Last week, we discussed one of the biggest barriers to the adoption of digital menu boards — their seemingly-high cost — and debunked some of the most common beliefs about making an investment in these types of digital displays. This week, we’ll examine best practices for their implementation in quick-service and fast-casual restaurant environments.
Considering an investment in digital menu boards can be more than a little overwhelming, and knowing where to even begin to start is often part of the problem. But to paraphrase Shel Silverstein, the only way to devour a whale is by taking one bite at a time. And so it goes with rolling out a dynamic menu board program.
While there are clearly challenges when rolling out any new technology or program, by consulting with a company experienced in digital menu board design and implementation like REDYREF, “eating the whale” of dynamic displays is not nearly as difficult a task as it may at first seem. Come back next week when we’ll talk more about digital signage in QSR and fast casual environments. And if you’ve already decided that implementing such a program is right for your business, simply request a quote online, or call (800) 628-3603 today and REDYREF will be there every step of the way to ensure you unique display needs and goals are met.
Earlier, we began a discussion about digital menu boards, covering some of the basics, including why restaurants are choosing to implement them. This week, we’ll take a look at the opportunity costs of waiting to deploy a digital menu program, and find out why investing in quality content is still one of the smartest moves you can make if you choose to deploy this solution in quick service restaurant environment.
Opportunity costs are a major factor to consider when weighing the pros and cons of an upgrade to digital from static menu boards. In other words, assessing how many opportunities may potentially be missed in several different areas due to a lack of willingness to move on a new solution. This includes during the wait for new static menu boards to be updated and created regularly, but it also alludes to the missed chances to generate revenue via digital boards that stems from their incredible flexibility and the multiple available integrations, from tracking inventory to changing specials on the fly when an item or ingredient surplus occurs. Finally, digital menu boards offer many more ways than static boards to engage or connect with customers while they wait, ultimately enhancing their experience by reducing the perception of wait times during peak hours and generating more opportunities to up- or cross-sell.
So what’s the key to making a digital menu program work? Well, we’ve all heard the old adage that “content is king.” And in the digital world, there are very few people who would be likely to disagree. Content is one of the biggest sales drivers around, across many different markets. The other highly influencing factor is user (or customer) experience. So it should be of no surprise that digital menu boards are experiencing such a surge in popularity in the quick-service restaurant industry. They combine two of the most powerful predictors of increased sales — the potential to create compelling content, while offering a positive, memorable user experience. So, provided that the product being sold is solid, whether it’s pumpkin latte or the latest super-duper-extra bacon cheeseburger, it stands to reason that digital menu boards could be a logical next step for increasing revenue in a quick-service restaurant environment.
Come back next week when we’ll talk more about digital menu boards in QSR environments, in particular why the upfront cost of implementation should not be as big a consideration as it might initially seem (hint: ROI). And if you’ve already decided that digital menu boards are right for your business, simply request a quote online or call (800) 628-3603 today and REDYREF will be there every step of the way to ensure your company’s unique signage needs and goals are met.
Digital menu boards are everywhere. If you were hoping to be able to avoid them, we at RedyRef are here to tell you you’re out of luck. The pressure is on many quick-service and fast-casual restaurants to make the switch from standard static boards to digital menu boards or dynamic menu displays instead. It’s not just a matter of “keeping up with the Jones’” either. The fact is that making an investment in digital menu boards now makes good financial sense, especially when it comes to the pressure-cooker of tight restaurant margins (pun fully intended). Finding new ways to streamline processes while better tracking inventory, increasing customer satisfaction and engagement and — let’s be honest — just plain selling more food is imperative to keeping food service-based businesses afloat.
While there are clearly challenges to planning and deploying a new digital menu board program, the process does not need to be as difficult or complicated as it may first seem. The key to success is partnering with an experienced, vertically-integrated manufacturer like RedyRef. Come along with us as we explain over the following pages exactly how to create the perfect digital menu boards for your unique application.
