12 questions to ask any digital signage vendor.
Most signage gets sold on price and screen quality. The questions that actually protect you, about privacy, true cost, and reliability, rarely come up until after you have signed. Here is the list to bring to every demo. It is vendor-neutral: ask these of anyone, including us.
Want the printable one-pager?
We will email you the checklist as a PDF you can take to any vendor demo. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
- 1
Does audience detection run on-device, or in the cloud?
On-device is the privacy-safe answer. Cloud inference means customer images leave your store.
- 2
Are any camera images stored, even briefly for QA?
The answer should be no. Any frame storage is a liability you inherit.
- 3
Does it build customer profiles or track repeat visitors?
Demographic routing is fine. Identity tracking is a different, riskier product.
- 4
Is the hardware included, or a separate purchase?
Ask for the all-in number. Many platforms are software-only and the player adds up.
- 5
What is the true monthly cost: software, hardware, and player combined?
Compare like for like. A low headline price often hides required add-ons.
- 6
Does the display keep running if the internet goes down?
Local playback means an outage never blanks your screen.
- 7
Can you change content yourself, without a technician?
You should be able to upload and approve from a phone or laptop in minutes.
- 8
Is there a contract, or can you cancel anytime?
Month to month protects you while you evaluate.
- 9
How long does setup actually take, and who does it?
Under two hours, pre-configured, with no IT project is a reasonable bar.
- 10
Can it show different content to different customers, or only on a schedule?
Audience-aware routing adapts to who is present; scheduling only adapts to the clock.
- 11
Is pricing per screen, and how does it scale as you grow?
Per-screen fees compound fast across a store or multiple locations.
- 12
Will the vendor show you their privacy architecture in writing?
A legitimate vendor can. A vague answer is itself an answer.
Where Presently lands
These questions are honest ones, and you should ask them of every vendor. For what it is worth, Presently was built to answer yes to all twelve: on-device inference with nothing stored, hardware included, works through outages, no contract, and one flat $79/month.
See the full picture in the platform comparison or run your own numbers with the ROI calculator.
See how Presently works