We've all seen those ticket machines labeled "PLEASE Take A Number." These internationally recognized symbols of long queues are the best way to signal to visitors that your waiting room is about to live up to its name. They're out-of-date tools for an obsolete system. Instead of a customer service numbering system, virtual queuing can be the solution for your long lines.
Technology is making all aspects of our lives easier and more efficient, and the same goes for waiting your turn. Here are the top 7 reasons to scrap the take-a-number system:
If your business is serving hundreds of people per day, how many reels of tickets are you going through? If sustainability is a concern, wasting paper on little numbered stubs that get thrown away is the wrong move.
Have you ever pulled ticket number 456, then looked over the crowded waiting room to see they're now serving number 212? Did you stay or crumple up that little ticket and decide to leave? If you left, you're certainly not alone. For many retail establishments, "48 percent of customers assume your business is poorly run if they have to wait over 1o minutes." Outdated customer service number systems can be the cause of this.
You can provide your customers with options for managing wait times by allowing them to reserve their place in line and wait where they want, receiving updates when it's their turn (see #6). This ensures your customers don't leave out of frustration - and possibly never return again.
The customer service numbering system is not helpful in gauging how long customers are expected to wait. You could be number 100 with everyone ahead of you taking 30 seconds, or number 5 with two people ahead of you eating up 45 minutes each. Digital solutions that keep visitors aware of their wait time are a better bet than numbers without any useful information.
Your staff most likely has no idea what each visitor needs when they pull a ticket, each and every person that approaches the counter is a new, "How can I help you?". For example, by signing up ahead of time customers can let staff know exactly what sort of help they need, then, the first thing the visitor hears is not a question but a promise of excellent customer service.
Your staff gets this question - a lot. People shoulder past whoever's currently at the desk to ask the staff member for a rough estimate of when it will be their own turn. Like the visitor, the staff member doesn't know, since the customer service numbering system is so unreliable. A customer with a timer going can answer this question for themselves, leaving staff free to actually speed up their wait.
Digital queuing apps can tell customers when it will be their turn. This gives visitors a concrete idea of how long they have and lets them run other errands while they wait. This keeps the waiting room from becoming a crowded, discouraging mess and any person would want to keep an ear bent to hear what number is being served.
Bonus: You'll make better use of precious real estate by allowing your waiting room or lobby to encourage browsing of products for purchase!
It's time to join the digital age with virtual queuing, a more cost-effective and innovative method where people can join the line remotely from their computer, their mobile device, or at a kiosk at your business. After that, they can wait where they want and receive an expected wait time which controls expectations. Most importantly, it provides a guaranteed place in line with none of the boredom waiting for their number to come up.
Don't wait any longer - it's easy to upgrade your customer service numbering system and modernize your the waiting experience. Book a demo with QLESS to learn how our flexible solutions will significantly improve service flow, increase customer satisfaction, boost staff productivity, and much more!
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