Understanding Digital Signage Content Management Systems (CMS): A Complete Guide

It is difficult to understand the power of digital signage in enhancing customer engagement for a business unless it is implemented. A perfectly designed CMS for Digital Signage hardly goes unnoticed by consumers. A well-crafted CMS ensures businesses can easily update and manage content in real time. Do not believe us? Take a look at a few case studies demonstrating the impact of using CMS-powered digital signage on customer engagement. 

1. Adidas Retail Store:

To address the challenge of capturing maximum footfall during the holiday season, Adidas installed interactive digital signage in one of the pop-up stores. The CMS-supported digital signage showcased the brand’s latest products with all the details, ensuring customers stay informed and engaged. 

Digital signage was also equipped with digital mirrors that facilitated customers to virtually try the products. This enhanced the overall shopping experience. 

The digital signage implementation led to higher foot traffic as well as increased sales. 

1. Tesla: 

Tesla, in the journey of creating memorable brand experiences, incorporated digital signage into their retail showrooms. The digital signage was implemented with the motive to provide its customers with a chance to explore different Tesla vehicle models, customizations, and features. The real-time CMS-integrated digital signage displayed information about various charging networks, energy products, environmental impacts, etc, on the screen. 

Many other popular brands such as McDonalds, Mercedes, Decathlon, etc, have embraced Digital Signage as an indispensable tool to interact with their customers. However, what goes behind the scenes of the success of digital signage is the Content Management System. 

In this blog, we will go through the details of Digital Signage CMS software and features that you should look into while developing a CMS for digital signage. 

What is a Digital Signage Content Management System? 

A digital signage content management system is software that lets you display interactive content/media on screens using servers. 

A CMS has multiple features that let you play any media type, image, video animation, or live stream. 

The CMS of digital signage allows you to create content, edit it, schedule it, and effectively manage the digital signage display. 

What Are The Features Of a Digital Signage Content Management System? 

A Content Management System (CMS) plays a pivotal role in managing the seamless display of content across digital signage by working in harmony with backend systems and display devices.  If you are wondering why the incorporation of the right features is an important part of CMS, here are the numbers that highlight the importance. 

80% of customers confirmed that they had entered the store because of digital signage 

63% of customers have added that digital signage outside stores has influenced them to make a purchase. 

These impressive numbers highlight how CMS can impact customer behavior and enhance outcomes. 

Let’s look at the features that can help you achieve the desired results: 

Content Creation, Editing and Publishing: 

Digital signage CMS is developed to upload and play the files on your screens. A CMS with the right features provides a comprehensive dashboard to play around for an engaging display of content. 

Integration with CMS tools:

A digital signage CMS should allow users to integrate various design apps or website images to digital signage for display of the content. 

Composition and Playlists:

One of the primary features of a digital signage CMS is the designing of the content layouts.  Customization helps display the information effectively, utilizing all the white spaces and the time of the display. 

Content Scheduling:

Digital signage CMS allows you to schedule content for later. This way, you can keep the status of content up-to-date and never miss out on publishing a content piece even during the holidays. 

This feature of digital signage CMS lets you keep track of dates and upload files for any upcoming event, seasonal discounts, etc. You just schedule the CMS and let it play as per the schedule. 

Screen Network Management:

With digital signage, you can monitor multiple screens and showcase content across different channels. 

What Are The Benefits of Digital Signage Across Various Industries? 

Digital Signage CMS has revolutionized the way commercial marketing is handled. By allowing the brands to play high-quality images, videos, documents, real-time insights, etc, it has changed the marketing perspective entirely. 

The convenience of managing screens without actually being present at the store is something that businesses are looking forward to. If we believe the statistics, digital signage can reach over 135 million people a week!!! Isn’t it a huge number? 

Here are a few other benefits of digital signage CMS for businesses:

Increase foot traffic:

As mentioned above, consumers have confirmed entering the store because of the eye-catching digital signage. It can not only bring in an increase in foot traffic but also influence unplanned purchases.

Increase Brand Awareness:

Digital signage CMS is a powerful tool to increase brand awareness. 84% of retailers agree that digital signage helps in increasing brand awareness and is capable of capturing 400% more views than print advertising.  

Lower Perceived Waiting Time: 

The waiting time at banks, hospitals, and restaurants is drastically reduced due to the implementation of digital signage. People can easily look at the digital signage boards and estimate the queue times at various places. This prepares them for the wait times leading to repeat visitors into the store. 

Which industries use Digital Signage CMS the most? 

Every industry, in some way or the other, can make use of Digital Signage CMS to amplify the customer experience. However, industries that have already benefited from using digital signage CMS are:

• Food Industry;
• Retail industry;
• Hotel industry; 
• Transportation industry;
• Healthcare industry;
• Education industry;
• Travel industry;
• Corporates; 

Things To Look For In A Digital Signage CMS Or While Developing a CMS:

CMS is intricately designed to support digital signages. However, it requires expertise to develop a scalable and optimized CMS that supports various digital signage. Here are a few things to look for while selecting a CMS for the digital signage hardware. 

Hardware Compatibility: 

A wide variety of CMS are often found incompatible with your choice of operating systems and digital signage hardware. Therefore you should develop a CMS that supports various digital signage players like Chrome OS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux. 

Screen Compatibility: 

The developed CMS should support a variety of screens, be it a large video wall, interactive kiosk, or a simple TV monitor.  Ensure seamless compatibility across all screen sizes and resolutions to deliver an optimal user experience.

Robust Security: 

Integrate robust security features to secure data throughout the CMS. The integrated data should be protected during any activity performed over CMS, be it during data transmission, storage, or real-time display on the screen. 

Ensure that all the communication channels are secured with SSL/HTTPS encryption. 

User-friendly interface: 

A CMS should be user-friendly in multiple ways. The UI should be easy to navigate, save time, and reduce the chances of errors. A user-friendly CMS provides the following functionality. 

• Multi-user access:  It should allow multiple users to log in at the same time. 
• User role management: A CMS should allow admins to control permission levels of different users. 
• Screen flexibility: As discussed above, the CMS should allow the creation of custom screen layouts, making efficient use of the space. 

Regular Software Updates:

You can not have a perfect CMS developed that fits your business needs in the first go. It requires careful integration with various tools and platforms. This can be ensured only with multiple iterations taking place for developing a successful CMS. IT Path Solutions offers comprehensive integration services to help you connect your CMS with essential tools, ensuring it works seamlessly across your entire ecosystem

Conclusion: 

Digital signage CMS can bring a remarkable upsurge in product sales. If the CMS is leveraged to its full potential, it can help businesses revolutionize their marketing and communications strategies. 

For in-depth knowledge about implementation, feel free to contact us. We can help you develop a powerful CMS for any digital signage device.