What Is Virtual Queuing? A Guide to Virtual Queues

A queue management system is a digital tool that help businesses in managing the daily visitors and customers flow and ensuring they are getting served in the most convenient manner possible. The queue management systems allow the businesses to segregate different customers for different queues as per their needs, and are quite capable of controlling the entire customer flow fully automatically. The automatic management eliminates all human related errors and problems. The customer feel more confident as they know no one else can take their turn and everyone will be served as per their turn. The automation also reduce the workload of the staff and expedite the customer journey and it can improve various service delivery steps. Overall a digital queue management system can offer almost 50% to 60% deduction in the waiting time and in some cases the waiting time can be reduced even more than that.

The queue management systems are not new for the businesses and enterprises in UAE. However, as we all know the technology evolves and grows very rapidly. The demand of a modernized and innovative queue management solution which can enhance customer experience is always high. This demand encourages the manufacturers and system designers to come up with innovative and creative solutions. The customer wait time is the most important factor in customer satisfaction. Studies have shown that an average customer can wait for maximum thirteen minutes, any wait time longer than that will keep reducing the customer happiness and customer satisfaction. So, the business are always seeking ways and techniques to reduce the customer wait time as much as possible. A virtual queuing is one of the most modernized and technologically advanced solution to deal with the wait time and other queue management problems.

What is Virtual Queuing?

As the name suggest virtual queuing is a form of queuing that is virtual. It means that a customer or visitor can sign-up for the queues virtually and the queues themselves would also be virtual. The customers and visitors are provided with a medium to sign-up for the virtual queues by remote or virtual channels. Which enables them to arrive only when their number is called. They don’t have to come and wait in the physical lines to be able to stay in the queue, they can wait anywhere. Since the sign-up process is also virtual/digital which allows them to sign-up from anywhere without being physically present at the branch, this can reduce the wait time significantly. There are several technologies and methods used to provide the necessary digital queuing features such as sign-up, customer calling, providing information, communication and live coverage of the ongoing queuing process and other relevant details.

The virtual queuing can offer all standard queuing features along with some additional features that can literally eliminate the need of waiting at the branch and offer ultimate customer experience. The customer satisfaction and customer happiness is guaranteed. Studies and statistical data is suggesting that a business could witness up to 60% reduction in customer churn rate and also the negative feedbacks and complaints got reduced significantly after implementing a virtual queuing solution. The virtual queuing improves customer experience and help business building a strong relationship with their customers. A good relationship with customers is necessary for customer loyalty, the loyal customers are tend to be a good brand advocate and it is nine to twelve time less expensive to sell to an existing customer than acquiring a new customer. Customer happiness and customer satisfaction directly impact your revenue and growth.

What is Virtual Queue Management Systems?

A virtual queue management system is not different than any ordinary queue management system, in fact a virtual queue management system have all basic features of a traditional queue management system along with additional features that made it a virtual queue management systemwhich will enable virtual queuing processes. As each business is different and have its own unique set of methodologies and business practices which distinguishes it from others, that is why the queuing requirements and policies are also different. However, there are some basic features of a virtual queue management system which enables a fully-virtual queuing experience for the customers and also allow the businesses to implement their policies and strategies. Here are some basic virtual queue management system components and features:

Virtual Sign-up
- Online Channels
- Mobile Apps
- QR Code
- Traditional Channels
Virtual Waiting/Queues
Multi-channel Remote Queuing Information Updates
Traditional Queue Management Components
- Counter Plates
- Digital Signage Screens
- Ticket Dispensing Kiosk/Terminal (Optional)
- Audio-Visual Announcements and Customer Calling
Administrative Control Panels and Agent Dashboard
Server Application or Queue Management Server
Third-party System Integration
Customer Feedback Module/System

These are some of the basic features and components that a virtual queue management system must have. However, it is always best to go for a customized queuing solution. The customization allow the business to integrate the queue management system more effectively into their existing infrastructure. Business can link other systems and the central information center or database with the queue management system to make the management and monitoring easier and such customization also enhance the current business practices and work flow. Usually when businesses go for an off-the-shelf solution they might have to make some adjustments to their existing processes and work flow which could make the administration a bit more complex. Anyways, the customized queuing solutions and ready-to-deploy systems both are equally popular in Dubai and all around the UAE. The efficiency and effectiveness of the solution will be determined by the requirements and objectives of the business.

How Virtual Queuing Works?

The virtual queuing doesn’t require your customers and visitors to be physically present at the business to sign-up for the queue or to wait in the queue, in fact these two functions can be done virtually/remotely. Another major difference is that it supports virtual queues, it means whether the customer or visitor is physically present in the queue or not they can still be treated as present in the queue and their turn will come accordingly. This provides ultimate freedom and convenience to the customers and visitors. Basically the main objective of deploying a queue management system is to reduce the wait time, organize the customer flow and improve the customer experience. Here is how the customer journey is through the virtual queue management system:

Virtual Queuing: Sing-up

The sign-up process for virtual queuing is usually by the remote channels. Some retail businesses and small branches also offer QR Code based sign-up. The customers can scan the QR Code and will directed to the mobile ticket issuing page and can sign-up there and get a mobile ticket issues instantly, the same page can also provide the queuing updates and other relevant information. Here are some most popular channels used for virtual queuing sign-up:

Smartphone Applications
Online Customer Portals
Online Appointment Booking
Email, Call, SMS, etc.
QR Code

The customer can sign-up by any available method and channel and will get the ticket issues. The business can also provide queuing information to the customer by multiple mediums.

Virtual Queuing: Waiting

There is literally no actual waiting with virtual queuing. The customers are completely free to wait anywhere they want, all they need is to sign-up from any available channel and then wait for their turn. The customers can arrive at the business at the very same time of their turn or when their ticket number is called. This completely eliminate the wait time. The businesses also don’t have to stress much about managing a large number of daily foot fall or crowed formation in the waiting area or any other problem. The businesses can easily implement social distancing polices with a virtual queuing enabled queue management system.

Virtual Queuing: Service Delivery Experience

The service delivery experience or the customer’s interaction with the agent/server is always better with virtual queuing. As the customers are not bound to sit in the waiting area and there is no compulsion of standing in the lines, the customers who arrive at the counter are always fresh, happy, and cooperative. On the other hand as there is no burden of managing the customers and there are not distractions for the employees the agents/servers are also happy and satisfied, they have balanced workload and they have enough time to focus on their primary tasks. This has double effects on the customer experience and the customers being more cooperative and understanding and the staff more active and happy lead to a superior service delivery experience and good quality service.

The virtual queue management systems can also facilitate the service delivery process, this can be achieved by integration the queue management system with other systems and central information center to facilitate the agents/servers via their dedicated agent dashboard. So along with reducing the wait time to literally none the business can also ensure a quicker and good quality service delivery.

Virtual Queuing: Customer Feedback

The customer feedback is a very important part of business intelligence data. It provides a deeper understanding of your customers as well as it provides a chance to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of various business processes and business resources involved in the customer journey and customer experience. A virtual queuing enabled queue management system can collect customer feedback from various mediums and channels. For example if a customer is signing-up via mobile app or SMS, then the customer feedback can be collected from the same channel as the same channel was already preferred by the customer. This increase the customer response rate and help businesses improving their relationship with their customers and the customer feedback is also good to promote a positive brand image and brand identity.

What are the Benefits of Virtual Queuing?

Whether it is a small business, retail store, large enterprise, government department, bank, hospital, university or collage, or any other organization, the only thing that everyone want is to improve the customer experience and customer journey to achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction. The customer satisfaction can directly impact the business reputation and brand identity. Which is critically important for growth and profitability. The virtual queuing enabled queue management systems are way too effective in doing that than comparing to traditional queue management systems. Here are some key benefits of virtual queuing enabled queue management system:

