Banks offer vital financial services integral to the running of our economy. However, no one would describe the feeling of attending a bank appointment as an enjoyable process. It is not meant to be fun, but there are flaws in the banking customer experience that pose some significant difficulties. Accessing bank resources should be easy and seamless, with limited friction. However, this isn’t always the case. There are often long waits at banks that cause customers significant amounts of frustration. Whether customers are waiting for a financial advisement appointment, have walked in to replace a card, or are discussing loans, there is typically a substantial wait. According to one study, the average wait time at banks is more than 20-minutes.This can often create a difficult customer journey. Financials are sensitive topics, and if customers wait long for these important appointments, they aren’t likely to be happy. Dealing with frustrated customers is difficult for employees, and the negative queuing experiences are a drain on customers’ spirits. However, just because the status quo isn’t working out doesn’t mean banks are out of options. Long lines and frustrated customers are a problem, but there is a solution. Queue management systems present a way for banks to modernize their customer journey processes and create a smoother in-store experience. Virtual queue software allows customers to check into lines for appointments or walk-ins on their phone. They can select an appointment type and communicate back and forth with staff. Customers can view the actual wait time on their phone and enter the bank whenever it is nearing their turn in line. It is a more free and individually gratifying experience with advantages for banks. Let’s look at some of the best uses for queue management technology and see how it can create a more efficient banking experience.
Standing in a long physical queue or sitting in a stale waiting room is never a fun experience. The vast majority of people are very unhappy waiting in lines; it is one of the most common customer complaints across industries. According to a Synqera survey, 73% of participants said that waiting in line for check out is their least favorite aspect of the shopping experience. It is pretty clear what people don’t like about long lines. Long lines are frustrating, a waste of time, and an impersonal experience. But specific aspects of the queuing process cause the most customer complaints. Research indicates several crucial aspects of the waiting experience that are the most disheartening. The two most critical takeaways are that unoccupied waits feel longer than occupied waits and that unknown wait times feel longer than known, finite wait times. This is where a queuing system for banks can make a significant impact. A queuing solution for banks uses the established psychology of customer behavior to create a more palatable waiting experience. For starters, customers can check into the wait remotely. They can sit on their couch and work, watch a TV show, or read a good book while the line moves on. Their wait time is occupied. They can also monitor the known, finite wait time with QLESS, so they know precisely when it is time to go. An SMS message to their mobile phone will notify them when it is time for their appointment to begin. Waits are inevitable in almost every industry. Supply and demand are never going to line up perfectly. However, the waiting experience doesn’t have to be painful. A digital queue takes what could be a frustrating experience and transforms it. Customers can check in from wherever they are and monitor the wait in line app to see when it is time to go and enter the retail bank when their appointment is set to begin. It is a friction-free waiting experience.
There are a lot of banks in America. That is a simple fact. In every industry, there is heavy competition, and banking is no different. There are more than 4,200 commercial banks across the country, according to Statista. Complacency regarding customer retention can cause a bank to lose out on customers. The optimum way to ensure that a bank stands out from its competition is to focus on the customer experience. The customer experience isn’t just a retention strategy but a growth strategy. Customer satisfaction has a direct impact on a business’s financial performance. According to Alice POS, companies that deliver a better customer experience obtain revenue from 4%-8% above their market. The more customer-centric your business is, the better you are likely to perform. A lot of that comes down to customer service. According to Forbes, 96% of customers will leave your business due to poor customer service. A lot of this comes down to the friendliness of the staff and the smoothness of your processes. The friendliness of your team comes down to training and culture, but the smoothness of your operations can be controlled through a customer journey management software like QLESS. QLESS has been found to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty by up to 99%. The easy-to-use interface and additional freedom customers experience goes a long way toward earning their trust and loyalty. The physical congestion inside the bank is removed, creating a more pleasant service environment. The business world is increasingly competitive, and customers expect a lot out of businesses. They demand convenience, fast service, and friendly staff. Meeting these customer expectations isn’t easy, but with virtual queuing software, businesses can streamline the waiting process to offer better customer service and create more loyal customers.
Queue management software isn’t just designed to ease the customer experience. It is also intended to help businesses with a powerful tool that can increase operational efficiency and shorten service times. This increases banks' capacity to take on customers and allows them to get more done in less time. One of the ways queue management software can do this is by providing flexible calendar management features that allow banks to have complete control over their day-to-day. A queue management software like QLESS with customer flow features gives banks a tool that will enable them to be much more agile. Missed appointments, late customers, and changes to employee availability are par for the course in every business. The ability to effectively respond to these changes in a manner that doesn’t impact service times is important. QLESS has flexible calendar management features that can be automated or custom-controlled. Banks can set priorities and rules and automate the line to run itself. They can prioritize customers with appointments in the line over walk-ins, set limits for how late a customer can be before they’re moved out of the queue, and have specific appointment types filtered to specific employees. This creates a fast-moving process where changes can be made on the fly. If a customer doesn’t show up for their appointment, the entire line is organized virtually, and they can simply be removed. If there are a bunch of walk-ins, the system supports hybrid queues, so all customers will be serviced promptly. There are also bi-directional communication features where customers can talk back and forth with staff to provide updates to ensure everyone is on the same page. There are a lot of bottlenecks that occur in the day-to-day life of a bank. Being able to address these bottlenecks quickly while still providing a positive customer experience is crucial. It is made far simpler with a bank queue management system.
If you want to improve your quality of service, one of the more helpful tools available is data. Data reveals to businesses the objective truths about their operations. It gives them tangible numbers that explain vague concepts like long waits or slow transaction times. These numbers can serve as valuable insights into financial organizations' customer experience and staff productivity. With online queue software, businesses now have the tool to collect that data. QLESS has business intelligence features that provide high-value insights into several aspects of a bank’s customer journey. The software will monitor and report the average wait time, transaction time, number of customers serviced daily, appointment no-show percentage, and more. The data can be segmented according to time of day, day of the week, or the employee handling the appointment. It is then presented in easy-to-understand dashboards with visual graphs and charts. The data from these reports empower banks to make important decisions with additional knowledge. Business intelligence is a valuable resource that heavily impacts a company’s bottom line. According to a Forrester report, data-driven businesses are growing at an average rate of more than 30% annually. Data helps businesses make sound decisions and peel back any biases from their perception of their processes. Empowered with the data features from QLESS, banks can look at their customer experience and see where they may be coming up short. If there are bad wait times around certain times of the day or with certain employees, they can implement the changes necessary to change that. If there is a high no-show percentage or they don’t have the customer intake they want, they can also make additional changes. Data is objective, and if banks collect real-time queue data on their customer experience, it’ll help them solve some major problems. This will enable more high-quality service and a more successful operation.
Banks provide a service to customers that is completely essential. Banks are customers’ primary contact points with the financial world, and people rely on banks for everything from loans and withdrawals to financial advice and mortgage refinancing. With this in mind, ensuring that banks’ physical locations accommodate people of all backgrounds is incredibly important. The service quality of a bank is predicated on its ability to provide an effective and positive experience for customers of all backgrounds, and accessibility is a big part of this. The Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990, and more than 30 years later, it is still an important part of everyday life. It is a law intended to combat discrimination against people with disabilities in all aspects of public life. Ensuring that a bank complies with this landmark civil rights law is essential, and any solution implemented should keep it in mind. Queue management software like QLESS provides banks with an impactful solution that increases the accessibility of a bank’s crucial resources. QLESS has several important features that make it an excellent asset for a bank trying to become more accessible. The QLESS software has several important features that work either on the mobile app or a self-service kiosk. QLESS has a text-to-speech screen reader, dyslexia-friendly font, adjustable text sizes and screen brightness, helpful user tooltips to walk users through the process, and more. It is a flexible solution that can be altered to fit individual needs. A bank can gain customer loyalty by ensuring its services are easy to use for everyone. Every bank should have features that ensure they are inclusive to people of all needs, and with QLESS, they can implement a solution that makes them drastically more accessible.
Frontline staff face a significant challenge in their daily lives. Organizing customer flow is an extremely difficult task for staff to handle. While banks aren’t typically thought of as a disorderly environment, the wait times can get extended due to human error. Long waits lead to a lineup filled with disgruntled customers, making the staff’s job much harder. This feedback loop leads to a difficult and stressful job for the bank’s frontline staff. In this regard, a customer interaction management platform like QLESS can be a difference-maker. QLESS has been found to boost staff productivity by up to 90% and can also make their job a lot less stressful of an experience. Rather than handle the flow of people themselves, the bank’s staff will now have a tool that does it for them. The flexible calendar management features of QLESS offer complex solutions to problems that staff will often face in their day-to-day life. The automating features of the virtual queue will make it so staff doesn’t have to worry about checking customers in. They can oversee the process with the customizable calendar and queue and move customers in and out of their appointments from their phones or computers. Customers will be notified via SMS when it is time for their appointment, and staff can monitor the calendar and queue to see exactly what they have to do. They don’t have to spend time organizing the line of customers or worry about blending walk-ins with customers in the queue. Instead, they can focus on providing the service. QLESS will increase banks’ ability to intake customers, as staff can spend more time focusing on the service and less on organizing lines. These features automate customer flow to ensure staff has the easiest, most organized experience possible.
