Digital Signage KPIs: Choosing the Right Metrics to Calculate Impact

The ability to measure what matters sets winning marketing programs apart from those that only look good in a deck. The right KPIs are central to this success, moving data collection beyond simple performance tracking to reveal what's driving results and where businesses should invest next.

Companies that consistently use robust KPIs in their business performance reviews are 27% more likely to outperform their industry peers over five years. But when it comes to measuring digital signage outcomes, many brick and mortar businesses lack clear metrics that can connect in-store media to business results. 

In truth, digital display technology has expanded more quickly than the tools needed to measure its impact – same goes for retail media. Let’s explore how businesses can approach digital signage KPIs today, and how you can prepare for the future of performance measurement.

Tracking What Matters: Key Digital Signage Metrics

The good news: digital signage metrics align with KPIs you're probably already tracking. 

Impressions

For digital displays, an impression refers to someone viewing the screen. As you can imagine, efficiently tracking this event requires technology of some kind – for example, sensors, camera analytics, or foot traffic counters.

Keep in mind that impression data only tells a partial story. While a screen near your entrance might log 5,000 impressions per day, that number only becomes meaningful in relation to conversion rates or sales data. As part of a larger picture, impression counts can help businesses uncover the relationship between what in-location visitors see and how they behave. 

Interaction Rate

Whereas an impression implies passive contact with your messaging, an interaction signals active engagement. Interactions with digital signage include touches, QR code scans, gesture responses, and near field communication (or NFC) taps. Again, technology is necessary to quantify these engagements – think touchscreens, camera-based gesture detection, or mobile integrations.

The desire for this type of measurement is expanding, with the global market for gesture recognition in retail, for example, projected to grow 18% between 2025 and 2032. It should be noted that, while interaction with digital signage is certainly desirable, this count doesn’t directly equate to customer value. Take a cosmetics display with product tutorials that sees 15-20% interaction rates – wayfinding signage would have much lower engagement, but still serves an essential purpose in a store. 

Conversion Rate

A conversion rate tied to digital signage captures the percentage of viewers who took a desired action (i.e., made a purchase) after seeing or interacting with your display. Without literally following a visitor from entry to exit, conversions can be difficult to accurately nail down. Some methods for automated conversion tracking include customer movement monitoring, dwell time analysis, and POS correlation.

Despite the complexity of obtaining this metric, it is perhaps the most significant for determining the true value of your digital signage (also as a starting point for meaningful experiments and adjusting strategy). The more specific you can be with this KPI, the better. As an example, if you have the technology to do so, you might track customers who spend 10+ seconds viewing your promotional display, and then correlate that with purchases of featured items within the next 30 minutes.

Dwell Time

For digital signage KPIs, dwell time refers to how long people engage with your signage. This could include an impression or interaction, or visitors passing within a specific square footage range of your messaging. Dwell time can be a meaningful indicator of content relevance and quality of engagement. 

Common tools for measuring dwell time at brick and mortar businesses include video surveillance, computer vision, and sensors. Keep in mind that more dwell time isn’t always better – the type of content you display should help establish targets. Case in point: A 5-second dwell time might be perfect for a directional sign, but a product demo video should hold attention for 30+ seconds. 

Sales Lift

A sales lift from digital signage will capture the increase in sales for products or services promoted on displays. To document lift, you’ll need access to a meaningful baseline – for example, begin tracking relevant sales 4-6 weeks before signage is implemented. 

Because a variety of factors related to digital signage can influence sales lift, plan to implement A/B testing to compare performance based on screen locations or time periods. Analysis should also be time-based if your screen runs through different content. Use concrete numbers – for example, can you measure a sales lift for digital signage promoting seasonal items over the last month compared to control stores without displays? 

Customer Satisfaction

Ultimately, digital signage should enhance customer experience and satisfaction – and assessing this may be the easiest KPI metric to start with. To measure customer satisfaction with displays, businesses can use surveys, feedback forms, reviews, and direct questions, collecting a mix of qualitative and quantitative data. 

