Why Your Digital Menu Board Is Hard To Read

Digital menu boards are integral to running a modern restaurant. They’re a visually attractive way to showcase your menu items and most popular items or even broadcast what’s happening in the kitchen. Menu boards serve a greater purpose than merely listing every item you serve. Nearly 8 in 10 consumers will enter a business simply based on its signage. You can thereby gain a significant competitive advantage by implementing a digital menu board system.

But the caveat is that you have to get it right, which means prioritizing customer satisfaction. The truth is a lot of digital menu boards are hard to read, which means they’re not enticing, persuading, or entertaining your customers. Instead, they make your customers squint and strain as they try to look through your menu.

A poorly planned digital menu board can be bad for business. Word-of-mouth marketing is still alive and well in the age of social media and online reviews. The last thing you want is your menu board to tarnish your restaurant’s reputation.

Let’s go through a few things that may be making your digital menu board hard to read.

• A Cluttered Menu

The key to a good menu is organization. Too many restaurants overburden their menu boards with too many options in an effort to save on space. Food items should be easy to locate, as should their corresponding process.

You can declutter your menu board by creating columns for the different menu categories like sandwiches, salads, and beverages. Organizing your menu board this way makes everything easy to locate and read. Plus, most items in the same category tend to have similar prices, making them easier to group together and your menu less crowded.

Additionally, you can opt to have your most popular items take up more space on your board or group items that are frequently ordered together, like a cheeseburger, medium fries, and large cola.

• Font Size and Color Contrast

Your customers can only get so close to the menu. They want to choose their desired meal without having to strain, so the words should be readable from a distance. When you’re choosing a font size and colour scheme, it’s crucial to consider colourblind individuals and those with less-than-ideal vision. That means avoiding green words on a red background and using a font size that’s large enough. Also, you want to avoid bright colours as they can quickly tire the eyes.

Ideally, you want to go with black on white, but the general rule of thumb is to use darker text on a lighter background, or vice versa. The key is to have enough contrast that makes everything legible. Experiment with digital menu board templates to find one that works for you.

• Too Much Text

Balance your use of visuals and text. In fact, you want images to take centre stage because people eat with their eyes. Incorporating mouth-watering imagery will help you sell menu items faster and make it easier for customers to decide what they want. Limit your use of text to sharing prices, special events, promotions, or sharing allergy information.

That said, you don’t want to overwhelm your customers with too much visual information. You don’t need to display every type of pizza you have on your menu. Forego having a static menu and enhance the visual experience with some simple animations. However, too many animations on your menu board will distract your customers, making it difficult for them to go through your menu – a simple rotating image of a burger could work wonders for your overall sales.

Strive for a balance between text, images, and animations. The great thing about digital signage is that you can switch it up, so you don’t have to have your lunch menu taking up space during breakfast hours.

• Location and Lighting

Your restaurant menu may be well-designed with the appropriate hierarchy of text, a font size that’s easy to read, and the right balance between imagery and text, but that won’t matter if it’s poorly positioned. A general rule of thumb is to increase font size by an inch for every ten ft. of the distance between your customers and your menu. However, your font size can only get so large, so your best strategy is to bring your customers closer to the menu or to the point of sale (POS).

Also, your lighting can make digital menu boards hard to read. For many restaurants, the lighting is part of the ambience. Instead, you should adjust your menu colours accordingly. Nevertheless, place your menu board in a well-lit area free from glare.

Improve Customer Perception and Experience

When well-designed, digital menu boards can help improve your customer service, help you better communicate menu changes, remove inefficiencies in the ordering process, and build brand reputation. Switching between different varieties of content like social media feeds, live news, weather reports, and new menu items can really enhance the customer experience. The key is to understand your customer and the kind of content they gravitate towards.