3 Ways to Measure Your Campaign Success with Digital Menu Technology

You have committed to the investment of digital menu technology. You have your restaurant menu boards installed and running engaging digital menus. You have poured all of your creativity and resources into your menu design and content. Now it’s time to see if all your effort was worth it. Understanding the impact of your video menus isn’t as simple as noting a few positive comments from customers (though that would be nice). So, how can you track and measure the effectiveness of your digital menu campaigns?

Luckily, there are several ways to gauge the success of a campaign with WAND’s digital menu boards. Use these tips to tweak your marketing strategy, optimize your displays, and make sure your business decisions are bringing you the boost in revenue that you’re looking for.

1. Compare Digital Vs. Static Campaigns

Track the results from your digital menu boards and compare them with your previous traditional marketing strategies. In what ways do your customers respond differently to interactive color monitors versus paper signage? What’s the general mood in the restaurant? Do you notice more impulse purchases of menu items highlighted with a slick image or moving graphic? In order to get a clear comparison, you’ll have to pull some data from the your static days, e.g., the month prior to implementing a digital strategy. Alongside improving non-tangible factors like ambience and energy,  digital menu technology also helps you achieve sales lift and significant increases in ticket size while simultaneously reducing marketing costs.

When you can update any part of a campaign from your computer or mobile device, you don’t need to spend money or time on printing, shipping, and other expenses. This cost savings helps you focus your attention where it needs to be. It only takes 12–18 months to reach a return on investment for digital menu technology. 

Test it yourself: Look back at the sales data from your point-of-sale (POS) system from your pre-digital menu board days. Targeting the same day of the week and daypart, compare the average ticket size of your customers. If you haven’t purchased digital menu boards yet, or if you’re considering switching providers, be sure to ask the right questions upfront. Learning what kind of ROI you can expect, on top of what customer service and support is available, is an important step in the qualifying process. For example, WAND’s ROI is crystal clear: All Enterprise customers are guaranteed a 3–6% sales lift when they work with award-winning designers to create engaging and tempting menus.

2. Test Two Different Promotions in the Same Conditions

With digital menu boards, it’s easy to swap out content for new menu items. With the click of your mouse, you can vary your promotions by location or daypart. Does one campaign do better in urban areas? How about during the lunch rush? What if a heatwave suddenly drops on a region (and an icy lemonade is too tempting not to add to an order)? 

The ease of changing out a static image on a menu display for one with movement or prominence makes testing simple. When you can take A/B testing into your own hands as conditions change in a moment’s notice, you can gather more data and insights. The more data you have, the more you can lean on and infer when making decisions down the line. 

Test it yourself: Create video and static images of an asset, like that icy glass of lemonade, and test them for a certain amount of time. Then compare data from your POS system to determine the winner and roll out that asset to all stores within minutes.

3. Make Slower Dayparts More Effective

Have you ever wondered what to do about the slower, sluggish dayparts that occur between main mealtime rushes? Digital menu technology can help you turn quiet dayparts into targeted marketing opportunities that can attract customers and drive sales.

Try it yourself: Create a specialized daypart menu, like “snack time” or “happy hour,” that highlights specific menu items or features a promotion. Compare the POS sales data from before the creation of the specialized daypart menu and make note of the average ticket size and mix of products sold.

By using the features available in WAND’s digital menu technology software in addition to the data in your POS system, it’s easy to test your campaigns and measure your results for maximum success. When you see how your content is performing, you can respond and make changes more quickly, which translates to a boost in revenue and a more satisfying customer experience.

Want help creating your next digital menu board campaign? Check out the WAND Digital Agency page to see our work in action.