The Golden Rules for Video Digital Signage

Keep video digital signage SIMPLE

Simplicity is key. You want your customers to catch your message at a glance. Keep video digital signage simple with a minimal amount of elements, a call to action (CTA) and/or a price point. That is all you need.

Formats for digital signage video

Obviously, unless you are creating video segments of your special events, creating video footage for introducing your team members—stylists for a hair salon, chefs for a restaurant, agents in a real estate office, personal trainers for a gym and the like—all video footage should be quite short. Poster animation is the preferred video style for digital signage. Poster animation refers to a video with a single scene that uses a combination of videos, images and animated elements. With digital display videos you cannot predict when an audience member will be walking past or viewing your display. As such, it is important that they will be able to understand and be engaged at any point of the video. A video with multiple scenes may require all scenes to be viewed for the message to be digested. With poster animation, the message video can be seen at any point and still be understood.

The four pillars of video design

You cannot go wrong if you keep these in mind as you create video for your digital displays.

1. Easy to digest

easy to read and understand. Your message should be understood within two to three seconds. It is a good idea to test your designs on the same size of screens you will use in the final display and view them at the same distance. Then only you will appreciate the effectiveness or weaknesses in your designs.

2. Minimal

Simple messages are strong and powerful. Using five visual elements or less in your video, with a strong focus on hierarchy will help make it easy to understand quickly. Clutter makes it difficult to deliver the message.

3. Simple animation

Avoid overloading viewers with animations that are too fast, jarring, or varied. Best practice is to use a maximum of three complimentary animation styles. Keep experimenting until you can get it right. The data collected from your deployed animations can be matched against sales performance or message effectiveness. Doing so will help you fine tune your messaging skills for maximum impact on your target audience.

4. KISS - Keep it short and sweet

People have very short attention spans. So, statistically, the best length of a video for digital signage is between five to ten seconds. Anything longer will detract from the message rather than enhance it. But of course, this is a rule of thumb. There are some situations that call for longer segments that would actually make sense.

5. Consider how your video and message will be viewed

Where will this video be displayed? Consider the three view patterns that are associated with digital displays.

• Point of Sale content may be longer because you can expect people to be standing in a line. Such videos can be used to help viewers about making a buying decision. Bargains, daily specials, discount sales are all ideal for point of sale displays.
• Point of Transit content needs to be brief and to the point because people are passing through. Think five words or less and a message that is understood easily at a glance. Same can be said about shop windows. You can use calls to action, announcements of events or reminders of day’s specials for such messaging.
• Point of Wait messaging can be a bit longer as well as more interactive. This is for people waiting in lobbies or waiting rooms—such as at a doctor’s or dental office, at a hair or nail salon or even a takeaway counter or restaurant. They are more likely to have the time and to appreciate longer videos.  Signage used at a point of wait can be longer and more interactive..

Getting the design and length is critical for your video signs. You may put-off people waiting in line if you revolve the same content quickly and they have to keep seeing it again and again. We all know how that feels! Designing videos for window displays need to consider how much of a message a person will absorb as they pass by. Make it too long and you will not be effective in passing on your message to the pedestrians. Next time you sit down to design a video message for your business’ digital displays, keep these points in mind and you can be sure to get your message across, just the way you intended.

Want to know more?

There is more to adopting digital display systems than creating effective video messages. If you want to learn more about our range of solutions in digital displays, get in touch and one of our skilled team members will get back to you. You can also get a free, no commitment test drive of Mandoe’s versatile content creation tool. You’ll see how easily you can create beautiful digital signage including video messages with our intuitive drag-and-drop signage builder. Get in touch today and turbocharge your marketing messages with Mandoe.</p