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7 Things to Know Before Choosing an Interactive Touchscreen Display for Your Business

Are you thinking of investing in an interactive touchscreen display for your business? Perhaps for a sales event or tradeshow? Or maybe for your customer sales centre or marketing suite?

We’re often approached by businesses who are initially attracted to the idea of having something informative, immersive and innovative to help showcase their products or services, bring their brand to life and keep customers engaged for longer.

However, they don’t always know what they need to be thinking about in terms of developing their own touchscreen experiences – luckily, that’s where we come in.

An interactive Touchscreen experience showcasing the homes available on Laurus Homes’ latest development

With that in mind, we thought we’d put together this blog post telling you seven important things to know before choosing an interactive touchscreen display of your own.

1. There are two main parts to interactive touchscreens

A touchscreen is made up of to two parts; the visual experience (the content, images and video etc. that you interact with) and the hardware (the screen itself).

A Touchscreen experience created for healthcare company GSK

Think of it like looking at a website – the website itself is the visual experience and you need hardware (like a PC or Mac) to view it.

As you may have guessed, the visual experience is the most important part as it needs to keep your audience engaged, and help them find the information they want in an engaging, informative and visually enticing way.

If they find the experience difficult to use or can’t find what they want, then they‘ll walk away.

image to promote a download of our touchscreen guide

2. There are a LOT of different options

When it comes to looking at the type of features and functionality you can achieve with an interactive touchscreen solution, the only limit is your imagination!

You can help users explore your content in immersive and innovative ways, reinforce important messages and tell a compelling story. You can do this with videos, quizzes, speech recognition, gesture control, facial and demographic recognition, and so much more!

For instance, object recognition is a great way of connecting the physical world to the digital, and you can create a memorable experience by making the touchscreen recognise an object you place on it, before bringing up specific content or information related to that object.

Depending on your goals, you can capture user details by letting them to email content to themselves in return for entering contact details.

So, how do you decide on the options you choose? Well, the most important thing you have to remember is…

3. Your audience always comes first

Regardless of the goals and objectives you’re looking to achieve with an interactive touchscreen display, you have to carefully consider how these will align with the goals of your target audience.

Touchscreen table ideal for bringing to life plans for a housing development in Ebbsfleet Garden City’s consultation suite

After all, they’re the ones who are going to be using it. If they don’t find your experience appealing, then they’ll probably just walk away, and your investment will potentially be lost.

Think about who your audience is, what they’ll be looking for, and the type of features they’re going to find useful and engaging. For instance, if you’re looking for them to fill out a lead capture form, what can you provide them with that’ll persuade them to take that vital next step?

Interactive touchscreen experiences can be unique, engaging, immersive and memorable.

But above all else, you have to make it fun!

4. Choosing an experienced touchscreen specialist is vital

By ‘touchscreen specialist’, we mean an interactive agency or developer who has experience of creating interactive touchscreen solutions with the audience front of mind. This is opposed to, say, someone who specialises in providing just hardware – or even a software or web developer.

Believe us, this can make a big difference. A touchscreen experience is completely different from creating a website, or even a smartphone app. The screens tend to be much bigger and this impacts on the whole look and feel and how navigation and content needs to be displayed. As well as the way people interact with large screens which is different to smartphones.

Getting these elements right help to create a truly memorable and unique experience that is unique to you and your audience – rather than a one-size-fits-all template, or an experience that’s similar to just browsing a website (which can be a bit dull).

image to promote a download of our touchscreen guide

The best thing to do is to speak to two or three touchscreen specialists, and ask to see examples of their previous work (but more about that below).

5. Interactive touchscreens typically take 8 – 12 weeks to develop

And for the most complex touchscreen solutions, maybe even longer.

How long it takes to develop your interactive touchscreen display will really depend on how complex you want it to be, and the type of features and functionality you want to include.

If you’re unsure of exactly what you’re looking to achieve, or how long it might take, it’s always a good idea to approach a touchscreen specialist well ahead of time (up to six months!) to get a better idea of timeframes, along with some advice and guidance.

TIP: For a better idea of timescales and a more detailed idea of what’s involved when developing your touchscreen solution, check out our recent blog: How Long Will an Interactive Touchscreen Solution Take to Develop?

6. Your touchscreen solution can be futureproofed / editable

Well, only if you’d like it to be. Many of our clients find the idea of being able to update their touchscreen experience and keeping their content fresh, quite appealing – as it can mean you’ll be getting more out of your investment in the long-term.

This is something you should ask your touchscreen specialist about, as being able to update your interactive touchscreen yourself is usually preferable to having to rely on an agency to keep coming back and updating it for you.

If you’re looking to adapt and modify your solution for future use, a touchscreen specialist will be able to advise you on how this can be achieved, and what your options are.

7. A touchscreen experience can cost around £15,000

However, the cost could be considerably more if you want some very specialised interactivity or complex videowall interactives – and that’s not including the hardware!

Just like the time it takes to develop a touchscreen solution, the cost you pay will really depend on the types of features and functionality you want to include – as well as how complex you want to make your experience.

If you have a specific budget in mind, an interactive touchscreen specialist should be able to help talk you through your options and find ways to make it work.

Advice on developing an interactive touchscreen display

As we mentioned above, if you’re looking to develop an interactive touchscreen solution – or even just find out more about what’s possible first – you should speak to two or three different touchscreen specialists.

They should be able to show you previous examples of their work and speak to you in-depth about what you’re ultimately looking to achieve. Not only should they listen to your needs, but they’ll also be able to ask all the right questions to help you find the best option.

We find this is one of the most vital stages we go through with our clients, as many of them simply aren’t aware of some of the amazing possibilities that can really shape their solution, and how those features can be implemented into an innovative and enjoyable experience.

Last but not least, if there’s a feature you’d absolutely love to have, but you’re just not sure if it’s going to be possible – don’t be afraid to ask! Dreaming big never hurt anyone.

Find out more about touchscreen solutions

Thanks for reading, and we hope this article has helped shed a bit more light on some of the most important things to consider before choosing an interactive touchscreen solution for your business.

If you’d like to find out more about what’s possible when developing your own touchscreen solution, we’d recommend seeking out a touchscreen specialist – or even two or three – to help talk you through your options.

That’s exactly what’s on offer at POP. We have a wealth of experience providing touchscreen development for clients in a wide range of sectors. Did you have any more specific questions about any of the points we’ve mentioned above? If so, please do get in touch on +44 (0)117 329 1712 or hello@popcomms.com – we promise to reply with something helpful!

image to promote a download of our touchscreen guide
 
If you’ve got an idea and want to chat it through then just get in touch. Or give us a call 🤙 on 0117 329 1712.
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