My blog focuses on Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Many businesses require customers to wait for their service. Thus it’s important make it as non-strenuous as possible. The following contributed post is entitled, Calm The Queue: How To Keep Customers Calm While They Wait.
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No company likes to keep its customers waiting. Unfortunately, even the most well-equipped companies have busy periods where they can’t attend to every customer immediately. There are also certain services that cannot be rushed like cooking a high quality meal or cutting someone’s hair. In these situations, the best you can do is to find ways to keep customers informed and occupied so that they don’t get frustrated while waiting. Whether it’s a long phone queue or a waiting room full of patients, here are some tips on how you can keep customers calm while they wait.
Frequently check in to provide updates
Frequently apologising for the wait and providing progress updates can show customers that you haven’t forgotten about them. This could include periodically going over to a table to let customers know how their meal is coming along or ringing up customers waiting for an overdue project to be finished to let them know what stage it’s at. In certain cases, it may be possible to use technology to let customers know how long they still have to wait, such as using an automated voice to tell customers where they are in a phone queue or allowing customers to track deliveries.
Occupy them with food and drinks
Food and drink is a great tool for distracting customers while they wait. Many restaurants use free appetisers like bread or olives to occupy customers as they wait for their food, while waiting rooms commonly provide a coffee machine or water dispenser. When it comes to high profile customers, you may be able to bring them coffee and snacks while they wait in a lobby to create a good first impression and stop them getting impatient.
Play (good) music while they wait
Music can also be used to occupy people as they wait. Many phone queues play music while customers are waiting, while many waiting rooms also play music. Of course, you don’t have to settle for dull or repetitive music – playing music that is interesting can make waiting less tedious. It’s even possible to set up phone queues that allow customers to choose their own music – something that Octopus Energy famously provides.
Provide entertainment for kids
Kids are more likely to get impatient while waiting. If your customers are likely to include families, consider ways of entertaining kids. Many waiting rooms provide bead mazes, while others go further and provide play corners. Some restaurants meanwhile provide color-in kids menus with puzzles on them.
Allow customers to go away and come back
It may not always be necessary to make customers wait at your premises. If you have an accurate idea as to when you will be able to serve them, you could schedule a time for them to come back later. For example, a restaurant might give customers the option to come back in an hour when a table is ready rather than them having to wait in the restaurant. Similarly, when unable to transfer calls due to other staff members, it may be possible to schedule calls later in the day so that customers aren’t waiting on the phone for an hour. This gives customers the option to do something else in the meantime, which may reduce frustration.
