Billboards are grabbing more attention than they used to. After being cramped inside for years, even the consumers most concerned about COVID are braving the outside world once more. They’re tired of looking at their screens. They want to look around them. But movement catches the eye more than static images. Where does that leave your client? With electronic billboards, of course.

Electronic Billboards Take OOH Ads by Storm

Digital OOH Boosts Website Traffic AND Sales

If consumers are out and about in an area where they can see electronic billboards, chances are, they’re shopping. They’re already in the mindset to spend money. And when they see an OOH ad that resonates with them, they take action. Usually, that action is to go to the website of the product or service being advertised. From there, they will do further research and possibly make a purchase.

According to the Out-​of-​Home Campaign Performance Report by Reveal Mobile, “Exposure to out of home ads drives purchase behavior more effectively than it drives website visits… In other words, users that end up on a website are much more likely to eventually take a purchase action if they have previously been exposed to OOH.”

The Research Behind the Claim

Reveal Mobile decided to run some experiments to test OOH effectiveness in marketing campaigns. During the winter holiday season in New York City and Los Angeles, they placed electronic billboards throughout the cities, digital OOH in gyms and supermarkets and moving OOH ads on ride-​share vehicles, all targeting retail clothing shoppers. The result was that the campaign these OOH ads contributed to experienced a 52% net lift.

They tried it again with food order and delivery customers. This time, they placed digital OOH in gyms and supermarkets and roadside electronic billboards in Detroit and San Francisco. Again, the campaign experienced a 79% net lift. Website visits rose by 48% and purchases and order confirmations shot up by 127%.

A sports betting app was also advertised using OOH during NFL football season. This campaign got a bit more in-​depth with its OOH additions, including:

• Static billboards
• Electronic billboards
• Digital posters

All these OOH components were placed in six eastern U.S. cities. As a result of all this effort, the campaign experienced a net lift of 212%. First-​time purchases rose by 442%, app installs increased by 206% and account registration grew by 282%.

OOH ads work, no matter the industry!

Where to Place Electronic Billboards

So, now that you know electronic billboards will work in your client’s favor, the question is where to put them. According to a previous SalesFuel blog post, highlighting data from the OAAA, digital OOH performs well in transit settings. “Given the advantages such as high degree of visibility, cost effectiveness and superior flexibility, transit media has emerged as an important advertising medium in the marketing world…. Advertisers can easily catch consumer attention during their commute.”

No matter where you and your client decide to place their electronic billboards, make sure you’re taking advantage of location intelligence. With the right ads in the right place, Reveal Mobile says that, “marketers can tie OOH campaign exposures to desired actions, whether in-​store visits, website visits or in-​app activity.” You just have to make the message clear in the ads. Point out that the store is nearby. Add a QR code to download your client’s shopping app or get to their website quick. Make the call to action easy and relevant to the consumer.

More Information

Want more personalized information about the effectiveness of OOH ads on your client’s target customers? Look up their audience profile on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel to see what percentage of this audience took action based on OOH ads within the last year.

Photo by Tania Mousinho