Let’s start with the basics: why are restaurants adopting digital technology? Some of the reasons our customers have come to us for digital menu boards include:
Visual representation of the menu allows for multiple options in terms of food presentation. Rotating slides, 360º views, and crystal-clear graphics often make items more enticing. It allows allows QSRs to focus on items that are more profitable than others, helping to increase overall margins.
Well-organized, attractive, easy-to-read digital menus make for a better customer experience, an easier, clearer ordering process, and a more positive impression of the company overall.
Join us next week as we continue this discussion in more depth. In the meantime, if you’re ready to partner with an experienced, vertically-integrated manufacturer like RedyRef, contact us today at (800) 628-3603 today or request a quote online and we’ll be with you every step of the way to ensure that your program meets every one of your business’ unique needs, from digital boards to dynamic displays.
We’ve all heard the old adage that “content is king.” And in the digital world, there are very few people who would be likely to disagree. Content is one of the biggest sales drivers around, across many different markets. The other highly influencing factor is user (or customer) experience. So it should be of no surprise that that digital menu boards are experiencing such a surge in popularity in the quick-service restaurant industry. They combine two of the most powerful predictors of increased sales — the potential to create compelling content, while offering a positive, memorable user experience. So, provided that the product being sold is solid, whether it’s a pumpkin latte or the latest super-duper-triple bacon blue cheeseburger, it stands to reason that digital menu boards could be a logical next step for increasing revenue in QSR environments.
Some of the reasons include:
Visual representation of the menu allows for multiple options in terms of food presentation. Rotating slides, 360º views, and crystal-clear graphics often make items more enticing. It allows QSRs to focus on items that are more profitable than others, helping to increase overall margins. Well-organized, attractive, easy-to-read digital menus make for a better customer experience, an easier, clearer ordering process, and a more positive impression of the company overall.
While the decision to implement digital menu boards is not a small investment, careful planning and a complete understanding of your QSR’s objectives will go a long way toward making the investment a smart one. Come back next week when we delve more deeply into this discussion. And if you’ve already decided that digital menu boards are right for your business, simply request a quote online or call (800) 628-3603 today and REDYREF will be there every step of the way to ensure your company’s unique signage needs and goals are met.
Many people commute into busy metropolitan areas every day by car. These people know the drill — they’ve likely been driving to the same parking garage or lot in the same area of the city for a long time. Even if the commute is new at the moment, it will soon be repeated without a second thought, likely even by the week’s end. Some people even have their own reserved, prepaid numbered space or at least a pre-contracted guarantee they’ll have a place to park each day.
But it’s another thing entirely to have to deal with parking for those who visit the city infrequently, or perhaps, have never been to the area at all. There’s the stress of traffic and then the additional stress of making sure a space can be found that’s close enough to where they ultimately need to be — especially if time is of the essence. Parking garages and lots are often full, and just as frequently, garage layouts are labyrinthine in a way that is still fairly inexplicable to most people trying to navigate them. Is the traffic one way? Two way? Does this signage seriously say one must first go up to go down? And the traffic flow…wait...it crosses through the MIDDLE of the garage?? There’s a reason 20% of motor vehicle accidents happen in parking lots and garages, and it stems from a combination of stress, disorientation and distraction.
Enter digital signage. There has been a trend toward smart parking over the last couple of years, especially in large urban areas and in places where parking is a major source of revenue, such as airports, and digital signage is playing a major role as part of larger, more intelligent parking systems. These systems do a number of things, ranging from basic (digitally displaying a real-time count of the number of free parking spots available in the lot or garage) to advanced (personalized welcome messages and directions to open spaces for any individual registered for the program). This functionality goes a long way toward reducing driver stress.
