Builders: Mobile Power for Your Warranty Vendors & Homeowners

A recent Retail Customer Experience article by Tom Goodmanson suggests successful brands are always evaluating plans for creating improved customer experiences and building customer loyalty. Today, many find home building to be more brand-focused and retail-oriented than ever.

Offer Mobile To Your Homeowners!

What better time to evaluate and solidify customer strategies than early 2017? Goodmanson makes several 2017 predictions including: mobile customer service will close the gap between consumer expectations and reality.

Combine those thoughts regarding customer service (Go Mobile!!) with the anticipated tsunami of entry level buyers, highly driven by millennials who are already mobile-oriented, and it suggests that adding mobile to the new home experience makes sense for 2017.

And, the experience doesn't stop in the sales center!

Today's home buyer has high expectations regarding their home and the post-sale warranty process in terms of timeliness, quality and reliability.  Make sure your warranty/customer service organization is capable of responding to those requirements -- as well as the goals of improved customer experiences through mobile access.

Let your home owners submit warranty requests using CPS' WarrantyWatcher software from your website using their laptop, smartphone or tablet - and provide the same access to review request status and overall problem resolution history. Vendors have the same cross platform and browser functionality -- from desktop to devices.

CPS has been helping builders offer improved customer service for over 30 years -- let us show you how WarrantyWatcher can improve your customer's experiences!

Keeping Customers Happy Even When There Are Lines!

All of us can probably agree: lines can make one grumpy!  And,  lines are everywhere: schools, airports, restaurants, retail stores, government agencies.

Businesses take lines seriously. They have to: no one wants grumpy customers annoyed about waiting times and abandoning the purchase, entirely, because of a line.

Waiting isn't as bad -- there's Friday's Brews & Bites!

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.

Automated line management systems are available to make the wait process more efficient.  Typically, an effective system can 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 doesn't always register as a significant improvement to the average consumer. It's still a wait.

Just as important -- if not more so -- is perceived wait time -- the psychological component of line management.

There can be up to a 40% decrease in perceived wait time with a good automated line system keeping customers up-to-date 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!

Waiting in Line: Customer Perception is Everything

None of us likes waiting in line -- whether at the DMV, the market, 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 balks or reneges and leaves the point of sale location.

Customers Can Relax Knowing What is Happening!

Every retailer and entertainment venue constantly evaluates how to 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. Automated line management provides at least 4 significant business benefits:

1. Wait time 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 can quickly realign registers to better serve those customers while reducing the number of "full service" registers.
2. Customers relax during the wait -- 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. Customers appreciate the perception of fairness -- 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 await -- 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. And, 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 how automated line management can improve your customer satisfaction levels and provide additional business benefits, too?  Talk to us about CPS QuikLine -- an automated line management system providing call-forward technology with easy-to-use management tools and straightforward hardware components.

Customer-Centric Retail Model is Key

Have you had a chance to check out the recent Retail Customer Experience article regarding the need to develop and sustain a customer-centric focus -- regardless of your industry?

CPS' Social Media Wall:
Engaging and understanding customers

Author Micah Friedman, with Cognizant, suggests developing new business and operating models to better deliver on customer needs and desires.

Businesses aren't silos any longer (if they ever were). Rental car companies, as an example, need to consider themselves as being in the transportation business and recognize the validity of competition from Uber, Lyft, SmartCar and others that aren't traditional rental car competitors.

What's critical, Friedman suggests, is considering multiple ways of engaging customers with a richer, customizable and frictionless experience.

One focus point is optimizing Social Media. Here's an opportunity to understand customers better (by evaluating their tweets and posts, for example) as well as providing a mechanism to shape how customers perceive them and their offerings.

Take at look at CPS' Social Media Wall in a new master plan community information center.  It's visually welcoming and designed to engage visitors from the moment they walk in -- delivering traditional marketing copy and community images side-by-side with consumer generated content.  Have a special event planned? Assign a unique hashtag, start posting information about the event and, at the event, ask attendees to submit pictures and comments.  Result: a shared,  creative process fostering an ongoing conversation!

How to: Add a Retail Customer Engagement Initiative

It's true: the old, wooden suggestion box with a slot on top is past its prime.  Also no longer relevant to today's shopper is the passive,  tired-looking cork board with messages, faded and tattered flyers and weary, crumpled suggestion forms.

While those passive signage items are no longer relevant, retailers are definitely interested in getting in touch with their shoppers, soliciting opinions and pushing information.

Today, many of those objectives are being met with digital solutions -- and they've moved beyond passive to become customer experience zones displaying store specials, video and, even, social media content.

CPS' Interactive Customer Comment Board

Are you spending time to listen to your customers?

CPS' touchscreen-based Customer Comment Board acts as a proactive customer service process.  Customers are asked to submit comments, suggestions, ideas.  They're empowered, given a platform and might even provide ideas for new products, initiatives and improvements.

Take a closer look at the Board on the left -- there's all sorts of customer engagement initiatives combined into a single board designed to enhance the shopping experience:


   (1) The actual Leave a Comment section
   (2) A store events calendar with pop-up details available at a touch
   (3) Streaming video content
   (4) Weekly Specials display
   (5) Connections with social media

If you entered this store, wouldn't you want to walk up and see what's happening? Digital signage has moved from a simple, one-way dialogue with either the shopper filling out a form or the retailer broadcasting via video to a two-way conversation. It's engaging, more personal and offers an interactive experience with the brand.

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!

Builder Sales Offices and the Ever-Changing Consumer Landscape

Generally, we focus on the new home sales, marketing and construction management landscape. Today we're adding a bit of a more "retail" experience focus kicking-off with a recent Jane Meagher (she's with Success Strategies) comment,

In 2016, builders need to think like retailers selling new homes,                                                     rather than construction companies building homes they then sell.

Are you starting to think like a retailer?

 Meagher continues,

Let's strategically focus on influencing our buyers...like all smart retailers do.

Couple those thoughts with recent  Doug Stephens (he's known as a retail and consumer futurist) comments. Stephens analyzes trends -- financial, media, demographic, technology -- in order to provide insight into consumer and brand relationships.  

Stephens was asked, in a recent Retail Customer Experience interview, how to describe today's consumer and what is the top expectation in a retail transaction (remember: home builders are being encouraged to think like retailers!).

Try taking your immersive tools out!

Stephens suggests that, regardless of age, geography or economic strata, consumers are empowered.  And, it's not just technology doing the empowering, it's what he labels an unprecedented level of access to choice and information. 

One final thought, for today's blog, is Stephen's idea that consumer's expectations depend on what they're buying.  Stephens breaks the purchase experience into two categories: 

• fast, easy and frictionless (you might think website or fast food here) 
• exclusive, personalized and immersive (sales offices and design centers should be here)

Meagher mentions further, We need to thrill and delight our buyers with their (options) selections experiences.  

Would you consider evaluating your sales office experience in light of these thoughts?  Stephens says many organizations are intellectually aware of the need to change but plagued by process inertia. CPS can help you look at exciting, innovative and effective consumer engagement tools -- from interactive touchscreens to social media walls to tablet experiences.  You can adapt, innovate and keep in sync with today's changing consumer objectives!

Steps to Building Brand Loyalty

Remember clienteling? That's the blending of digital and physical worlds in order to maximize your customer's buying journey. Check out an earlier Blog for more details here.

Whole Foods blends digital and physical with a Customer Comment Board 

Without an exceptional customer experience, Chad Hendren suggests, it is very difficult to create brand loyalty.

Think about even the simplest exceptional experiences you've encountered: the Costco sample tasting stations, Nordstrom's "anytime" return policy, Enterprise-Rent-A-Car's willingness to pick you up at home. There's no doubt you'll compare your next purchase experience at a similar business to what you've already experienced and consider as an example of great customer service.

A well-known rule of thumb is it costs 5 times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one. Why not focus marketing time and effort on building loyalty by creating amazing experiences with your current customers?

Do you shop at Whole Foods Market?  Have you ever asked a Team Member for help locating something? They'll walk you across the store to locate the requested item!

Think about that customer journey -- and the amazing customer service you just experienced -- and you recognize they're extending that one-on-one experience with an omnichannel customer service platform.

Whole Foods has placed interactive touchscreen-based Customer Comment Boards in their stores so shoppers can submit comments, make requests, watch video, check the latest store specials, view Twitter feeds -- and thank Team Members!  It's a seamless, end-to-end customer experience.  Store Management can extend the proactive customer service by reaching out with an email regarding the shopper comment or Thank You.

