How to avoid the ‘sunk-cost fallacy’ with an LED signage deployment

A very well known problem in businesses today – the sunk cost fallacy – encourages you to make decisions to counter to your best interests rather than making a rational choice.

Because this happens a lot in the technology industry, let’s take a technology investment to express this problem: for example, you have invested in digital signage but it isn’t showing the necessary results. With the sunk cost fallacy, you will reason that further investment is guaranteed on the fact that the already invested resources will otherwise be lost. So only because you have already spent so much money in it, you will continue investing in this feature and make sure it breaks even at least. In making this decision you will not be considering the overall losses that the business would otherwise occur.

So to avoid this sunk cost fallacy in a digital signage investment, there are 3 main precautions you should take…

Follow up procedures are a must

You cannot expect an LED sign investment to do great if you just implement it and let it be as it is. The solution will most likely become outdated if the proper updates and support is not available. Also, by ignoring your signage solution, you will incur major maintenance problems. Regular maintenance such as cleaning the LED screen or monitoring the system’s health is better than fixing a broken machine.

For a successful digital signage solution, you have to be active in every stage of its life cycle.

Appoint a responsible person

At least one person must be assigned to your digital signage solution for updating content, managing maintenance and looking into the Content Management System (CMS). Without an invested contact to put in some effort to run the system, the effect on your target audience will be very uneven.

Take into account the environmental factors

There are many reasons why environmental factors alone can lead to the failure of an LED signage deployment. If you have invested in an outdoor LED sign, the weather is a crucial factor. You have to make sure your LED screen is prepared for all sorts of weather, and hence ‘dressed’ accordingly. In-built fans, AC units, anti-glare glass and plenum chambers are a few tools that will be helpful. Plenum chambers are a tool that allows ventilation through an enclosed space, thereby allowing the heat to disperse. If this tool is available in your solution, no other expensive ventilation system would be needed.

With an indoor LED sign, placement is vital. Your customers should be able to notice the sign and be able to interact with it. If not, the sign will be a failure. To make sure you’ve got the placement, right, carefully study the customer’s pathway throughout your organization/store and observe which would be the ideal spots to place your LED display.

The main purpose of a digital signage solution is to deliver a message. If the above pitfalls can be avoided, nothing can disturb your communication channel with potential customers; which means your LED sign solution will be successful, and the sunk cost fallacy will not even have to be thought about!