Questions should be simple and actionable – such as, did our displays help you find what you needed? This data can help to inform content strategy as well as display placement to ensure your signage serves visitors, in addition to ideally driving growth.

A quick note on privacy: Several of these KPIs require some degree of consumer surveillance. A study that involved face-reading software for personalization in retail showed that disclosing the use of this technology diminished any positive impact. As you consider tools that monitor visitors (and create new pathways for personalization), prioritizing customer experience and trust is a good rule of thumb. 

Building Your Measurement Strategy

As you create or refine a measurement strategy, consider starting with three to five core metrics and expanding as you go. The digital signage KPIs you prioritize will depend on available resources (tech and team) and company goals – and the mix will look different for every business.

Organizations that align their performance metrics with business objectives see measurable improvements in operational efficiency 70% of the time. For digital signage KPIs, that means choosing metrics that directly connect to relevant targets (whether that's foot traffic, sales lift, or customer engagement).

The key is consistency. Track the same metrics over time so you can spot trends, identify what's working, and justify continued investment. 

Industry-Specific KPI Benchmarks

The results you monitor and what success looks like will vary depending on your industry and vertical. Here are a few examples:

• Restaurants/QSRs: Businesses in the food and beverage space that use digital menus might track how quickly menu items sell out, average ticket size, or speed of service. Specifically, you could track if menu promotions resulted in more upsell opportunities.

• Grocery: The impact of digital signage for grocery stores can be measured by factors including time-of-day promotions, department traffic, and basket size. A grocery team might compare deli sales during lunch to purchases during dinner promotions. 

• Higher Education: With digital signage for higher education, leaders may track wayfinding effectiveness, event attendance, or campus engagement. As an example, has the institution received fewer requests for directions at the info desk?

• Retail: For digital signage in retail, primary KPIs would likely include conversion rates, dwell time, and promotional lift. For example, a retailer might track fitting room traffic after launching outfit suggestion displays. 

KPIs for Retail Media: The Measurement Challenge

Retail media is top of mind for businesses looking to unlock new revenue streams with partner advertising – and digital signage is the physical manifestation of retail media networks (RMNs). While Amazon generates upwards of $47 billion annually from digital ads, forward-thinking retailers are using in-store digital signage to capture similar value from their physical locations – with profit margins predicted to reach 70-90% by 2026.

The challenges of measurement mirror those of digital signage, with an added twist – businesses that run ads as part of an RMN are responsible not only to their own stakeholders but also to advertising partners who anticipate ROI. Given that only 32% of marketers can measure holistically across channels, quantifying the success of retail media is difficult at best.

Complexities related to RMNs include that: 

• Most retail media networks use siloed in-platform tools. With data living in separate dashboards (RMN, POS, digital signage), cross-channel analysis is difficult without the proper integrations.

• Few standards for measurement exist in this emerging field, although industry bodies like IAB pushing for them.

• Third-party brands require performance tracking for their investment, so the retailer needs to ensure that independent measurement is available. But as it stands, retail media networks often wind up grading their own homework.

Luckily, digital signage offers trackable, verifiable data you control. As the retail media ecosystem continues to evolve, your digital signage KPIs have the capacity to clearly capture in-store impact. 

Getting Started: First 90 Days

As you implement new digital signage KPIs, the following 90-day roadmap can help keep with managing the process.

Within the first 30 days, you’ll want to:

• Document current performance

• Establish baseline measurements before new content goes live

• Choose 3-5 core metrics to track initially

• Set up tracking systems and integrations

Within the first 60 days, it will be important to:

• Review initial data from your chosen metrics

• Make a first round of content/placement adjustments

• Begin identifying patterns across locations

Within the first 90 days, be sure to:

• Compare performance across locations or campaigns

• Identify best practices and future A/B tests

• Decide which advanced metrics to add next

• Present initial findings to stakeholders

As you plan content strategy and future testing to maximize impact, consider the research. According to the American Marketing Association, the following factors influence the effectiveness of in-store digital signage advertising at the point-of-sale:

• Product Characteristics: The type of featured product (“hedonic” or not) as well as the product’s degree of novelty, price discount, and brand popularity can impact your campaign. 