Retail Customer Experience suggests that going omnichannel -- bringing multiple channels together, makes it possible to exceed customer expectations with experiences focused on customer needs.  CPS offers interactive Comment Boards --  contact us to determine if proactive customer service can help increase your brand loyalty!

2016: The Year for Consumer-Generated Content!

The voice of the consumer, according to bazaarvoice's Social Trends Report, continues to rise as the most powerful and trusted content by shoppers.

Customer Comment Board asks for feedback & delivers CGC

Consumer-generated content (CGC) was once called word-of-mouth!  You might recall "sleeper" movies that became blockbusters based on viewers telling their friends.

Today, CGC has grown and extended to include photos, videos, questions, chats and more.  It's transformed into a powerful, trusted and essential form of communication between the public and businesses.

CPS' Customer Comment Board provides on-topic information to shoppers (current ads, video and Tweets) and actively solicits shopper content via comments and staff recommendations.

Social Media Wall invites conversation!

It is a visually engaging wall of information and allows businesses to get some quality insights into their products, service and customer objectives.

Did you know nearly 75% of all Internet users are active on social channels today?  They're sharing opinions, ideas, thoughts and pieces of their lives.  As a result, consumer creation and sharing of product-related photos is skyrocketing.  Over 100 million photos are posted to Instagram and Twitter each day!  CPS' Social Media Wall integrates social content and copy into a traditional marketing mix of images and copy -- curated, of course!

The voice of the consumer has never been stronger -- and the intersection of CGC and traditional marketing is seen as the future of social commerce online.

Interested in finding out more? CPS will be at the International Builders Show in Las Vegas, Jan 19-21 -- Booth C2956 -- and Social Media Wall is a Best of IBS Awards Finalist!

Contact CPS and ask how you can incorporate CGC in your sales center or retail location.

Fostering Brand Loyalty During Peak Season

Every industry, every business has a peak season: we're just about to enter retail's peak shopping time.  And, most of us can probably offer a few events from prior years that didn't exactly foster brand loyalty: long lines, no product, not enough assistance, grumpy employees ... the list might go on.

A recent Global Technology Systems article offers an interesting "twist" on how you might think about your upcoming peak season.  And, it doesn't need to be holiday shopping, either. Home builders see a spike in sales office visits and purchases in the Spring.  Home improvement stores see their peak after the beginning of the year as we all make resolutions! Everyone has a busy season, in other words.

Checkout needs to be efficient and perceived as fair

Back to opportunity: peak season brings in many people who are new to your brand.  What a perfect time to create a positive customer experience that can help foster brand loyalty and convert today's shopper into tomorrow's repeat customer.

How?  Take a look at several opportunities to enhance your customer's experience: 

• Create the optimum atmosphere -- Shoppers have more options than ever before -- set your brand apart by providing a positive on-location experience.  Make sure your consumer-facing employees have a consistent and upbeat greeting message, equip your locations with technology to enhance operations, make sure your employees know how to maximize technology use. 

• Don't make your customers wait -- Previous blogs noted that a sale is made up of a series of events -- the initial messaging, the store experience and the checkout.  It isn't complete until payment, in other words.  You can have a great shopping experience; if checkout is poor, your customer perceives the entire transaction as poor.  And, they're not shy about posting that sort of perception online.  Put technology, such as CPS' automated line management system, QuikLine, to work to not only expedite the process but to create an atmosphere of fairness, efficiency and customer-focused service.

Millennials and the "most convincing advertising"?

Just saw an interesting blurb:

"The most convincing advertising of all is seeing your own friends buying, wearing and using the product.  We engage with our peers through social media, I've bought countless items because of what I've seen on Instagram alone."

What do you think?  

Wendell Falls, NC - Social Media Wall

Many argue that millennials use social media not only to keep in touch with their circle of friends and family but to document experiences through photos and text.  

Historically, individuals enjoyed seeing their interests gain traction from their surrounding social circle -- whether friends, work colleagues or family members. 

Technology has enabled that process to embrace ever-widening circles and become an influential source of information, product marketing and influence.

Take a look at CPS' Social Media Wall combining traditional marketing copy and images with social media messages from Twitter, Pinterest, etc.  

The result: a dynamic marketing channel projecting vibrant and ever-changing messages -- many of which are created by your audience.

The Wall attracts attention by the very aspect that it responds to an audience need for new information. Trade static, passive signage for a continuously evolving set of photos, copy, video and customer-submitted (and curated) messages -- and watch the level of consumer engagement grow!