There are several problems that appointment-based businesses like banks will often have. Staff will allot time for an appointment, wait patiently for the customer, and the customer never comes. This is known as an appointment no-show. Another common problem comes when customers enter a bank, see a massive line of customers, and simply leave rather than wait. This is known as a walkaway. Both walkaways and no-shows are missed opportunities for businesses, but an effective queue management system can reduce these issues. Appointment no-shows are a common part of every appointment-based industry, but that doesn’t mean they should be accepted. No-shows are a waste of staff’s time and a lost opportunity. QLESS can change this by offering communication features that allow staff to message back and forth with customers. Staff can send automated messages of appointment reminders, reach out to customers through customized chats before their arrival times, and remain in contact with customers before arrival. This will reduce the rate of no-shows.With walkaways, the biggest problem is the intimidating nature of large physical queues. Customers enter the building, see a mass of people with no certain end to the wait in sight, and decide they’re better off leaving. However, this won’t be the case if digital queuing solutions are implemented. There won’t be large, disorganized queues. Instead, just a virtual line where the actual waiting time is displayed for the customer.If the queuing environment is improved, walkaways will be less of a problem. This will ensure that banks don’t suffer from missed opportunities as prospective customers leave instead of engaging with their services.Both walkaways and no-shows are problems many businesses have dealt with for years without having the means to address them. Implementing a waiting line management platform can go a long way toward resolving these issues. Better communication and less daunting physical queues will ensure that customers show up, stick around, and engage with a bank’s services.
One of the most important things a modern business can do is engage with its customers. According to Instapage, 77% of consumers prefer to choose, recommend, or pay more for a brand that offers a personalized service or experience. People don’t just want personalization and communication from the businesses they frequent; they expect it. This poses a unique challenge, particularly for large banks with many customers. Ensuring everyone feels seen and engaged isn’t easy.To provide a higher level of service, businesses need to focus on communication and engagement to personalize the banking experience. The bi-directional communication features of QLESS give businesses a tool that allows them to scale their communication abilities upward. Businesses can send mass messages to groups of people in line, scheduled for appointments at certain times, or who’ve booked certain appointment types. They can also send customized messages to greet new customers or thank existing ones.The more your customers hear from you, the better rapport you can establish. Another advantage QLESS and digital queuing systems can provide is the ability to gain insights into your customers’ subjective experiences. With a pulse survey feature, businesses can send mass surveys to customers right after their appointment concludes. The answers to these surveys are stored on the platform and can offer helpful insights into your customers’ thoughts.From these surveys, businesses can learn how customers feel about their banking experience, whether it was a communicative enough process, and how the staff performed. These surveys can auto-send at set times to ensure the maximum number of customers answer them. With insights from surveys, banks can work to hear out the complaints of their customers and offer a higher-quality experience.The more communicative you are with your customers, the more engaged they will be. If you ensure that you provide clear channels of communication where you can message customers, and they can message you, you’ll create a more personalized experience. Adding surveys to learn how your customers feel about your bank will give you insights to make tweaks that improve customer service.
Banks offer a critical service that is fundamentally important to the average person. However, accessing these services can sometimes be a hassle. With many banks, long customer wait times and an impersonal experience are all par for the course, as banks struggle to provide exceptional service to every customer. The importance of excellent customer service and a positive experience can’t be overstated, especially with 17% of account holders switching their primary financial institution in the last 12 months.Your customers have options, so ensuring the entire customer journey is smooth, efficient, and pleasant will be pivotal to retaining them. A virtual queue management system enables banks to offer customers exceptional service while cutting wait times and improving employee productivity.A queue management system has features that give customers heightened independence and enhanced communication. With high-quality data, a flexible calendar system that lightens staff’s load, and software designed to reduce walkaways and no-shows, banks can implement an enterprise-grade solution that streamlines processes and makes life easier for staff and customers.Long physical queues don’t need to be accepted as a standard cost of doing business. Banks can add to their customer experience with a virtual queue solution while increasing their ability to take on more clients.
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University students attend higher education institutions with the hopes of expanding their minds and preparing for their future. Unfortunately, all too often they got lost in a system that doesn't cater to individual student experience. Instead of feeling that the administration exists for the students, attendees quickly realize that they must conform to the needs of administrators in order to be successful. Scheduling appointments, registering for classes, even asking advisors for help all become nightmarish experiences filled with long lines, tired and impatient staff, and inadequate information.
Oftentimes, students will enter university fresh-faced, excited, and ready for success. Over time, however, ineffective university resources begin to take their toll. When simple tasks like registering for classes or dealing with financial aid eat up so much of their time, their desire to continue with their education slowly decreases. Students struggle to gain support from on-campus systems, which explains why consistently negative experiences with campus resources are one of the main sources of attrition; unfortunately, universities struggle to increase student satisfaction with limited resources. While student experience often ranks as a top priority for administrators, improving on-campus systems seems like an insurmountable task. A large student population means long lines--there doesn't seem to be a way around the problem. Fortunately, online appointment booking tools and an effective scheduling application both provide a modern solution to a large problem in higher education.
By using an electronic scheduling application like the one from QLESS, academic institutions solve the problem of impatient students before it starts. Instead of expecting students to show up, wait in a line, and hope for the best, scheduling applications allow students to book an appointment ahead of time, eliminating the need for physical queues. In an age of ever-evolving technology, an electronic solution like a scheduling application can simultaneously push academic institutions into the modern age and improve the student experience.
