Expanding Your ROI: 15 Powerful Digital Signage Use Cases

How Digital Signage Delivers Measurable ROI

When we talk about ROI, it comes in two forms, both of which are critical for your business:

• Hard ROI: These are the direct, measurable financial gains. Think:
  • Reducing or eliminating printing costs (for static posters, menus, safety banners, and HR flyers).
  • Increasing sales in a retail store through dynamic promotions and upselling.
  • Saving employee time (e.g., no more chaos finding room availability).
• Soft ROI: These are invaluable benefits that build a stronger, more efficient business. Think:
  • Improved employee engagement and reduced turnover.
  • Enhanced brand perception for visitors and customers.
  • Increased safety, compliance, and risk mitigation.

As you read these use cases, think about which forms of ROI you could unlock.

What is Digital Signage? A Refresher

At its core, digital signage refers to a system that uses digital displays (like digital screens, smart TVs, or video walls) to show dynamic digital content. This can include videos, images, web pages, and real-time data.

Unlike traditional static posters, a digital signage system allows you to manage digital signage remotely, scheduling content and making instant updates across multiple screens—whether they’re in one building or in different locations around the world.

This is all managed through a digital signage software or digital signage platform. This one platform is the brain of your operation, giving you full control over your entire network of displays.

The Core Components of a Digital Signage System

Before exploring the digital signage use cases, it’s helpful to understand the components. A modern solution avoids a complicated setup and typically includes three parts:

• 1. Digital Signage Software: This is the content management hub. A user-friendly platform (like Arreya) is a cloud-based specialized software that lets you handle content creation, scheduling, and device management from any web browser.
• 2. Digital Displays: These are the screens your audience sees. This can be anything from a single smart TV, a tablet at a meeting room entrance, or a massive, eye-catching video wall in a lobby.
• 3. Media Players: A media player is a small device that connects your digital displays to your digital signage software via the internet. (Note: Some smart TVs have this built-in, and solutions like the Arreya Signage Stick combine the media player and software into one simple device).

15 Powerful Digital Signage Use Cases to Maximize Your ROI

You may have started with one screen, but your digital signage platform is built to scale. Expanding your network is the best way to maximize your investment. Here are 15 high-impact digital signage use cases to inspire your content strategy.

1. Enhance Corporate & Internal Communications

This is one of the most valuable digital signage use cases. It’s the most effective way of ensuring employees who are not at a desk (on manufacturing floors or in healthcare) see crucial information.

• How it works: Place screens in high-traffic areas like breakrooms, cafeterias, and production floors.
• Content to display: Celebrate employee achievements, display safety alerts, share company news, and reinforce HR deadlines. This dramatically reduces email clutter and builds culture.
• ROI Impact: This delivers soft ROI by boosting morale, building culture, and ensuring 100% of your workforce is informed, reducing confusion and errors.

2. Deploy Instant Emergency & Safety Alerts

When a critical event happens, you need to communicate instantly. Digital signage is the perfect tool for this.

3. Streamline Meeting Room Management

Stop conference room confusion. Digital signage outside meeting room entrances provides a clear, real-time source of truth.

• How it works: Integrate your signage software directly with your existing calendar system (like Google Calendar or Microsoft 365).
• Content to display: Show real-time meeting room schedules, room availability, and details for upcoming events. Interactive digital signage (touchscreens) can even allow employees to book a room on the spot.
• ROI Impact: This delivers hard ROI by saving hundreds of employee-hours per year that are wasted searching for rooms, reducing frustration and improving meeting efficiency.

4. Display Real-Time Data & KPI Dashboards

Motivate your teams by showing them the score. Digital signage is the perfect way to visualize real-time data for everyone to see.

• How it works: Securely connect your software to your business data sources (like Power BI, spreadsheets, or internal APIs).
• Content to display: Show live data dashboards for your sales team (tracking quarterly goals), production metrics on manufacturing floors, or call center wait times.
• ROI Impact: A clear hard ROI by driving performance. When teams see live data, they are more motivated to hit their goals, increasing productivity and output.

5. Create Dynamic Digital Menu Boards

A classic use case for a reason. Digital menu boards are essential for any food service operation, from a retail store cafe to a corporate cafeteria.

• How it works: Manage cafeteria menus from your central content management system.
• Content to display: Easily update content for breakfast, lunch, and dinner specials. Show nutritional information and pricing, and make instant changes if an item sells out, which is impossible with static displays and helps reduce paper waste.
• ROI Impact: This provides immediate hard ROI by completely eliminating printing costs (no more paper waste) and giving you the flexibility to promote high-margin items to increase sales.

