Big Picture - March 2017 - 17

STEP 2: WHAT AND HOW TO MEASURE
Now that the goals are set, what will be measured and how
will you do it?

map those engagements to better understand if they led to
new followers or website clicks. To put it all in context, you
should look at overall engagement stats for Twitter, and
determine the percentage driven by this hashtag. For
* Example 1: Revenue Increase
example, if you had a total of 300 new followers for the time
It's fairly simple to determine if sales increased on a
period but could only link 120 to the hashtag experiment, then
particular item within a timeframe. But what's important is
that no additional factors contribute to the change in revenue. the total of new followers is 40 percent.
For customer experience, create a graph of wait times by
It may be a challenge to determine whether digital signage
time of day, then compare to the data collected before digital
contributed to a sales jump if your client also changes their
signage. If there wasn't a decrease, then the main culprit is
TV advertising budget or activity on social media. For the
probably content. Can the fi fth or sixth person in line see the
period of time that is being measured, recommend that your
signs clearly? Is important information not being shown long
client not alter their other marketing practices in any other
enough? If wait times did decrease, spot the trends. If wait
way. This may seem extreme, but it's the only way to ensure
time decreased by 20 seconds consistently from 11:30 a.m. to
accuracy. This way, the measurement is simple: Did sales for
product X increase from the previous month, before the digital noon, what does this mean compared to other times that
performed better or worse? Add another line to the graph that
signage promotion? It would also be prudent to compare it to
includes volume so the data has context. If there is high
sales from that month from the previous year.
volume and you're still seeing decreases in wait time, then
* Example 2: Brand Awareness Increase
something is clearly working well.
To measure an increase in Twitter mentions as a result of
ROI doesn't need to be mysterious. It's important to
digital signage may seem impossible. But a good way to relate
mentions back to the digital display is to use specific hashtags understand what a client's goals are: revenue increases, brand
awareness, or customer experience. Once the goal is determined,
that are only promoted on the digital signage. Then, you can
specifically measure the number of times that hashtag is used. it's essential to make it a SMART goal, understand how and what
to measure, and analyze the data. Then you can take action.
* Example 3: Customer Experience
Consistently setting up ROI experiments in cooperation
This goal is very specific in that it defines an exact time
period. You may be wondering if a reduction in wait time actu- with your clients not only helps them understand the value, but
also provides you with the opportunity to author case studies,
ally improves the customer experience. Less time in line
usually makes customers happy, but this is an assumption. It's which any prospective client is sure to love (see August 2016,
pg. 18 for more on using content to impress future clients).
also important to note that digital signage is a proven
technique to decrease wait time. It does this by preparing
those in line to order faster because the information is clearer
and drives consumers to action.
To measure if wait time decreased, one option is to
measure total wait time from entrance to checkout, but that
may be prohibitive because there would need to be some kind
of sensor at the door. Another, easier span of time to measure
is from order time to actual receipt of food, which is usually
tracked in quick-serve or fast casual restaurants. You would
want to calculate the average wait time during lunch (11 a.m.
to 2 p.m.) and determine if that decreased. But watch out for
outside factors, like new staff who might not be as quick as
CONNECT WITH THE
more seasoned staff, or a new menu item that takes longer to
PRINT-PROVIDER
prepare. Again, it's critical to isolate the experiment so that
COMMUNITY AND GET:
digital signage is the only new factor.

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STEP 3: WHAT DOES THE DATA MEAN?
The next step is to analyze the data and determine what
worked and what should be tweaked. If sales increased on the
promoted product, but not to the percent expected, then
maybe work on the content. Ask questions about how it was
presented and how long it was on the screen. Maybe change
the imagery or animation. But remember, if you are going to
change something and then re-measure, pick only one thing
to change. You can also look for data trends. For example, did
sales spike at specific times? If so, leverage this.
Looking at brand awareness on social media, you should
be able to isolate mentions and engagements specific to the
hashtag you chose. If there's no significant change, then
maybe it wasn't a relevant hashtag, or maybe Twitter isn't the
end users' social platform of choice. If there was an increase,

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