Brands are discovering that touch screen kiosk marketing data offers valuable information to fuel better customer interactions and omnichannel experiences.
In the age of mobile-enabled grocery delivery and real-time smart home ordering services, many brick-and-mortar brands are installing digital self-service kiosks to make the customer experience more seamless. In France, over half of large stores offer interactive displays, and digital kiosks and tablets are becoming increasingly common in stores, restaurants, and airports in major U.S. markets.
Consumers enjoy having access to these technologies, too. Seventy-eight percent say they would like to see more on-site digital tools to help enhance in-person purchases, and more than 60% say they prefer self-service tools like digital kiosks.
Self-service kiosks provide convenience for customers, but they also provide advantages to brands trying to improve their data-backed marketing activities. Many brands find this touch screen kiosk marketing data indispensable because it can provide a more reliable, owned source for capturing first-party data, empower personalized recommendations that improve over time, and connect channels to facilitate an omnichannel experience.
Learn more about these benefits and how self-service digital kiosks are improving consumer experiences while providing marketers with valuable data insights.
Touch Screen Kiosks Provide an Owned Source of Customer Data
In an era where a huge portion of consumer data comes from third-party services and sources, self-service kiosks can generate direct, owned data for customer interactions. Kiosk engagements also offer measurable data for marketing touchpoints in ways that in-store signage or employee interactions can’t.
When customers use digital kiosks, the data they generate “can prove instrumental in determining which marketing messages are most effective, which product offerings are most compelling, and even whether sign-up forms are too complicated.” During kiosk browsing, customers leave a digital trail that provides measurable information on things like their browsing path, time spent on each screen, and the effectiveness of in-store offers.
For instance, asking someone to sign in or enter personal information on a kiosk provides an instant way to capture demographic data on a retail customer. A customer who interacts with a kiosk can complete this information more comfortably – and often more honestly – than when asked for their information at the register. Additionally, digital questionnaires can help standardize and structure data by offering customers a discrete list of options as opposed to open-ended questions.
Compared to pen-and-paper or in-person interactions, kiosks can reveal dark spots in the customer journey and generate contextualized data that can be used to improve omnichannel marketing. Something as simple as asking for someone to self-identify can connect their online account with their physical in-store sales, breaking down silos between online and offline consumer activity.
Airports have begun to use this strategy to connect airline customers with services such as food and beverages. By requesting someone to scan their flight number on a self-service tablet, an airport can send an alert for updated departure or gate information to the traveler. In return, the service provider can connect detailed, granular information about purchase habits and track patterns between flight times, delays, layovers, and traveler purchases – all without requiring a separate personal ID.
Self-Service Kiosks Can Guide Store Decisions and Empower Personalization
Whether generated through anonymous interactions or following a sign-in process, kiosks can provide tailored recommendations that help guide customer orders.
One major retailer uses the technology to help guide toy purchases for inexperienced shoppers. Describing the engagement, a journalist said the system asked: Do you want a gift? Yes, I want a gift. Is it for a boy or girl, or it could be either. Choose either. Pick the age you want. Then it recommended a best seller based on the user’s selections.
Exchanges like these can improve the retail experience while leaving behind granular customer data. Recommendations can be measured by their effectiveness, and over time the success/fail rate of these recommendations can inform personalization on other channels, such as retail websites.
McDonald’s has begun installing high-tech digital menu kiosks that not only help to make ordering quicker but also promote natural upsells and cross-sell recommendations that increase order size. Someone ordering a sandwich is now automatically offered a combo, a dessert, or another upsell. Trends in successful upsells can lead to even more optimized offers over time, especially for customers logging in for “remember my favorite order” functions.
Some fast-food brands have even discovered new menu possibilities through custom self-ordering systems. “We started using kiosks, and suddenly, customers began to realize all the options they had,” said one self-service kiosk vendor. “They hadn’t realized they could put jalapenos and sour cream on a burger before that.”
Touch Screen Kiosk Marketing Data Enhances the Omnichannel Experience While Melding Online/Offline
Kiosks can make a true omnichannel marketing approach more feasible thanks to owned technology and confirmable customer IDs through login systems.
Bridging online and offline interactions is a key aspect of this capability. A brick-and-mortar retailer who hopes to grow online sales can offer consistent shopping carts using customer logins. A customer can add items to a cart online and retrieve the shopping list in-store, or add items of interest seen in-store to their kiosk cart and purchase them later online. “We’re here to connect people with the right product and inspiration either to buy [online] or to go shop later in the store,” said an omnichannel experience manager.
Kiosk-like technology can even integrate data within non-digital customer touchpoints, such as customer interactions with human sales associates. One high-end jeweler uses a tablet system at a mall location where inventory space is limited. Customers can view all inventory items displayed clearly on the tablet, as well as examples of customization options for each piece. These interactions are stored both on a customer account and as anonymized data to inform future approaches to sales.
As consumers move steadily toward a more seamless, connected purchasing journey, integrating devices such as digital kiosks into traditional retail environments will allow brands to market more effectively and realize higher returns. Combined with the other advantages self-service kiosks offer, customers can bridge the gap between digital and physical shopping while enjoying more personalized experiences than ever before.