• Environmental and Contextual Factors: Variables include day of the week (weekend vs. weekday), time of day, the weather, and how crowded the store is. 

• Messaging Strategy: The impact of content you display will depend on factors including the style (emotional vs. informational), the presence (or absence) of other proportional cues in the store, and the proximity of digital signage to the advertised product.

TL;DR: Digital Signage KPIs

• The right KPIs track performance and create a competitive advantage. Companies that consistently use robust performance metrics are  27% more likely to outperform their industry peers over five years.

• Six core metrics matter most for digital signage: impressions, interaction rate, conversion rate, dwell time, sales lift, and customer satisfaction. Each reveals different aspects of campaign effectiveness.

• Measurement challenges in retail media make independent digital signage KPIs even more valuable. Only 32% of marketers can measure holistically across channels, but digital signage offers trackable, verifiable data you control.

• Industry-specific benchmarks vary significantly – what success looks like for a grocery store differs from a university campus or QSR. Tailor your KPIs to your vertical and business goals.

• Start with 3-5 core metrics in your first 30 days, then expand. Organizations that align their performance metrics with business objectives see measurable improvements in operational efficiency 70% of the time.

Making the Most of Your Digital Signage

Regardless of the metrics you track, choosing the right technology partners is essential. Rockbot's digital signage platform is built to make analytics straightforward, with a centralized dashboard for real-time performance monitoring, automated content delivery across locations, and seamless integrations with the data sources you already use. 

Ready to take control of every screen? Talk to our team about implementing Rockbot's digital signage platform.

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. Which is the most important metric or key performance indicator (KPI) for digital advertisers?

The most important metric or key performance indicator (KPI) for digital advertisers depends on business goals, but conversion rate typically delivers the most actionable insights. Conversion rate measures the percentage of viewers who took a desired action after seeing your digital signage – whether that's making a purchase, visiting a specific department, or engaging with a promotion. 

While impressions show reach and interaction rates indicate engagement, conversion rate directly connects your signage to business outcomes. 

2. What are the key factors influencing signage effectiveness?

The key factors influencing signage effectiveness have been shown (for in-store digital signage at point-of-sale) to fall into three categories: product characteristics, environmental factors, and messaging strategy.

Product characteristics include the type of item being promoted, novelty, price discounts, and brand popularity. Environmental factors encompass day of the week, time of day, weather conditions, and store crowding levels. Messaging strategy factors include the intent of your content (emotional versus informational), promotional cue placement, and proximity of digital signage to the advertised product. 

3. What are the three functions of signage?

The three functions of signage are informational, directional (or wayfinding), and promotional. Informational signage communicates essential details such as store hours, policies, or product specifications. Directional signage serves a wayfinding purpose, guiding visitors to specific locations or departments – as seen in higher education settings where digital signage reduces direction requests at information desks. Promotional signage drives sales by highlighting special offers, new products, or seasonal campaigns. 

Digital signage excels at all three functions simultaneously, with the flexibility to adjust messaging based on time of day, location, or audience.

4. What are the benefits of digital signage?

The benefits of digital signage include real-time content updates, centralized multi-location management, and measurable performance tracking. Digital signage allows businesses to update messaging instantly across locations without the expense of printing, storage, or delivery. Technology with integrations to marketing tools and software also enables trackable KPIs, including impression counts, interaction rates, conversion rates, and sales lift.

5. What is the future of digital signage?

The future of digital signage is increasingly driven by AI-powered analytics, personalization capabilities, and integration with broader retail media ecosystems. Physical stores are becoming valuable advertising platforms, following Amazon's model of generating tens of billions in ad revenue annually. Retailers are positioning in-store screens as part of retail media networks that offer brands access to high-intent shoppers at the point of purchase. 

However, measurement remains a critical challenge – most marketers struggle to track performance across digital and physical channels, and many retail media platforms lack independent verification. The future belongs to digital signage systems that solve this problem by providing transparent, cross-channel analytics that both retailers and advertising partners can trust.