Customer engagement became a popular term when discussing how the internet has changed the ways companies interact with their customers. The modern customer has become harder and harder to reach efficiently. The concept of customer engagement grew out of a need to involve the customer in ways that offset decreasing brand loyalty and increasing customer specialisation. The internet allowed companies to engage their customers more directly through social networks and forums created around the products the company produces. The important spin-offs of this approach are not only more engaged and brand aware customers but important metrics that can be used to improve products and services.

Digital signage offers a similar opportunity to allow customers to interact with screen content in a variety of different ways using various customer engagement technologies. This interaction can be done through a touch screen or via mobile phone services, as well as a variety of other technologies. Some real world examples: