Having a good queue management procedures in place can make a real difference to any customer-facing environment. Whilst the world is aims to exit global pandemic, it highlighted the need for effective queue management.
As well as continuing to ensure your customers feel safe and remain socially distanced where necessary there are other benefits of queue management systems; such as keeping customers organised, then other secondary benefits such as improving customer loyalty.
1) KEEP QUEUES ORGANISED
Disorganised queues can lead to customer frustration once in the waiting line and in some instances can even completely put people off joining the queue. At busy times, queues can often become longer than the queuing area and interrupt people who aren’t ready to wait in line yet, causing yet more annoyance.
Systems such as the Tensabarrier® range are a great way to organise a queue. They’re portable so can be brought out to accommodate unusually busy queuing times. Our new, accessible Universal Base has been designed to ensure those with pushchairs or wheelchair users aren’t restricted. The Tensabarrier® system is fully customisable and the belt can be designed to match branding requirements.
Alternatively, why not introduce ShortcutQ to your existing queuing environment? ShortcutQ is a new, exclusive innovation that creates a shortcut to the front of the queue for customers to use at quiet times, enhancing the customer’s queuing experience.
2) ENFORCE SAFER QUEUING
COVID-19 has enforced the need for queue management systems to be used for customer safety. As well as potentially breaking government guidelines, by having a queuing system that isn’t safe might discourage customers from entering your store as it doesn’t give them the confidence they need to enter.
One top tip for enforcing safer queuing is to use crystal clear signage to display messaging throughout your queue and even floor stickers throughout the queue if necessary.
Using a retractable barrier system, such as the Tensabarrier® will allow you to create a clear queue to avoid over-crowding. Hand-sanitiser units can even be attached to your queuing barriers to make sure customers are disinfecting their hands at every given opportunity.
3) INCREASE CUSTOMER LOYALTY AND RETENTION RATES
Bad queuing situations can often lead to customers choosing not to return to a store. In a world where we have so many other options if our expectations aren’t satisfied, such as visiting a competitor’s store or even going online, ensuring we retain loyal customers is vital. The prominence of social media can lead to posts about dis satisfactory queuing experiences go viral in a flash and can put strangers off visiting a store. Having good queue management systems in place, especially for days that are synonymous with large waiting lines such as Black Friday, avoids customers going elsewhere and instead promotes memorable queuing experiences.
4) IMPROVE STAFF EFFICIENCIES TO UP SALES AND PROFITABILITY
In peak queuing times, staff may find themselves trying to organise the queue manually. By using a system such as our eQ™ Auto Call Forward technology, which automatically calls shoppers forward to the next available register, staff can focus on serving customers. In fact, our Auto Call Forward system has been proven to allow staff to serve up to 25% more customers per hour.
5) OPTIMISE COSTS
Intelligent customer management systems allow you to truly understand your customer flow. Solutions such as our Virtual Queue Management System have the ability to provide you with insightful data to understand customer affluence, behaviour patterns and distribution throughout your environment. This data can be translated to create a strategic plan as to where you place your staff throughout the day.
