What are Some Top Considerations Around Implementing Wayfinding Solutions?
It’s easy to take the daily advantages that wayfinding signage provides us for granted. From navigating our way through intricate airport facilities, to finding out which floor you’re supposed to be on within a complex hospital campus, wayfinding solutions are practically ingrained in our everyday lives. In fact, the only thing that’s odd in regards to today’s wayfinding systems is when we don’t encounter an interactive digital signage display or wayfinding kiosk station.
So what drives businesses away from investing in such wayfinding solutions? There are a variety of preconceived notions when it comes to determining why companies in different industries are hesitant to embrace the customer satisfaction-advantages that successful digital wayfinding strategies can provide. Expenses, relevance, accessibility; all of these factors are commonly brought up as reasons of skepticism for implementing such wayfinding technologies into their daily operations. But are these doubts warranted?
The truth about wayfinding software is that practically every business in any industry could benefit from their presence. To confront any skeptics hesitant to explore the advantages wayfinding technologies have to offer, let’s break down four of the top myths regarding the implementation of wayfinding solutions.
Consideration No. 1: Considering the Cost
Every company has their own concerns and reluctances when it comes to spending money. But when businesses are weary of investing in wayfinding software, they’re failing to comprehend all the ROI aspects of their investment.
For starters, implementing wayfinding technologies into your company’s operations can prove to have its expensive upfront costs. However, the ROI overtime will most likely offset those initial expenses, while maintenance-related costs after installing a wayfinding system tend to be extremely minimal. Second, it’s crucial to approach wayfinding software as a combination of enhancing customer experience while promoting brand awareness.
Finally, wayfinding digital signage can even bring in revenue for your business through on-screen advertising, meaning over time a wayfinding kiosk station or digital signage display can practically pay for itself! This is why wayfinding software should be viewed as an essential amenity and not a risky expenditure.
Consideration No. 2: Placement is King
There’s a functional beauty to simplicity that often fails to register amidst any process of technological implementation. A ‘more means better’ attitude is far too often applied to the design and execution of wayfinding strategies, when in reality, too many digital signage displays or an overload of wayfinding content will more often than not confuse or dissuade the user.
Quantity and placement of your digital signage or wayfinding screens weighs heavily on the size and spacing of your working environment, as well as assessing customer needs. If you’re managing a massive, complex campus, you’ll need to make the necessary decisions on determining how many screens in each location are necessary to prevent lines, avoid congestion, and improve the flow of foot traffic
However, even if your facilities require more screens than smaller offices, placement over quantity can still be applicable. The bottom line is that proficient wayfinding systems should be simple, accessible, and straight forward. If a patient in a hospital looks up and sees a bombardment of signs pointing in every direction, as well as a collage of legends and symbols attempting to outline the facilities, it’s safe to say they’ll feel overwhelmed, at the least. It’s important to be as concise and direct as possible when implementing your company’s wayfinding solutions.
Consideration No. 3: Keeping Content Under Control
If you're hesitant to invest in wayfinding solutions due to an incredulity toward creating, uploading, and managing content, it’s time to move past this fallacy. Wayfinding content design and development has never been easier to create and apply to digital signage displays or interactive kiosk stations, especially when you work with a digital wayfinding content provider. They’ll be able to provide you with the necessary content support through a variety of strategies, including:
● Implementing a proper CMS system to make content entry and management easier
● Offer professional content management training to employees in regards to utilizing the content uploading and management services
● Provide ongoing support for content management to lessen employee workloads
An in-house agency will be able to equip your wayfinding software with custom, pixel-perfect content that’s entirely relevant to your customers’ needs, as well as your branding.
Consideration No. 4: Is Digital Wayfinding Right For Your Business?
There are certainly business owners who are weary of implementing wayfinding solutions into their company’s operations simply because they don’t see how it applies to their business. Aside from providing customers with an optimal navigational resource, wayfinding technologies offer a wide variety of services and provisions that are applicable to industries that experience a high volume of customers or guests, own or operate large, complex facilities, or are looking to reduce general staff distractions.
Digital signage displays or interactive kiosk stations are also proactive solutions to promote more engagement amongst customers, while also serving to provide more accessibility to customers living with disabilities or language barriers. They can create a more independent customer experience as a self-serve resource for everything from mapping up routes, checking-in or signing-up, or utilizing mobile app development to syncopate wayfinding solutions on smartphones. The bottom line is that wayfinding software and technologies are engineered to help any business go above and beyond when it comes to providing exceptional customer service.
Contact Oppna Digital for Professional Wayfinding Solutions
At the end of the day, it can be hard to see how digital wayfinding services can apply to your business if you have little to no experience with them. At Oppna Digital, we’ll sit down directly with you to evaluate your digital wayfinding needs, and provide custom wayfinding designs, content, and solutions that we can fully integrate into your current business operations. Contact us today to learn more about all of our wayfinding software solutions, or call us at 651.237.5677 for immediate assistance.