What is the perfect length for a healthcare digital signage playlist?
When digital signage is newly installed in a hospital clinic or waiting area, this is the question that the communications team always ask. This question has been asked of our creative team more than any other. Unfortunately, the answer is not terribly simple. It’s not short, it's not snappy and it won’t usually fit into a succinct paragraph if you want to delve into the deeper depths and answer it properly. The answer depends on a number of factors, which we’ve helpfully laid out here.
Digital signage solutions for healthcare: the ideal playlist
When putting together the perfect digital signage playlist for healthcare, it may help to ask yourself the following questions:
Where is the screen located and what is the average wait time?
It this screen part of a thoroughfare or an entrance way, with many people walking past it every day? Is it near a waiting area for a lift, meaning people may be staring at it for a minute or so? Or is it in a clinic or A&E waiting room, where people may be sitting and staring for longer periods of time?
The length of time people are usually in front of the screen can dictate the length of a playlist. If people are just passing through a short one to five minute playlist might be appropriate. If a half hour wait is normal a half hour playlist might just be the ticket. If a two hour wait is a regular occurence you may wish to include some longer form videos and content to keep visitors from getting bored and to keep the playlist from getting repetitive with constant loops
Having said that, you’ll also need to consider how many times you want people to see each one of your messages. People in a waiting room won’t sit with their eyes glued to the screen as if they were watching a movie. They have phones to play with, people to talk to and thoughts of their own to ponder over. If you have a playlist of rather key information that you’d like patients to have read before entering their appointment it may be wise for all messages to appear twice in a usual wait time period. For a clinic with an average half hour wait time a fifteen minute playlist gives everyone a chance to catch most messages at least once.
How long should each of your messages appear on screen?
Messages need to stay on screen long enough for patients to read them, understand them and consider them. For some hospitals 15 seconds is enough, others prefer 20 seconds and a few like to keep messaging up for 30 seconds. It depends on how text heavy your messages are and the needs of your patients.
The message length will affect the length of your playlist. A fifteen minute playlist can contain 30 30-second messages, or 60 15-second messages.
What is the purpose of your messaging?
Do you have a small group of messages that are very, very important and you need everyone to see them? We can repeat them often throughout a longer playlist - for example, a clinic information feed could show up on your screen once every minute, with more general messages playing in-between.
In places where there is a long wait people may prefer to have a long playlist to stave off boredom, rather than a short playlist that repeats itself too often. Messaging about hospital news, new medical technology, hospital charity information and general information regarding hospital parking and nearby restaurants and shops are usually well received by people who have a long wait ahead of them.
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
Use the above information to get a feel for the ideal playlist for your screen or area. But don’t stop there, keep working on your playlist over the coming months. The worst thing you could do would be to set up a playlist and forget about it.
Sit down in front of the screen occasionally and watch the entire playlist. Ensure that the content remains up to date, and all the new and exciting news from your department is being included. Talk to your patients and visitors about the screen content and get their feedback. If you set aside just a little bit of time each month to work with us we can refine your playlist into the perfect selection of healthcare messages.