Reduce Wait Time: The wait time can be reduced to literally none due to virtual queues and remote sign-ups.
Multi-Channel Sign-up: The multi-channel remote sign-up facility offer freedom and convenience to the customers.
Effective Crowd Prevention:Automatic in-built smart algorithms controls the number of the active queues as and monitor everything in real-time to prevent the crowd.
Social Distancing Enabled: Implementation of the social distancing is very easy with virtual queuing, the business can easily set the number of customers they can facilitate at any point of time.
Boost Employee Efficiency:The virtual queuing takes off a lot of the work load of the staff and help improving the employee efficiency.
Smartphone Applications: The virtual queue management system can provide integration with the smartphone apps or can also offer dedicated smartphone applications, both are very effective to facilitate the customers and visitors.
Third-Party System Integration:Like any other high-tech business solution the virtual queue management system also support third-party system integration which help businesses to offer a variety of functionalities and help improving business processes and service delivery mechanisms.
Higher Profitability: The virtual queuing can significantly reduce the expenses by boosting employee performance, enabling the business to optimize resources and by increasing customer retention and the customer satisfaction also increase revenue and reduce cost.
Customer Feedback: Virtual queuing offer a variety of communication channel which can be utilized to collect more and highly accurate customer feedback data.
Reports, KPIs and Business Intelligence: Like any other modern system the virtual queue management system can capture data from all customer touch points as well as it can effectively monitor various KPIs. It can provide actionable reports and integrate data with other systems too which results in a great business intelligence collection.

These are some of the key benefits of the virtual queuing or virtual queuing enabled queue management systems. There are several other benefits too which all can’t be mentioned in this article. The studies have shown that the virtual queuing is way more effective than traditional queuing methods.

Important Things to Understand before Switching to Virtual Queuing

In Dubai and all around the UAE more and more businesses and organizations are switching to the virtual queuing. In fact since the early 2020 the virtual queuing adoption rates have been doubled or even more in the recent few months in the UAE and in many other regions worldwide. However, before you switch to a virtual queuing business model here are some things that you should consider:

Waiting Area: Switching to virtual queuing doesn’t mean that you no longer need any waiting area, in fact there will be some customers who would wish to wait inside the premises to wait for their turn.
On-Site Check-Ins: Similarly there would be some customers who would like to go with the more traditional way, so keeping a traditional sign-up kiosk or ticket dispensing machine is always better.
Digital Signage: You will still going to need the digital signage to display the active queues and other queuing information even if your customers are just there for a brief moment of time. Provide all the necessary queuing information on the on-site digital signage.
Educate and Train your Staff and Customers: Obviously whenever a business implement a new system or solution it should train its employees and staff to be able to operate the system at its full potential. Apart from staff training your customers and visitors will also need training and education about the virtual queuing. The best solution is to place digital signage and run training videos and share the details of the process with your customers and audiences by all available channels.

Business and organizations who are switching to the virtual queuing often neglect these things and miscalculate the initial impact of the new technology on their customers and staff. It is important to switch to the virtual queuing with full preparation, which is why most of the modern virtual queuing enabled queue management systems also offer all the traditional queuing features.

Read More: Queue & Waiting Time Management

Conclusion

A virtual queuing is method of queue management which allows the customers and visitors to sign-up virtually/remotely for the virtual queues. This means the customer don’t have to be physically present at the business to sign-up for the queues and they also don’t need to wait in the physical queues or in the waiting areas to remain in the queue. The virtual queue management system is a very advanced queue management system with additional feature that enables the virtual queuing process. Customers and visitors can sign-up using various remote channels and they can get the status and updates through multiple convenient channels. These features can significantly improve the customer experience. The customer flow can be managed automatically and the customer journey can be reduced significantly. The virtual queuing also improve employee performance and enable the business to optimize the resources which reduce the expense and also increase profitability.

A good customer experience and customer satisfaction lead to higher customer loyalty, which further improve brand reputation and let business build strong relationship with its customers. In long term the virtual queuing have so many benefits which can help businesses to maintain a steady growth and improve brand image. RSI Concepts is a leading queue management system provider in Dubai, UAE. Our virtual queuing solutions are helping businesses to achieve their goals and objectives. If you are seeking a virtual queuing solution or if you want to learn more about it, feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this blog: Top 10 Virtual Queue Management Benefits