Digital signage mistakes: why nobody watches your screens

A retailer we work with put screens in every break room across 12 locations. Six months later, half the content was the same welcome slide from launch day. Employees had stopped looking at them entirely. We design digital signage around content workflows, not just hardware.

The problem wasn't the hardware. It was the content plan — or lack of one. Nobody owned it. There was no schedule, no approval flow, and no way for store managers to add local content without calling HQ.

We rebuilt their content workflow: HQ pushes company-wide announcements on a weekly cycle. Store managers can add one local slide per week through a simple form. Content auto-expires after 14 days so nothing goes stale. Usage went from 'that screen in the corner' to something people actually glance at during lunch.

If you're thinking about signage, start with the content plan. The screen is the easy part.