Are Store Suggestion Boxes Past Their Prime?

It's true: the old, wooden suggestion box with a slot on top is no doubt past its prime.  Also no longer relevant to today's shopper is the passive comment board -- that tired-looking cork board with messages, faded and tattered flyers and weary, crumpled suggestion forms.

However, just because those items aren't relevant  doesn't mean retailers aren't interested in getting in touch with their shopper, soliciting opinions and providing information.

Today, many of those objectives are being met with digital solutions -- and they're not just passively collecting  but expanding to become customer experience zones displaying store specials, video and, even, websites.

CPS' touchscreen-based Customer Comment Board 

And...  are you listening to your customers?

CPS' touchscreen-based Customer Comment Board acts as a proactive customer service process.  Customers are  asked to submit comments, suggestions, ideas.  They're empowered, given a platform and might even provide ideas for new products, initiatives and improvements.

Take a closer look at the Board on the left -- there's all sorts of cstomer engagement initiatives combined into a single board designed to enhance the shopping experience:


   (1) The actual Leave a Comment section
   (2) A store events calendar with pop-up details available at a touch
   (3) Streaming video content
   (4) Weekly Specials display
   (5) Connections with social media

If you entered this store, wouldn't you want to walk up and see what's happening on this board? Digital signage has moved from a simple, one-way dialogue with either the shopper filling out a form or the retailer broadcasting to the customer to a two-way conversation. It's engaging, more personal and expanding the brand experience.

A Retail Checkout Line isn't for the Fainthearted

The retail checkout line is a critical aspect in a shopper's experience.  Some might think the consumer's "sale" is already finished when they enter a checkout line -- with just paperwork to be completed.

In reality, the sale could very well be lost just because of the checkout line!  There's always the chance of a consumer balking and reneging. And, if not this particular sale, future sales are at risk.

Perry Kuklin, writing in Business2Community, mentions a retail study indicating 38% of customers would consider not returning to a location with long or badly managed checkout lines; 81% will tell others, he says, about an unpleasant checkout line experience.

QuikLine: Call-forward Queue Management

And, when someone says "tell" others, we're no longer talking about one-on-one conversations, there's are all sorts of social media conversations available and ready to listen!

For retailers, the entire selling cycle needs to be completed -- from marketing to selection to actual purchase -- for the retailer and consumer to achieve success.  As a result, Queue Management becomes essential with customer wait time and experience critical.

Queue management technologies are available to assist in processing shoppers in a consistent and "fair" manner -- and they'll positively influence customer satisfaction as well as profitability.

Take a look at CPS' QuikLine system installed in Chicago -- shoppers are notified when a free register is available and directed by both signage and audio.  And, there's the ability to display automated marketing messages, as well.

QuikLine is an example of call-forward queueing which successfully manages customer throughput in the store and reduces register staff waiting.  Each successive customer is guided to an open register based upon either POS integration (that is, signals from the cash register process itself) or cashier notifications.  This checkout process is regarded as fair and efficient -- increasing the shopper's customer satisfaction!

Does automated line management make the line move faster??

We've talked about lines before: no one likes them and... they're all around us!

Businesses take lines seriously. They have to: no one wants grumpy customers annoyed about waiting and sometimes abandoning the purchase, entirely, because of a line.

Waiting isn't as bad -- there's Friday's Brews & Bites!

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.

Automated line management systems are available to make the wait process more efficient.  Typically, an effective system can 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 doesn't always register as a significant improvement to the average consumer.  It's still a wait.

Just as important -- it not more so -- is perceived wait time. There can be up to a 40% decrease in perceived wait time with a good automated line system keeping customers 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 solution!

Retail Wait Warp: what can you do?

Retail wait warp? Is this some new Star Trek activity?

Not really, but...the term implies changing your retail customer's perception of their time in a checkout line.

No one likes waiting in line; that's something everyone agrees on. We can also agree that the checkout line experience heavily influences your customer's opinion of the entire shopping experience.

A recent Irisys blog notes, "People's perception of elapsed time when waiting is fairly accurate up to a minute and a half; after this point, they tend to over estimate how long the wait was."   In a sense, people's wait perceptions get exaggerated (one might even say warped!). Thus, it's even more important to proactively manage the experience.

There are a variety of methods to reduce perceived wait time. POS activity (messaging, for example) is a possibility -- as is having staff members interact with shoppers when possible.

