the floor up. This is a two-way street for the bank executives who pull the trigger on a digital signage network and the managers and employees who have to run them. Branch employees have to embrace the technology when it is installed.
"One of the issues with digital signage is getting the branches themselves to buy into the larger concept," Underhill said. "They need to see that the screen isn't something that is given to them from on high, but is a fundamental, essential part of their business."
On the floor level, Underhill says that branches need to work to be a place where the bank and the customer can touch, and digital signage can help facilitate that. He says that especially in this economic climate, banks need to "Recognize the role of the branch in the financial education of its customer base. We need our customers to be more sophisticated and in tune with what the idea of money is and what the management of money is."
Bill Yackey is the editor ofDigitalSignageToday.com, a sister site of ATMmarketplace.com. To submit a comment about this article, contact the editor of ATMmarketplace.com,Tracy Kitten.
Related Media
Subscribe
Get the latest news and resources from ATM Marketplace.
Recent Posts
SEC accuses former ATM businessman Daryl Heller of funneling $185M from investors
Fifth Third named as top veteran friendly employer
DC AG sues Bitcoin ATM operator Athena Bitcoin for allegedly exploiting scam victims
NCR Atleos earns #5 rank in fintech rankings
SEC to revamp cryptocurrency policies amid Trump's pro crypto push
