This article brought to you by SageNet.

TULSA, Okla.—Retailers often turn to vendors and suppliers for help with digital signage strategy, but there are some things to consider before solidifying the partnership. “Retailers may encounter problems by accident, because they don’t know the right questions to ask vendors when upgrading to digital signage or expanding the service within their chain,” said IV Dickson, vice president of digital experience for SageNet.

“Digital signage isn’t hard, but it is complicated,” said Dickson. As more convenience stores develop digital experience strategies, they must navigate an increasingly crowded marketplace to evaluate solutions and providers. “A common mistake I see retailers make is not checking to ensure their current network infrastructure and IT resources will support and sustain their digital signage initiative,” he said. “Retailers should make sure the digital signage vendor has specific expertise in networking, security, monitoring and maintenance to ensure robust connectivity and scalability for every device and every store in an ever-expanding technology footprint.”

Software can be another snag. “A content management system that makes it easy to create templates and edit, schedule and manage content is an essential component of your digital signage ecosystem,” he said. Dickson recommended a cloud-based, enterprise-class platform with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface coupled with automatic location and monitoring of individual displays.

Effective digital signage requires a continual stream of relevant content that can be quickly updated, modified and rotated. Dickson cautioned that a content provider should be willing to work closely with your marketing team and digital agency to ensure messaging stays true to your brand’s specific goals and objectives, while translating campaigns to the unique capabilities of the place-based, interactive digital experience.

In addition to creating original content, most convenience stores bring in data from a variety of sources, including back-end systems, loyalty apps and point-of-sale systems. “To be effective, the digital signage system integrates data from a variety of sources, while adding the real-time flexibility to change content virtually on the fly,” he said. “Digital signage content should have the agility to incorporate loyalty apps, dayparting, LTOs and a variety of place-based opportunities that are unique to digital at the point of decision—all the places where you need to connect with customers or employees.”

In our ever-connected world, it takes partners to deliver dynamic signage solutions to customers in a way that showcases the retailer’s brand and meets the changing needs of its customers.

This is the fourth and final installment of a four-part series about how digital signage impacts customer experience at convenience stores. Read parts one, two and three. Click here for more information on how SageNet’s SageVIEW can help you retain customers.