Key, however, is a single file line -- or multiple lines with a specific target. A single line removes any question about who is next in line.Uncertainty generates anxiety -- and that anxiety negatively influences the experience. Multiple lines with a single target allow your shopper to select a line and know that it will be effectively managed, as well.

Managed lines maximize the wait warp as everyone senses the process is optimized. The wait experience itself is warped!

Talk to us here at CPS about QuikLine -- warp your retail stores with automated line management!

Retail Line Queue Management: Disneyland Innovated in 1955!

Did you know there's a person known as a waiting lines expert?"

Actually, it's Richard Larson and he refers to the line management process as "queue calculus."

Both shopping carts and baskets are welcome!

Waiting in line," said Lewis in a recent article, "is a stressful game with mostly losing players and picking the wrong line can lead to queue rage."

Queue rage and simple economics are the reasons you see a "single serpentine line" in many retail locations.  Queue psychology was born in 1955 when Disneyland opened and learned to keep guests happy by having them wait in a single, serpentine line.  That's back when a 45-minute wait for a 2-minute ride was a novelty!

The single line satisfies the most number of people because it "guarantees first-come, first-served," says Larson. And, the single line can drive additional sales of "grab and go" items -- not just in grocery stores but other locations with easily understood and selectable items (as examples, think Best Buy, Marshalls and T.J. Maxx.).

Traditionally, grocery stores have been considered "hold outs" in this customer-service trend (emergency rooms are another hold out).

However, Whole Foods has proven to be an exception -- especially in large, metro areas.  As Larson mentions, their typical consumer "doesn't buy a week's worth of groceries for families." He continues, "You can fit those people into a serpentine line without wasting a lot of valuable sales space."

CPS' QuikLine queueing management system takes the process a step further -- multiple lines feeding a changeable register bank and the ability to differentiate between "express" and "standard" registers. Shopping carts are welcome, in other words!

Meeting your customer's needs, generating additional sales: queue management is an idea worth exploring!

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Queue Management Enhances Your Customer Experience

It's been said that "creativity can be time-consuming!"

So..in an effort to assist in the creative thinking process, here is an outside the box digital signage solution to help you differentiate your business and more effectively engage customers.

QuikLine: Improved wait time; enhanced customer experience

Everyone waits in lines...whether the grocery store, DMV, sporting events, big box retailers. 

Generally, few of us will report a good "line experience." As James Bickers, DigitalSignageToday.com's contributing editor reminds us, "The psychology of the customer experience says that when things are bad, it's noticed right away; but when things are good, they often go unnoticed."

When considering lines and looking to improve the customer experience, why not add digital signage to the queue?  Instead of having customers wait and wait and... add digital signage to the process to logically queue customers and send them to the first available location. And, while customers are waiting, engage them with messages, specials, images, too!

The effect: enhancing the wait process and reducing your customer's perceived wait time.  A win/win for this creative use of digital signage.  Technology enabled the task (better queue management) to be accomplished and your customer experience has improved, too.

Let us know if you'd like information regarding CPS' creative QuikLine solution tool -- effective line queue management software utilizing off-the-shelf hardware.

CPS QuikLine -- up and running!

Have you ever really thought how much time you spend waiting in line?  Here at CPS, we've been thinking a lot about lines, queues, queue theory and how specially designed software and appropriate hardware can enhance the process.

Opening Day!  There was a lot to wait in line for!

It's been said that today's competitive retail environment is pushing the envelope to enhance the last stage of the purchase process: the checkout line.

The concept of "queue management" has emerged as retailers work to enhance the customer experience while improving store efficiency and generating additional revenue from their properties.  Completing the "last transaction" in a timely and engaging fashion is finally being recognized as an important aspect of the consumer shopping experience.

No one likes waiting unnecessarily (so..reducing "wait time" is a winner for both shopper and retailer!) but there are other components associated with improving the "last transaction" that savvy retailers recognize: decreasing the number of "walk-aways", adding one or more "impulse buy" locations, and adding randomness to reduce register "no counts."

CPS' QuikLine was developed to provide several unique components to automated queue management: use of over-the-counter hardware (monitor, controllers, sound), integration with third-party applications (think: cash registers so QuikLine recognizes when a cashier is free), multimedia reminders (monitor, voice and display lights) and the ability to display promotional video and messaging. 

First installation: done & we'll be talking more about it!