Queue management system is a important part of the service-based industry. Businesses and organizations in Dubai and all across the UAE are eagerly pursuing ways to improve their queue management and customer wait time control. Basically, the customer journey and experience select whether a customer will do business with the label or not. If a customer has a bad experience, they will most assumably avoid that brand; if they had a good experience they will prefer to deal with the same brand again and again. This is what is called customer retention. Customer retention is based on customer loyalty, customer loyalty strenuously relies on the customer journey and customer experience. The customer journey and customer experience are heavily dependent upon the queue and waiting time management. It might look like a long shot but it isn’t. These all aspects have cascading effects and act like dominos, one’s fall leads to the fall of the next, and eventually, the entire structure falls apart. That is the grounds why queue and waiting time management is so important.
The cost is also an essential factor; it reduces profitability. If businesses are counting up new counters and hiring more staff, it is easy to comprehend that this will have a cost and running cost also. If companies are not adding more counters, they will fail to reduce the wait time. As a result, the customer churn rate will increase, customer retention will decrease, and customer loyalty will decrease. On top of that, the business will lose its importance. A negative brand identity is very bad; it affects everything. It directly impacts the cost of acquiring new customers and the businesses will end up investing a lot in marketing and brand identity-building efforts. A simple best queue management system can keep it all. The queue management approach not only makes the queue and waiting time control easy but also has other uses such as improving customer journey and experience, collecting customer feedback and business intellect data, etc.
Here are some benefits of a queue management system and how it can help businesses and organizations in the queue and waiting time management:
Queue Management System Manages Customer Flow and Organizes Queues
The entire service-based industry is investing a huge amount of hard-earned revenue and resources in improving customer experience and customer journey. From interior and lighting to wait for time and agent’s behavior, everything contributes to the customer experience and customer journey. Businesses and associations in Dubai and all around the UAE are eager to enhance customer travels and customer experiences. The wait time has a huge influence on customers’ experience. Several studies have shown that an average wait time threshold is 10 to 13 minutes only, which in most cases is even more than the service delivery process. Any time extended than that will start affecting customers negatively. As much as the waiting time advances from the threshold limit,
the customer experiences a decline. That is why the reduction in the wait time is the top priority. Obviously, instant service delivery requires a huge number of active counters, which requires a large number of trained employees, and that cost is unrealistic. Businesses should optimize the number of counters and the wait time to achieve a balance that can provide optimum customer waiting time and ensure maximum profitability. A queue management system is a very capable tool; it controls and manages the customer flow.
The sign-up and customer flow are digitally controlled. There is no human factor involved. This makes the process very efficient and agile. The customers and visitors also don’t have many complaints. As the system is controlled by the computer, customers and visitors also tolerate much more. The well organizes customer flow reduces the wait time and also helps the employees to focus on their primary tasks, which are service delivery and related jobs. This expedites the service delivery processes as well and further helps to reduce the wait time.
Queue Management System Reduces the Actual Wait Time and the Perceived Wait Time
Another advantage of a queue management system is that it helps improve the ‘perceived wait time’; the perceived wait time is always longer than the actual wait time. For example, when consumers sit in the waiting area, they might think they are staying for too long. However, the actual time spent is not that long. This is something that involves the human psyche. Our brain tends to perceive time slowly if waiting in a dull environment. A queue management system includes sizeable digital signage screens. These screens can play multimedia content which can divert customers from waiting time. This improves customer engagement. Moreover, the screens also display live queuing information and ongoing activities along with audio announcements, which keeps the user distracted, busy and engaged, and the perceived wait time gets reduced. Thus the queue management system not only reduces the wait time but also helps improve the waiting experience.
Queue Management System Automates Customer Journey and Reduces Wait Time
The queue management system is beneficial in automating the customer journey and customer routing. Most often, in Dubai and around the UAE, businesses offer multiple services through multiple counters. Two significant factors can improve customer flow and route: the intelligent load management for each counter and the automatic customer journey and customer routing management. Each business has different methods and practices, and the queue management system helps implement company policies quickly. If a company has multiple associates, the head office can execute the company policy presently throughout the entire network. The consumer routing and load management could also be configured per company policies. Each employee works differently.
Some are more capable, and some are less. Some perform better in busy hours. Some couldn’t. These all things impact the customer journey and customer wait time. In the case of stepped services, where a single service delivery requires a customer to reach several or at least more than one counter is a bit more difficult to handle manually; however, with a queue management system, the consumer routes and journey can be managed automatically as per company’s policies. This saves a lot of time and accelerates the customer flow. For example, a business has five counters with ten different services.
The foremost two counters are only only for the top two services, and the top two of the remaining services can be delivered by any counter, and the rest can be delivered through the three other counters. That may sound like a very complex scenario, but it isn’t. Usually, businesses divide their counters and services to improve customer experience, employee efficiency, and profitability. Let’s say the two agents out of the five are more trained and experienced and assigned to deliver complex services for VIP or Premium customers. The remaining staff is sufficiently trained for all other services. If the customer journey and customer journey and customer routes are managed manually, it could be a big hustle for both the customers and the employees as well.