Unsurprisingly, Big Data is also playing a part in smart parking systems, especially as it pertains to airport parking or lots connected to mass transit. For instance, analyzing a data set that includes flight or train schedules, total parking capacity and historical information on lot usage might allow management companies to create dynamic pricing based on day of the week and/or time of day, and update information fluidly via digital signage in real-time. Other data collected could also help enrich and personalize the end user experience. For instance, some individuals may communicate a preference for parking in a certain lot or even area of a specific lot. Over time, the parking system could “learn” this preference and use digital displays to direct the user toward empty spaces in their preferred area if they were to be available. Smart parking systems can also be integrated with customized apps, allowing users to reserve and pay for parking spots ahead of time, earn loyalty rewards or even monitor their vehicles from afar.
While the decision to implement digital signage as part of a smart parking initiative is not a small investment, careful planning and a thorough grasp of your business’ desired outcomes will go a long way toward helping you to make the right choices to meet those objectives. We invite you to submit a request for proposal online or call (800) 628-3603 today and REDYREF will be there every step of the way to ensure your company’s unique digital signage needs and goals are met.
Interactive kiosks are finding homes across a range of applications, from retail and food service to office buildings and high-rise apartments. But not-for-profit organizations — in particular, advocacy groups that have been specifically formed to support a particular cause — are beginning to utilize touchscreen kiosks successfully as well.
One of the most popular uses for interactive kiosks is fundraising. This is logical, given that these organizations often rely on the proceeds of a series of key events over the course of the year in order to ensure they are able to fund their annual operating budget. Fundraising kiosks assist in several ways. One is by offering an opportunity to potentially raise the average donation amount via fixed donation amounts. Instead of giving patrons the option to fill in the donation amount manually, using radio buttons or checkboxes to limit choices to pre-filled donation amounts based on previously-collected data and donation history can help increase the size of individual donations.
Another way to utilize touchscreen kiosks in non-profit event settings is to use them at the event’s check in. While certain events do not lend themselves to this type of use, there are plenty that do. Take a wine tasting fundraiser to benefit a local food pantry, for example. Depending on the size, there could be hundreds — if not more — in attendance. Allowing patrons to scan their tickets automatically at a kiosk is likely to be much more convenient and efficient than manning a line with a volunteer, who is juggling questions and tickets and a hand-held scanner, along with impatient event attendees. At the same time, it’s an excellent way to talk directly to patrons by asking them if they wish to donate an additional amount at the time they enter the event.
Touchscreen kiosks are also extremely helpful during the course of fundraising events. Many benefits include silent auctions or other interactive activities. Instead of requiring potential donors to use paper and pencil to bid, instead, many charities are using intelligently placed tablet kiosks to keep events running smoothly, tablets secure and to cut down on the need for individual volunteer assistance. Interactive tablet kiosks can also help attendees to explore the offerings up for bid, as well as find more information about the charity itself, the venue or the event overall.
The use of touchscreen kiosks in not-for-profit environments is growing rapidly, regardless of how it’s implemented. While certainly an investment, it can result in larger donations that enable organizations to more for their communities. Redyref understands what makes interactive kiosks work and our capabilities include not just creating the physical kiosk, but custom software to suit any need as well. We invite you to submit a request for proposal online or call (800) 628-3603 today and we will be there every step of the way to help design, fabricate and install the best possible kiosk solution for your unique needs and goals.
Although REDYREF has made its name as a provider of end-to-end kiosk and digital signage solutions, what can sometimes get lost is the full extent to which we provide these various services. For instance, the majority of kiosk companies are VARs — value-added resellers — and while they serve a purpose, for the most part, they do not engineer or fabricate kiosks themselves. Instead, they rely on a network of providers to fulfill these needs, along with any other necessary processes, from finishing to post-installation kiosk servicing. On the other hand, REDYREF both engineers and fabricates kiosk enclosures, customizes software and handles the logistics of delivery and installation as required by our clients.