Perhaps the most instantaneous result of an effective scheduling application is the elimination of physical lines, without an electronic tool, students often run into long lines at every on-campus location. While long queues are frustrating at any juncture, they're particularly irritating during key points in the year. When students struggle to register for class, change programs, or ask advice about their courses due to long lines, attrition begins to develop. Instead of forcing long queues that lead to general frustration and discontent, a scheduling application assigns students a specific time with which they can complete their necessary necessary business. When each student knows the time and date they can sign up for new courses, registering for classes becomes a breeze. Even signing up to see an advisor becomes a stress-free task--each person is assigned an appointment time, eliminating the pressure on both the student and the administrator. By bypassing lines and allowing individuals to address their issues at a specified time, students no longer waste their time waiting for help. They gain more time to study, hang out with friends, or even just relax, all of which will contribute to higher student satisfaction.
While a scheduling application gives students more free time, it also tailors the university experience to a new generation. Current and incoming university students have grown up with technology. They're well-versed in mobile applications, and they actually prefer to handle most of their business electronically. Academic institutions, like any business, attract the most customers when they know their audience and tailor their services accordingly, for a mobile generation, mobile scheduling applications should be the norm.
The QLESS scheduling application not only provides a mobile platform for students to access information from anywhere, it also sends text alerts to inform students of their appointment times. By creating a smartphone-friendly design, this scheduling application speaks to a main tenet of a new generation--consistent and reliable mobile communication. It ensures that students have simplified access to important academic information, and it lessens the possibility that they'll forget their appointment time and fail to show up.
While human error always stands as a distinct possibility, electronic scheduling applications allow students to feel comfortable an at-ease in their academic environments. By using technology they are already experts in, academic institutions create easy communication and connections between administrators and students. Students who feel comfortable in their academic environment are more likely to complete their university education, rather than cave to the pressures of campus life.
When students are constantly filtered into long lines and told to wait their turn, the personal element of higher education disappears. Students want to feel like their individual needs have significance, especially in an institution with the social weight of a college or university, many students accrue heavy debt in order to gain their degree. For instance, the desire to feel like their individual experience matters isn't misplaced. Difficulty gaining access to basic information and meeting essential needs for the future of their education is understandably frustrating.
Although electronic scheduling applications simply increase the organization and staff productivity on college campuses, they also allow each student to feel like they're receiving personalized attention. A specific appointment time communicates that each individual is important enough to receive focused attention, in which only their specific questions and needs matter. Simple as it may sound, a scheduling application can make all the difference in creating what feels like an individualized learning environment, despite the fact that each student receives the same time and attention to discuss their needs.
If students have a problem with campus systems, they want to make their opinions known; unfortunately, when it's difficult to even get a meeting in the first place, students don't feel that their concerns are being heard. Even if every individual problem can't be addressed immediately, allowing students to provide feedback on their experience can greatly improve student satisfaction with on-campus life. University processes may not change immediately, but allowing students to feel heard and appreciated subtly communicates that their opinion matters.
A scheduling application allows students the opportunity to address their concerns, without eating up the essential time of administrators. Instead of sitting in an office and listing off every complaint, students can fill out electronic surveys, effectively and quickly communicating the elements of the campus system that don't work for them. Feedback provides a two-fold opportunity for growth within the university. First, administrators hear student concerns quickly and easily, allowing them to adjust future processes to fix the most common problems. Second, students get their frustrations off their chest, lessening their irritation and providing hope that things will change in the future. A scheduling application allows universities to listen and react to the needs of their students, without decreasing the productivity of their staff. Students have a hand in the improvement of their education, and it doesn't come at a cost to either students or administrators.
Academic institutions are designed to push students towards graduation; unfortunately, the decision to leave university altogether is a common one. While each individual leaves their academic institution for their own reasons, dissatisfaction with campus resources often appears as one of the major sources behind drop-outs. Although it sounds like a no-brainer, it's worth stating that students who are satisfied with their college experience are far more likely to stay in school and eventually graduate.
An effective scheduling application increases student satisfaction with on-campus services. Students express their concerns, gain personalized attention, and generally improve their ability to function within a university setting. With a scheduling application, graduation seems like an achievable goal, rather than a faraway possibility. When students believe that they can graduate, they're much more likely to work towards that goal. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the work in front of them, students see a clear path towards reaching their degree. Sometimes a little hope and a plan is all it takes. Happy students who believe they can graduate are more likely to graduate. A scheduling application brings that goal to the forefront of their minds, encouraging students to stay in school and earn their degrees.