This is where a queue management system significantly improves productivity and profitability. The entire process can be automated, the customer journey can be cut short, the wait time will be reduced, and employee performance will be increased. This will result in better resource management, and due to automation, only a limited amount of human resources will be needed increasing profitability.
Queue Management System Help Managing the Queues and Reducing Wait Time by Improving Employee Efficiency
Employee efficiency plays a vital role in customer wait time. If your employees are efficient and proactive, they will be able to work efficiently, and they will also be able to deliver good quality work, which will increase customer happiness and customer satisfaction. Without a queue management system, the employees will have to manually manage the queues and customer flow. They could easily get distracted from their primary tasks. They could efficiently get overstuffed during busy work hours. The workers will fail to function at their maximum efficiency, further increasing customer waiting time.
There are other aspects too, such as when queues are managed manually, customers have too many complaints about the mismanaged queues, employees, line jumpers, etc. The customer could quickly end up in the wrong queues, creating problems for customers and the agents. Such things will keep the busy employees managing and calming the customers and visitors, reducing their performance and efficiency. Employees will be devoured during the initial few hours of their shift, affecting customer knowledge and increasing the wait time.
With a digital queue management system, the employees don’t have to worry about such things. They can efficiently focus on their immediate tasks. The queue management system will manage the queues, customer flow, and the entire customer journey, reducing the wait time a lot. Moreover, the workers will have more time to achieve their pre-sale and post-sale tasks, which will facilitate the service delivery time, which results in less waiting time. Moreover, when the workers work under a level workload, they don’t stress out and remain more focused, sharp, and active in their tasks. These factors not only increase employee efficiency but also help improve the customer journey and customer waiting time.
Queue Management Systems Collect Business Intelligence Data
The queue management systems collect business intelligence data to identify the areas of improvement and factors which are impacting the queues and customer waiting time. Business intelligence is collective data coming from various feeds and sources. The data is then processed and compiled into actionable reports. On the bases of this data, the businesses can easily identify the areas of improvement and the factors which are consuming the most wait time in the customer journey.
This enables the businesses to set up and configure their queue management system and tune up their other policies and strategies to ensure improved queue management, better customer flow, lower customer wait time and better customer experience. There are different types of business intelligence data. The three main sources of business intelligence data are the queue management system’s usage and other stats, employee KPIs and customer feedback.
The queue management system has the ability to capture data from various points and various levels. It can accurately measure each customer’s journey, service delivery time, wait time and much more. The employee KPIs are very helpful in assessing and evaluating employee performance. The customer feedback provides a deeper understanding of the customer journey, expectations, needs and ongoing market trends.
Collectively these various sources form business intelligence. Which is processed by an in-built software engine and tools. Later the data is extracted in the form of various reports. The queue management systems provide different types of reports meant for a different audiences. These reports and customer feedback help businesses to identify areas for improvement. For example, the queue management system pointed to a particular service that takes longer than the usual time.
Businesses can plan to modify the service delivery mechanisms or practices in order to make it faster. Let’s say an employee is very good at certain services and not so efficient at others, the business can identify this by using the KPIs, and then they can either plan training for that employee or make sure that he remains appointed on the services with good efficiency. Such things are helpful for businesses to plan for future strategies, make policies and take actions for better queue management and lower waiting time.
Conclusion
The queue and waiting time management is the most important aspect of customer journey and customer satisfaction. If the customers are not happy and satisfied with the service they have or their experience throughout the entire customer journey, they will immediately leave the business or organization. If they had a good experience they will stay and become a loyal customer. Loyal customers are a very precious asset of any business the entire business’s success can be based on customer loyalty and customer retention. It is nine to twelve times more expensive to acquire a new customer compared to selling to an existing customer.
The queue management and waiting time dominates the entire customer experience and customer journey. No matter how good your services or products are if your business practices and service delivery methods are not good and customers are leaving unhappy and unsatisfied, they will eventually switch to others. A digital queue management system has completely revolutionized queue and waiting time management.
A queue management system automates various aspects of the customer journey, it can effectively manage the queues without getting affected by the number of incoming customers and visitors. It manages the customer routes and automatically controls the customer journey. It effectively distributes customers among the relevant counters and reduces the workload of the employees. Collectively these all factors result in a huge reduction in the customer waiting time and excellent queue management. Moreover, the queue management system also collects crucial business intelligence data to evaluate and assess each and every customer touch point. The queue management system can also effectively manage employee performance.
This help the management to further take steps and make policies to ensure the smoothest customer journey and a satisfactory customer experience. RSI Concepts is a leading name in queue management system providers in Dubai, UAE. If you need help with your queue management or branch transformation and customer journey management, feel free to reach us out through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you.