Interestingly, one of the most complicated facets of kiosk and building directory design actually has very little to do with the structure of the physical enclosure, and everything to do with how it will ultimately be used, including the overall end user’s experience. While some of this is addressed in the engineering — issues such as ADA compliance, or the average user’s ability to access all of the important functionality of the kiosk or directory — it’s the customization of software that makes the kiosk fundamentally effective. A turn-key kiosk manufacturer, like REDYREF, can ensure that all of its customers' needs are met, including software, 100% in-house.
REDYREF works with our clients in-house to customize software to their exact specifications and needs, allowing for the most holistic perspective possible over the course of the kiosk design and manufacturing process. And because we understand that our clients value the ability to customize, but must do so through a lens of cost-efficiency, we are on the precipice of launching our new, cutting-edge software platform, created specifically for use in digital building directories. Based on the same principles as our enGage Kiosk software platform — fully customizable and flexible — our digital building directory software will offer an affordable opportunity to integrate custom building directory elements into a pre-configured but still highly sophisticated and user-friendly interface. In this way, we will make it possible for our clients to get the directory features they want, while staying within their stated project budget.
Still believe all kiosk companies are the same? Hopefully, we’ve convinced you otherwise. And if you’re ready to invest in digital building directories for your business, the experts at RedyRef are here to ensure that your directory deployment is a success. We invite you to submit a request for proposal online or call (800) 628-3603 today to find out how we can help you give your customers a best-in-class directory user experience.
Last week, we featured part two in a discussion about interactive kiosk UX, because although self-service is experiencing tremendous growth across multiple industries, there are still plenty of kiosk programs that ultimately fail. As many of those failures are related to poor user experience, we wanted to share some key factors that are universal to designing a best-in-class experience for end users. Today, we present the last part of our series on creating a user experience that translates into successful deployment in the field.
And with that, our series on creating world-class interactive kiosk UX has drawn to the close. Hopefully these three blogs have convinced you that RedyRef has what it takes to make your company’s self-service kiosk program a success. As an end-to-end manufacturer of vertically integrated kiosk solutions, we invite you to submit a request for proposal online or call (800) 628-3603 today to find out how we can help you give your customers the best possible user experience, too.
Last week, we began a discussion around interactive kiosk usability, because although they are experiencing massive growth across multiple industries, there are still plenty of kiosk programs that ultimately fail. And those failures are generally related to poor UX. As we said previously, there are some key factors that are universal to designing a best-in-class experience for end-users. This week, we continue to expand upon our list of considerations for creating self-service kiosk usability that translates into successful deployment in the field.
Check back next week for our final kiosk UX blog installment. In the meantime, if your business is ready to enter the brave new world of interactive kiosks now, RedyRef, an end-to-end manufacturer of vertically integrated kiosk solutions, works with companies of all sizes to ensure the success of their self-service kiosk programs. Submit a request for proposal online or call (800) 628-3603 today for more information.
There is no denying that interactive kiosks are not just here to stay, but experiencing massive growth across a number of different industries, from healthcare to food service environments. On the other hand, many kiosk projects, as well-intended as they may be, often suffer from a great deal of criticism, ultimately resulting in a very expensive program failure.
So if some interactive kiosk deployments are massively successful and others a total loss -- what makes the great ones, well...great? The answer is usability (UX). Usability that is built not just into the physical kiosk to make it universally accessible, but usability as it relates to the software that powers the kiosks and is what experts call “user experience.”
What are the key factors in creating best-in-class interactive kiosk UX with which real, live humans actually want to engage? While it will to some extent depend on how and where the kiosk will be used, there are some commonalities that apply to just about any situation.
Check back next week for more ways to create the best possible user experience via interactive kiosk deployments. In the meantime, if your business is ready to enter the brave new world of touchscreen kiosks now, RedyRef, an end-to-end manufacturer of vertically integrated kiosk solutions, works with companies of all sizes to ensure the success of their self-service kiosk programs. Submit a request for proposal online or call (800) 628-3603 today for more information.