Using a QLESS scheduling application can change the life of university students everywhere. By eliminating physical lines and cutting down waiting times, scheduling applications allow students to feel like they're experiencing the personalized education they deserve; in addition, the mobile platform results in easy use for a tech-savvy generation and an opportunity for instantaneous feedback on campus services. Happy students are much more likely to stay in school, and to spread positivity about their academic institution, both online and in their personal life. If you want to increase your graduation rates, you need to learn more about QLESS systems today. If you think our system might be the right fit for you, contact us now. We'll answer all your questions about QLESS solutions. For more on improving campus operations and retention rates, read about how we've created college campuses without lines.
A well-developed workflow management system simplifies business processes at colleges and universities tremendously. As a business, these institutions provide education and degrees to their customers, also known as their students. Although colleges and universities stand as one of the most essential business organizations in young adult life, technological systems on-campus are often not on par with the fast-paced, technology-driven environment of the day. As incoming students reflect more expertise in current technology, so should their places of education. A workflow management system can change life at your university, both for your students and for your administrators.
In a school environment, multiple departments and individuals work together to contribute to the larger education machine. While some units identify prospective students, review applications, and send out offers of admissions, other divisions focus on registering current students for classes, organizing appointments with advisors, and assisting students with on-campus problems. Each of these individual systems work together to contribute to the overall goal of the organization--educating students and pushing them towards graduation, hence the need for workflow management.
A workflow management system simplifies all these processes. It's a software that automates some elements of your workflow management, taking the pressure off of your staff members and increasing the happiness of your students. By creating a streamlined network for all your most essential campus processes, a workflow management system allows each student to feel valued and supported, and each staff member to increase their productivity and efficiency.
A workflow management system creates an at-ease campus environment; not only that, it also brings your institution into the future. Easy-to-navigate education processes attract students, allowing your campus to continue running like the well-oiled machine that it is. Keeping your campus in the dark ages of technology not only hurts your students, it hurts your entire business. A high-tech workflow management system is a necessity your school can no longer do without.
Whether fair or unfair, students expect a lot of of their colleges and universities. An individualized learning experience is the standard, but most students would settle for consistent help from their on-campus systems. Unfortunately, high enrollment rates, a limited amount of resources, an overworked staff, and a surplus of tasks to complete often leave students feeling confused and overlooked. The more difficulty students experience navigating their education process, the more impatient they become. If enough time passes, the decision to leave school altogether becomes an easy one.
They're not getting the help they need to prepare for their future, why would they stay?
Consistently negative experiences with student services are one of the primary sources of attrition among college students. When students don't get the help or services they need, they drop out of classes, refrain from attending courses, or even leave the school altogether. As an organization that seeks to prepare young adults for their future, the current attrition rates are unacceptable.
Thankfully, a workflow management system presents a wonderful solution. By simplifying student access to on-campus services, a workflow management system decreases frustration and confusion among the student body. With a system like the one from QLESS, you can decrease attrition rates by as much as 50%. A workflow management system improves student satisfaction and increases retention rates by allowing each student to feel like their needs are being met.
While a workflow management system improves the lives of your students, it also leads to increased productivity of your staff. A higher education environment already deals with a lack of resources, but a larger problem presents itself in an ineffective use of the resources that do exist. Oftentimes, staff stretch themselves far too thin trying to meet the needs of all students, despite the lack of time or effective organization systems to do so. Advisors overbook themselves attempting to sort out class schedules, and the Registrar and Admissions offices are overrun with impatient students. While it's undeniably unfair to the students, it's equally as frustrating for the staff.
Workflow management systems streamline campus processes and effectively allocate your staff resources. By eliminating the need for physical lines and relying on technology-based systems for organization, workflow management systems allow your administrators to gain a clear view of the tasks they need to be completed. Instead of surprise assignments and a frustrating amount of work for staff members, each administrator focuses on their assigned tasks, increasing their overall productivity. Not only does it result in increased happiness for your employees, it also ensures that all your resources are used effectively, lowering operational costs and saving money in the long run.
In our technologically advanced world, physical lines and in-person wait times just aren't practical anymore. Many of the problems that develop in university settings stem from a general lack of organization. Without a workflow management system, students are forced to go to an office, wait in line, and generally waste their time in an attempt to progress in their college experience. At the same time, administrators have little control over the time and attention needed to help each individual student. With a finite amount of resources and an infinite amount of potential questions, administrators are unable to prioritize and organize accordingly. With that lack of organization, both staff and students waste their time, and neither leaves feeling happy.
A workflow management system sorts through the chaos in your offices and eliminates the inconveniences of poor organization. Instead of arriving at an unspecified time in a physical office, students are assigned an appointment time with which they can ask all their questions. Interactive virtual queuing simplifies the process if your student does need unexpected help, and mobile reminders ensure that each student arrives at their specified appointment time. Most importantly, all these processes are completed inside the system, without assistance from your staff, allowing them to save their abilities to actually help students and bypass the errors that often accompany in-person scheduling.
