One missing link for large-scale digital signage deployment has been the ability to quickly and finely measure its impact at the point-of-sale. While Nielsen research and numerous other studies sponsored by retailers and network operators have documented the efficacy and investment payoff of in-store narrowcasting, this sort of measurement is retrospective rather than real-time. Moreover, other than validating that signage has impact, research-based measurement is limited in its ability to “deconstruct shopper response in a granular enough way to make it actionable,” said Tom Opdycke, president and CEO of DS-IQ, in a recent interview with Digital Signage Update.
To address this measurement gap, DS-IQ recently introduced its Digital Signage Marketing Performance (DSMP) service. The Web-based hosted application service automatically measures and analyzes in-store digital ad campaigns. DS-IQ’s Web service uses machine learning to isolate the sales impact of multiple variables such as creative, ad length, day-parting, or sign placement. Charts and dashboards present detailed results, in real time, allowing marketers to track campaigns from their desktop, make rapid content modifications when appropriate, and use analysis for micro-targeting of content all the way down to store and in-store location levels.
Opdycke said his firm has spent three years in development of its Web-based application, with a development team that included the creator of the Microsoft Update infrastructure. The DS-IQ hosting environment provides enterprise-class data security and the ability to scale in support of large retail signage networks. The service masks the operational complexity of retail chains’ in-store networks and is “platform-agnostic” – it can interface with most signage and POS networks via open application programming interfaces.
The signage analytical system has been tested in numerous retail locations in partnership with an as-yet undisclosed consumer packaged goods category leader, who Opdycke says was pleased with the capability to measure signage performance metrics including at the SKU, brand, and category levels.
For more information, visit www.ds-iq.com.
