Waiting in line is a drag. In today’s world, our free time is limited. Balancing work, family, and a social life is a serious daily undertaking, and thus, no one wants to sacrifice their precious downtime waiting in line.
Here are 5 tips that will foster a more enjoyable waiting experience for your customers:
1.) Occupied Time Feels Shorter than Unoccupied Time: In a Texas airport a few years ago, executives responded to a large number of complaints about the wait time at baggage claims by increasing the travelling distance passengers had to walk.
Previous to that, they added more staff and decreased the average wait time to 8 minutes (an average industry standard), yet the complaints kept coming. They realized that their passengers spent 1 minute walking and 7 minutes waiting, and this is what caused the complaints. When they added to the walking distance (occupied time), they watched the number of complaints fall drastically.
2.) Length Beats Speed: Most people will choose a short, slow line over a fast, long line. One way to change this perception is to develop a unified queue.
3.) Fairness is First: No matter the situation, it’s all about first come, first served. There’s nothing worse than people who cut in line, and no matter if they’re cutting you, or someone behind or in front of you, it is still supremely irritating. Unified queues guarantee that the first person in line is the first person served, and also prevent customers from beating themselves up over picking the wrong line, or blaming staff for the wait times.
4.) Eliminate Uncertainty: Disney World alerts all of their guests about how long they’ll be waiting. And they always overestimate because people are happy when they end up waiting for a shorter period than they expected.
5.) The Final Moment is the Most Important: People summarize an entire experience based on the final moments. This point connects to tip #4, because if the customer gets to their final destination quicker, they will walk away happy.
Cashiers also influence this aspect. A friendly, informative, and helpful cashier will solidify a positive experience for consumers, even if the wait wasn’t particularly enjoyable.
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People have to grocery shop. They have to wait in lines for busses and planes, and at the gas station. And although no one wants to do it, there are ways to make the experience more bearable, and ensure that it doesn’t turn customers completely away from your establishment.
For more on this subject, see Alex Stone’s article from the New York Times