An effective workflow management system changes your on-campus life immediately. Improved allocation of resources, clear processes for students, and increased organization all lead to instantaneous changes in your business systems. However, workflow management systems also provide information on what needs to change in the future. As a completely automated process, workflow management systems collect valuable information on your student and staff patterns. Student wait times, staff efficiency, student needs--all these and more can be found within your workflow management system.
With QLESS systems specifically, we provide a real-time dashboard that consolidates data from multiple offices. At a glance, you have a general idea of what's happening in all areas of your campus. In addition, surveys within the system provide even more information about student satisfaction and necessary changes. Improving your business is a constantly evolving process, workflow management systems provide valuable insights to ensure that you can provide the best resources to your students for years to come.
We don't need to tell you that colleges and universities need students to stay afloat. Enrollment and retention present a major challenge for higher education institutions. That explains why many student administrators list student retention and student experience as their top priorities. While students may drop out when dissatisfied with their education, the ripple effect extends much farther than a single loss. Unhappy students spread information online and within their communities about the ineffectiveness of the school, giving other individuals the message that your institution isn't worth attending. While an individual drop-out can already present a hefty loss, consistent dropouts can negatively affect your application and enrollment rates over time.
An effective workflow management system leads to increased student happiness and higher retention rates over time, but it also allows your students to talk positively about your institution. Not only are you saving money on attrition, you're also building a strong reputation that will draw more students to your school over time. Reputation matters, both for the present and for the future. Workflow management systems support your ability to meet your student's needs, building a strong reputation as an institution that cares. With a reputation like that, who wouldn't want to apply?
Workflow management systems are a necessity in the modern age. It increases the happiness of your students and staff, leading to higher productivity and increased retention rates. In addition, it organizes your office with little effort from your staff and provides valuable insights into how you can improve your processes in the future. If you're ready to build a strong reputation, meet your students' needs, and save money for your business, you need to take the QLESS approach. Learn more about how our electronic queuing system can enhance your education systems today. Please contact us for more information about our system.
Waiting rooms have been an essential aspect of hospitals, doctor's offices, and other healthcare facilities. But it doesn’t take much thought to realize the idea is counterintuitive. Crowding individuals with ailments in congested areas while they wait for assistance is not ideal. This was only further emphasized as a person-to-person airborne pandemic struck the world. Patient queue management software can be the solution to remedy this.This experience caused many healthcare professionals to have to re-evaluate their waiting procedures. There were concerns about pandemic transmission in waiting rooms and the overall healthcare experience. Amid virus anxiety, would patients sit with others even with a mask on?For a while, there were no true means of eliminating the waiting room. But in recent years, to address these concerns, many healthcare providers have been implementing patient queue software like QLESS. This software aims to help reduce patients’ anxiety and create a waiting room experience that meets customers' expectations. The healthcare industry is crowded, and consumers abandon providers that can't meet their needs. According to Medical Economics, 69% of patients would switch providers for better services. Patient queue management software is an impactful solution that can de-congest waiting rooms and provide a safer, more patient-friendly experience. In a time where consumers easily switch businesses, the patient experience is vital. Below, we will break down what patient queue management is, how a virtual queue management system creates safer spaces, and why this is so important for patients and healthcare organizations.
Before we go any further, it is important to fully understand what patient queue management software is. The idea is relatively straightforward, and it has changed the healthcare sector. Why not have a virtual waiting room to manage customer flow instead of a physical one? Patients can access this virtual waiting room from their phones, computers, or on-site kiosks.With key features that enable customers to track the actual wait times for appointments, monitor the progress of the line they’re in, and communicate with staff, patients have a drastically changed experience when using healthcare services. Some organizations still hesitate to embrace and implement digital technology into the patient experience. But data indicates that customers already rely on digital technology and expect organizations to accommodate that reliance. According to a poll from Healthfully, 80% of consumers want the ability to use technology to manage their healthcare experience. Furthermore, the average consumer uses tech constantly throughout their daily lives. The average U.S. adult spends more than seven hours a day on screens, according to Exploding Topics. Healthcare organizations should prioritize implementing helpful tech solutions like patient queue management to avoid customer alienation. Patient queue management software has substantial benefits that enterprises should not overlook. With features that allow customers to enter virtual queues from their phones, patients can remotely wait in the virtual waiting room and monitor their queue times. Implementing virtual queues doesn't mean healthcare organizations need to eliminate waiting rooms. It simply gives patients the ability to choose.
