Finding the Best Interactive Touchscreen Display Developer for Your Project

Are you searching for someone to develop the best interactive touchscreen display for your business? Perhaps you would like to create a touchscreen for an event or exhibition, or maybe something more permanent, such as a customer sales centre or marketing suite?

If so, you may already have an idea that a touchscreen developer or specialist might be the best route to go down – or perhaps you just haven’t a clue where to start!

Many clients who approach us want to be able to showcase their products, services and brand and tell a story in an immersive and innovative way, but when it comes to developing that idea into reality, it can seem a bit daunting.

In fact, there may be some elements that you haven’t even considered yet, but would be helpful to know before approaching a developer or specialist.

As touchscreen specialists who have helped many clients bring their ideas into reality, we thought we’d put together this blog post to give you some tips on where to start when finding the best interactive touchscreen display developer for your project.

1. Think carefully about your goals, objectives and audience

The first thing to consider – preferably before you approach an interactive touchscreen display developer or specialist – is what you’re looking to achieve with your touchscreen experience, as well as how those goals line up with those of your intended audience.

For instance, perhaps you’re looking to raise awareness of a new product, give people detailed insights, or gather leads as part of a wider marketing campaign.

Whatever you’re looking to achieve, you have to think about how you can create a memorable, engaging and immersive experience that’s going to persuade or compel users into taking the action you need.

A good example is if you were looking for them to fill out a data capture form. What could you provide that will make them want to fill in their details? Perhaps you could allow them to send key information, videos or PDFs to themselves via email.

↑ In this touchscreen for the National Library of Scotland, visitors are able to provide contextual feedback. 

2. Consider the hardware and surrounding space

Another important aspect to consider is what you’re going to need hardware-wise. Think carefully about the space your interactive touchscreen is going into, how you’d like people to physically interact with your experience, and what physical requirements you’ll need.

For instance, will there be WiFi in the space? Perhaps you’ll need your touchscreen to interact with other things in the room or over the internet – such as changing the lighting, or displaying different content on a video wall.  

You may already have envisioned people using touch tables, bespoke screens, kiosks or podiums, but if not, this is a good thing to have in mind when approaching a touchscreen specialist, as it will help give them a better overall idea of the brief.

Not sure what all your options are? Then, your next step is to contact a touchscreen specialist (preferably more than one!) for some free, impartial advice.

Tip: You could also check out our recent blog post: things you should know before choosing an interactive touchscreen solution for your business.

3. Seek out 2 – 3 touchscreen specialists

It’s important to seek out a touchscreen specialist or developer who has specialist experience in creating engaging and immersive touchscreen experiences – rather than someone who focuses on supplying the hardware, or even a web or software developer.

The reason behind this is that touchscreen experiences are entirely different to developing websites and even apps. There’s so much to consider when making an experience interactive and engaging for users, the larger size of the screen alone means the whole layout of the design, content and navigation needs to be handled differently from a website..

Keeping content fun and engaging is key, so that you can end up with a truly memorable and unique experience that’s completely bespoke to your brand and audience – rather than a one-size-fits-all template – or your website on a touchscreen.

We’d recommend speaking to two or three different touchscreen specialists, and seeing how they can help you. They should be able to ask you all the right questions to get a better overall picture of what you’re looking to achieve.

And if you’re not quite ready to take the plunge yet, you can at least hopefully benefit from their advice and guidance, so you can be more prepared when the time comes.

4. Ask them the following vital questions

As well as asking you all the right questions, you should also be prepared to ask your chosen touchscreen specialist:

1. What experience do they have in developing interactive touchscreen solutions?
2. Do they specialise in developing experiences rather than just hardware supply?
3. Can they also provide you with hardware, or will you have to go elsewhere?
4. Will your interactive touchscreen display be bespoke to your brand?
5. Can your interactive content be updateable/futureproof? (If you need it to be)
6. What are the steps they’ll go through to create your touchscreen experience?
7. What will they need from you in order to deliver the end result?
8. Do they have the necessary in-house design and user experience (UX) skills?
9. How much can you roughly expect to spend on your touchscreen solution?
10. Roughly how long can you expect your touchscreen solution to take?

It’s also important to be able to see some examples of their best interactive displays, and get a good feel for them as a company. Hopefully they should be open enough with you to answer all of the questions above to the best of their ability, and carefully listen to your needs.

Some of these questions may not be as straightforward to answer at this stage (such as how long it’ll take, for example), but if you decide to go ahead, you should at least get a better idea of timescales once they’ve gotten back to you with a more detailed proposal.

Which brings us to our next point…

5. Look over their proposal and ensure it covers your needs

After carefully discussing your needs and (hopefully) asking you all the right questions, a touchscreen specialist should be able to go away and come up with a proposal for your interactive touchscreen solution.

This proposal should include:

• A detailed quote that should cover all costs for the project (no hidden extras)
• Estimated timescales for your project, including a final delivery date
• A moodboard showing you visual examples to help illustrate their ideas for your touchscreen experience
• A project plan including what to expect in terms of sign-off stages, when you’ll need to provide content and what to expect at different stages of the project

This information should help give you a better idea of everything the project should entail, including what’s expected of you as the client (hopefully they will do most of the heavy-lifting for you!).

Advice from a touchscreen specialist

When choosing the best interactive touchscreen display developer for your project, it’s important to choose someone who is not only communicative and can show you previous examples of their work, but who can also take the time to listen to you and thoroughly understand your needs.

They should hopefully be able to make you feel at ease, and ask you all the right questions so that they can provide you with a detailed proposal that tells you exactly what to expect not only from their side of things, but also what will be expected of you as the client.

Only then should you make the decision to go forward, for a (hopefully) mutually beneficial relationship – and a visually engaging, immersive interactive solution that your customers – or visitors – will love.

Speak to the experts at POPcomms

Looking for an interactive touchscreen developer to help you create an innovative and engaging experience for your business?

If so, we hope the above advice is helpful. It’s always beneficial to think about your goals and objectives, as well as physical requirements, before contacting a touchscreen specialist – and when you do finally speak to someone, be sure they ask you all the right questions. As well as answering yours!

Do you have any more specific questions about finding the right interactive touchscreen developer for your project? Get in touch today on +44 (0)117 329 1712 or hello@popcomms.com.