6. Boost Sales in Retail Stores

In a retail store, digital displays capture attention and drive sales. Their visual impact is far greater than static posters.

• How it works: Use eye-catching video content near entrances or high-margin products.
• Content to display: Promote sales, showcase new products, or use interactive digital signage as an “endless aisle” to let customers browse products that aren’t in stock.
• ROI Impact: This is a direct-to-revenue hard ROI. It drives sales, improves the customer’s in-store experience, and increases foot traffic to specific zones.

7. Improve the Visitor Experience (Wayfinding & Lobbies)

Make a powerful first impression and help people find their way. Digital signage in reception areas or waiting areas  transforms the visitor experience.

• How it works: Use large digital screens or video walls to display branded content. Use interactive digital signage for wayfinding.
• Content to display: Welcome messages, company videos, social media feeds, or interactive directories that help visitors check in and find their destination.
• ROI Impact: This is a powerful soft ROI. It enhances your brand professionalism and reduces frustration for visitors, creating a positive, efficient first impression.

8. Manage & Promote Live Events

Build excitement and keep attendees informed during live events, trade shows, or corporate town halls.

• How it works: Schedule content to build anticipation for upcoming events. During the event, show live schedules and social feeds.
• Content to display: Agendas, speaker bios, room changes, maps, and live social media feeds using a specific event hashtag.
• ROI Impact: A strong soft ROI by creating a more professional, engaging, and smoothly-run event. It also offers hard ROI by saving on printed event materials.

9. Create Living Digital Donor Walls & Hall of Fames

For non-profits and healthcare foundations, digital signage offers a modern way to honor contributors that goes far beyond a static plaque.

• How it works: Use interactive digital signage to create a “living” wall that tells your organization’s story.
• Content to display: Recognize donors (and allow them to find their names), share powerful stories of your mission’s impact, and show real-time updates on fundraising campaign progress.
• ROI Impact: This delivers soft ROI by strengthening donor relationships and hard ROI by inspiring new donations and showing the immediate impact of contributions.

10. Strengthen Education & Campus Communication

Universities and small businesses alike use digital signage to create a connected campus and keep students or employees informed.

• How it works: Place screens in libraries, student unions, and building lobbies.
• Content to display: Upcoming events, meeting room availability for study rooms, emergency alerts, cafeteria menus, and inspirational quotes.
• ROI Impact: This delivers hard ROI by replacing thousands of paper flyers and soft ROI by creating a safer, more connected, and modern campus environment.

11. Integrate Social Media Feeds

Displaying social media content builds community and provides a constant stream of fresh, engaging digital content.

• How it works: Most digital signage software has integrations that pull in feeds from platforms like Instagram, X (Twitter), or Facebook.
• Content to display: Show off positive customer posts, employee spotlights, or user-generated content from an event hashtag.
• ROI Impact: A high-value soft ROI that builds brand trust and community with authentic, real-time content, all with minimal content creation effort.

12. Share Internal HR & Company Culture Info

Digital signage is a powerful tool for HR, perfect for reaching 100% of your workforce.

• How it works: Use pre-built templates to quickly deploy professionally designed content.
• Content to display: Benefits enrollment deadlines, wellness tips, job openings, and celebrating employee achievements.
• ROI Impact: This is a crucial soft ROI. It improves employee retention and engagement by making every team member feel seen, valued, and informed.

13. Display Industry News & Stock Tickers

Establish your brand as an authority and provide value in financial, corporate, or reception areas.

• How it works: Many platforms integrate with live news or stock feeds.
• Content to display: Show relevant industry news, live market data, or weather forecasts alongside your branded content.
• ROI Impact: A simple soft ROI that positions your brand as professional and informative, improving the visitor experience in waiting areas.

14. Control Content Across Different Locations

The power of a cloud-based digital signage system is the ability to manage multiple displays in different locations from one platform.

• How it works: Group your screens by location, department, or purpose.
• Content to display: Push corporate-wide messages (like safety alerts) to all screens, while also allowing a local manager to update content for their specific retail store or office.
• ROI Impact: This delivers hard ROI through massive operational efficiency. It saves countless hours of labor by eliminating the need to manage different screens one by one.

15. Manage User Permissions for Security & Scale

As you scale, you need to control who can do what. A robust digital signage platform provides full control over user permissions.

• How it works: Assign roles (like Admin, Creator, or Scheduler) to different users.
• Content to display: This allows your corporate marketing team to lock down branding elements while giving a department manager permission to update only their team’s KPI dashboard or meeting room schedules.
• ROI Impact: This is a soft ROI of security and scalability. It empowers your team to update content quickly while protecting your brand, reducing the risk of errors.