The million-dollar question that healthcare organizations might have is whether or not waiting rooms are such a bad thing. Waiting rooms were the only option for healthcare services before technology advanced enough to make them less necessary. So how bad could it be? By implementing software to eliminate waiting rooms, might healthcare organizations solve a problem that doesn’t exist? The answer to this question is a firm no. Waiting rooms pose a genuine risk to older patients' well-being. A 2012 study of elderly residents of long-term care facilities published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal showed that a visit to an emergency department is associated with more than a threefold increased risk of acute infection. While this vindicates the need for patient queue software, it is also common sense. Requiring sick and injured people to share a room for extended periods increases patient risk. The pandemic highlighted that the prior waiting room model is untenable during an airborne virus outbreak among those visiting emergency rooms and doctors' offices. Healthcare providers adapted by spacing chairs, having customers wait outside, and mandating masks. While they may have curbed the virus from spreading, they reduced operational efficiency and didn't enhance patient satisfaction. It is not insignificant that waiting rooms also have extremely long patient wait times. The longer customers are cramped in a waiting area, even if socially distanced, the more at-risk they are. Similarly, the more unhappy they will be. This is why it is incredibly important for enterprises to be very conscious of the state of their waiting rooms.
We’ve established that waiting rooms might inadvertently put customers at risk, but what do your patients think of them? Customer satisfaction is vital in healthcare, as it's still a business, and unhappy customers can easily switch providers. The waiting room is a defining step in the patient's journey before receiving service. So it is worth asking if increasing patient satisfaction in the waiting room experience is necessary or if customers are okay with the current status quo. Data shows that consumers distrust crowded waiting rooms and dislike the experience they provide. A QLESS survey of 250 U.S. adults showed that 59.4% of consumers associate congested waiting areas with unsafe conditions. If customers feel unsafe in the waiting room, chances are they will not enjoy their overall experience. A contributing factor in this situation is that the average waiting room is just not a pleasant place to be. Typical healthcare waiting rooms present sterile environments with white walls, fluorescent lighting, outdated magazines, and a T.V. This is hardly a positive environment, and according to Fierce Healthcare, unpleasant waiting rooms are a bigger issue for customers than long wait times. Rather than investing in more comfortable chairs or a higher-definition television, enterprises should focus on the real problem. Customers just don’t like waiting rooms either way. Patients prefer waiting from home or nearby cafes to congested waiting areas. Giving the consumer the option to skip the waiting room altogether is the best solution to a longstanding problem.
The healthcare industry is about more than just improving patients’ well-being, although that is the primary objective. The modern consumer isn’t satisfied with just receiving excellent quality of care. The experience for patients along the way is not nearly as important. Healthcare organizations that want to survive in this new age of experience-centric care will do well to improve their waiting room. According to Forbes, 60% of Americans have had a negative healthcare experience in the past year, and 52% of those people will tell others about their negative experiences. Curating a positive waiting experience without risk and discomfort is important in building a patient-friendly healthcare organization. This will help create loyal customers and position healthcare companies to succeed.
It is clear that there is a need for change in the waiting room experience. Customers don’t feel safe, and there is an established correlation between emergency waiting room visits and further infections. The problem has only gotten worse in recent years. A 2022 study by Yale showed that emergency room crowds had reached crisis levels and posed significant patient safety risks. The same is true across Canada. The crowding is due to an overstressed system, not necessarily management failure. De-congesting the waiting room is incredibly important for both safety and satisfaction. Let’s explore how patient queue management software can lead to less crowded waiting rooms while providing efficient patient flow.
The primary feature that QLESS offers that is designed to help de-crowd the waiting room is its remote check-in software. In a typical waiting room without a patient queue management solution, individuals have to check-in in person. They arrive at the front desk, inform staff they’ve arrived, fill in a form, and take a seat, waiting to hear their name called. This requires physical presence throughout the waiting process. Remote check-in software lets customers wait for their appointment without physically arriving until it begins. How this works is that customers will receive a link when they register for an appointment. They can access this link via mobile devices, computers, or an on-site kiosk. When their appointment is scheduled, they can tap the link and check in. Once they’ve checked into their appointment, the patient is automatically placed in a virtual queue. The queue displays the number of customers ahead and the projected wait time based on data tracking and machine learning, accounting for the line's size and wait times at different parts of the day. Customers can be queued based on appointment type or healthcare professional they're meeting. They can track their progress through an app or website and know when to be there. This means lines can move smoothly without customers needing to be in the waiting room until the end. This also lines up with what customers prefer. In a QLESS survey of 250 consumers, 57.2% of respondents indicated they are likelier to patronize a business if they have early insights into wait times. QLESS virtual queuing system's remote check-in feature eliminates the need for customers to enter waiting rooms until their appointment begins. They can choose whether they are comfortable in that environment and wait on their own terms.
Long wait times in healthcare have been a persistent issue and seem unavoidable due to the nature of the industry. Demand often exceeds the ability of facilities to provide efficient service due to the need for proper care and attention for each patient. This is why patients wait an average of over 18 minutes at physicians’ offices, according to PartnerMD, and 145 minutes at the average emergency room, according to Autoinsurance.org. Patient queue management software can’t entirely solve the issue of long waits that are endemic to the healthcare industry. However, it can provide organizations with a tool to increase staff productivity, manage customer flow, and improve overall efficiency, positively impacting wait times.
