Keeping Customers Happy -- Even When There are Lines

QuikLine: Keeping Customers Informed with Line Management

Businesses take lines seriously

They have to.  No one wants grumpy customers annoyed about wait times and abandoning their purchase, because of a line.

Automated line management systems are available to make the wait process more efficient.

Typically, a well-designed system will provide a 15-35% improvement from end-to-end.  Everyone likes the idea of less time in line but … reducing a 3 1/2 minute wait by 25 seconds might not register as a significant improvement for the average consumer. It’s still a wait, in other words.

That’s where queuing management comes into play — and it isn’t just about shortening the line.  Queue theory, a 100-year old field of study, has transitioned from the purely mathematical to more of a psychological analysis of lines and their impact.

As a result, line management considers perceived wait time — the psychological component of line management — as just as important as time in line.

There can be up to a 40% decrease in perceived wait time with a good automated line system keeping customers informed about what to expect and both occupied and distracted by marketing and informational messaging.  It’s play-off season; who wouldn’t mind waiting when they knew they’d see the latest game score? Or, learning about Friday night’s free wine tasting!

What’s your business doing to keep your lines moving — and your customers happy?  Take a look at CPS’ QuikLine automated line management solution!

Retailers: Improving Line Wait Time Improves Customer Satisfaction and Profits, Too

No one likes waiting in line -- whether at the DMV, grocery shopping, amusement parks or sporting events.  And, today, long wait times can be splashed across social media at any time.  That's in addition to lost profits when the customer balked or reneged and left the point of sale location.

Every retailer and entertainment venue constantly evaluates how to better improve the customer experience -- and improved line (or queue) management provides an immediate and long-lasting impact.  That's because effective line management technology offers more than just a shorter wait experience.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction is the goal!

Automated line management provides at least 4 significant business benefits:

1. Wait time management tools provide control -- Long-standing studies indicate average wait times can be reduced 10-30% with line management technology.  Lots of "fewer than 10 items" customers today?  Using automated management tools, store management is able to quickly realign registers to better serve those customers while reducing the number of "full service" registers.
2. Improved line management -- Customers are more quickly and accurately directed to an open location as compared to "manually" guessing which station is available or casually strolling towards a register.
3. Customer perceptions improve -- Two factors impact customer perceptions regarding lines: perceived wait time and the issue of fairness. Customers typically over-estimate the amount of wait time -- that's probably human nature. Providing an automated, call forward system not only efficiently directs customers to the next available register but encourages them to think the wait isn't as long as it actually is. Customers like knowing what is going on -- so seeing the next available register is beneficial even if it isn't their register!  And, people appreciate being treated fairly; an automated system is perceived as providing similar service to all.
4. Expanded impulse purchase opportunities -- Whether an automated system operates a single, serpentine line or multiple, register-specific lines, the opportunity exists for expanding impulse purchase opportunities.  First, the business is regulating how and where the waiting zones are located. Additionally, customers are less stressed waiting so they're more likely to review offerings and make impulse purchases.  It's also possible to advertise and encourage such purchases through messaging on line management monitors. 

Interested in finding out more about how automated line management can improve your customer satisfaction levels and provide additional business benefits, too?  Talk to us at CPS about QuikLine -- an automated line management system providing call-forward technology with easy-to-use management tools and straightforward hardware components.

How to Manage Retail Customer Lines & Improve Customer Satisfaction

Lines are a very big topic these days.  It's Memorial Day Weekend and there are media reports of record numbers of travelers and record long lines anticipated through TSA checkpoints at airports.

Shoppers appreciate social fairness while waiting in line!

In comparison, it might seem trivial to talk about lines of 10 or 20 people at a retail store.  Yet, from the retailer's perspective, lines are anything but small talk.  The retail checkout line is a critical aspect in the "total" shopping experience and, because of balking and reneging possibilities, there's a possibility that a sale can very well be lost because of a line.

Perry Kuklin, writing in Business2Community, suggests consumers would consider not returning to a location with long or badly managed lines -- and would probably tell others about the experience.  And, social media outlets are available everywhere for disappointed consumer stories.

What's a retailer to do? There's actually an established body of knowledge regarding lines -- operations management and queueing theory. Queueing theory has been around since the early 1900's.  However, the focus has transitioned from mathematical theory to shopper experiences.  There are 3 basic tenets: people get bored while waiting in line, consumers don't like expecting a short wait and experiencing a long one and the experience needs to be perceived as fair.

Retailers have added all sorts of ways to combat line boredom from impulse items next to the line to demographics-sensitive music and always-on monitors running video and news. Shoppers tend to mind waiting less when provided with estimated wait lines (think: Disneyland).

However, the biggest line issue (and, therefore, the most emotion-laden) is the quest for fairness. Dick Larson is considered one of the foremost queue management scholars and he notes there have been incidents of "queue rage" when the concept of social fairness has been breached.

CPS' QuikLine helps manage the social fairness aspect of consumer line expectations.  Whether implemented with a serpentine line or a series of individual lines, QuikLine signals for the next person when a checkout location becomes available (an example of call-forward queueing). It can display results on a monitor, call out an available register and prompt lights to flash. Coupled with impulse items at the checkout stand and great background music, QuikLine will help minimize actual wait time and the emotional impact of waiting for retail consumers. End result: improved customer satisfaction!