There are two key ways this software helps with this. Firstly, the patient queue management system completely automates the queue process, so enterprises don’t need to oversee it themselves. The software has configurable policies, like no walk-ins or a maximum 5-minute late policy for appointments. Then, the lineup can be completely automated, with the artificial intelligence-based system drastically more efficient and organized than a standard physical queue. QLESS’s patient queue management software also has smart calendar features that give staff a better sense of their day. The entire appointment calendar is displayed for them, showing the customer, appointment type, and more. The calendar is color-coded and organized and can be segmented, so employees have a heightened understanding of their daily workflow, increasing overall efficiency. By reducing wait times, healthcare organizations can reduce the time people need to spend waiting for appointments. The remote check-in features allow customers to wait from wherever they please, but inevitably there will still be some customers that prefer to wait for appointments in waiting rooms. With automated queue management and smart calendar features, the QLESS patient queue management system ensures waiting times are trimmed, resulting in less crowded waiting areas.
Communication in the healthcare process is incredibly important. Customers strongly desire communication from end-to-end in the healthcare process, and having better communication can lead to safer waiting rooms. With better communication, enterprises can create safer waiting rooms in several ways. Having customers that indicate they might be contagious wait remotely will reduce infection risk, and enabling customers to message staff if they are running slightly behind but still keep their appointment will lead to fewer delays. While this type of communication could lead to a safer, less crowded waiting area, many enterprises are ill-equipped to offer this level of communication. Customers expect communication, particularly through digital methods. According to Forbes, 80% of consumers surveyed said they prefer to use digital communications with their healthcare providers, and 43% said they want to engage digitally with their healthcare providers before, after, and during their visits. But many enterprises lack the digital infrastructure to provide this level of communication that customers are hoping for, even if it can make customers happier and lead to safer waiting rooms. The QLESS patient queue management system empowers healthcare organizations with bi-directional communication features that improve the connection between customers and staff. With the QLESS features, organizations can drive a more communicative approach to healthcare. They can individually message customers and receive responses, schedule messages to entire groups of customers, and create automated messages triggered at different parts of the patient journey. Better communication means less confusion, as late customers or no-shows often trigger chain reactions that lead to extended delays. With better communication, there are fewer bottlenecks, which means lines move faster and waiting rooms are less crowded. This also improves the patient experience, as enterprises can answer patients' questions digitally during busy times when they might not have the time to respond face-to-face.
One of the most significant ways healthcare organizations have pivoted away from the standard waiting room model is by leaning into virtual healthcare. The pandemic made face-to-face appointments a near-impossibility at many practices, and to combat this, many organizations pivoted to virtual healthcare options like telehealth. Providing medical care virtually remains important even after the peak days of the pandemic. According to McKinsey, virtual healthcare remains hugely impactful, with 46% of consumers using telehealth now compared to 11% in 2019.Telehealth leads to less congested, safer waiting rooms for obvious reasons. With the option to schedule remote healthcare appointments, customers don’t need to visit healthcare offices at all. If customers have a mild but contagious illness, healthcare organizations can schedule virtual appointments to ensure they don’t spread their illness. Ultimately, the fewer in-person visits, the less crowded waiting rooms will be. But many organizations might buckle under the weight of managing an entire virtual calendar without the proper digital solution.
QLESS has virtual service features that enable healthcare organizations to provide a positive patient experience remotely. QLESS is integrated with Zoom and Microsoft Teams, two popular video meeting platforms, and enables organizations to put customers in mixed queues that accommodate in-person and remote patients. How this works for remote patients is they would schedule an appointment online and select a virtual appointment. They will then receive a QLESS link and be placed into a virtual queue when they check in for their appointment. They will then be able to monitor their wait time, see who is in front of them, and receive a Zoom or Teams link when their appointment is ready to begin. Virtual appointments are a crucial part of the post-pandemic world. The QLESS patient queue management platform enables enterprises to integrate remote patients into their virtual queues and digital calendar, creating a smooth appointment process and easier virtual appointment management.
The waiting room is a longstanding problem in the healthcare industry that most organizations have neglected to address. The concept of making ill or injured patients wait for long periods in a congested room is one that doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, although there haven’t been other options for organizations until recently. Now that QLESS for healthcare and other patient queue management systems exist, the need for waiting rooms has been drastically reduced. These digital solutions enable enterprises to create a virtual queue where customers don’t have to be physically present to wait in line or in the waiting room. The customer can check in, monitor their status in line, and communicate updates with staff, all from their phones or computers. This means they can wait outside the office, from their home, at a nearby park, or wherever else they’d prefer. Customers can still wait in waiting rooms if they want to, but QLESS allows them to wait remotely, helping to drastically reduce congestion in healthcare offices. Reducing risk in the waiting experience should be an important objective for all healthcare organizations, and it resonates with customers. Consumers strongly dislike the typical waiting room process that has been the norm in healthcare for ages. With QLESS’s queue software, healthcare businesses can meet the needs of the experience-oriented patient while creating a safer, more positive waiting process.
