Why Small and Local Businesses Need a Queue Management System?

Businesses use digital solutions to facilitate their customers and to boost their own productivity. These digital solutions can help businesses in many different ways, which could improve their operational capabilities and profitability. Big businesses are using queue management system for more than a decade now, it has become an absolute necessity for them. However small and local businesses haven’t embraced this technology yet. Although there are a lot many small and local businesses who are using a queue management system or any other kind of digital product to aid there queuing process, but the overall adaptation rate is not as that high as it is in large businesses such as banks, hospitals, government offices, educational institutions, telecom, etc. The small and local businesses in Dubai or in anywhere else in UAE have started to focus more on customer service, customer happiness and customer waiting experience.

Let us just admit it, no one likes to stand in long lines at a retail store. Most of the time when the queue is too long, people don’t even enter the store instead they move on to the next one. That is why it is extremely important for a business to provide excellent customer service and to prevent any congestion at the counters. Same is applicable for the small and local businesses, in fact they have to be more careful about their customer service. As small and local businesses usually have low budget and less employee so in order to ensure optimum balance between the expense/cost and the profit, they might be hesitant in investing in any digital system such as a queue management system. And due to the same reasons they might often feel overwhelmed with the load of the customers. Which not only results in poor customer experience but also increase customer churn rate.

The customer churn is simply the measurement of the number of customers who have entered into the business and wanted to purchase something but due to any reason they leave without making a purchase. Mostly the reason is the rush at the counters or very slow moving queues. In this blog we will discuss the basics of a queue management system and its benefits for small and local business to let them understand how important it is to have a digital queue management system at their store/business.

What is a Queue Management System?

A queue management system is a combination of software and hardware devices that help businesses to manage the queues and customer flow with more efficiency and also help them to enhance the customer experience and customer journey. The queue management system consists of the following essential parts and components:

Queue Management Server Application: This is the brain of the system, an intelligent software with advanced algorithms to operate and control everything in real-time. It resides on a server or cloud or online and is connected with each and every other component.
Customer/Visitor Dashboard: This is an interactive dashboard, which is usually available on an interactive kiosk machine. This dashboard allow the customers and visitors to sign-up for the queue and it also issue the tickets.
Agent Dashboard:This is an interactive dashboard for the agents/servers who can manage, control and monitor queues from their portal. Usually it is a web-based application which is available on the agent’s computer.
Administrative Dashboard: This dashboard is also a web-based application which is designed for the management to monitor the entire queuing process and to customize policies and perform all administrative functions.
Digital Signage: These are large display screens placed on strategic location where everyone in the waiting area can view them. These screens are used to display queuing information in real-time along with that the business can run multimedia content to increase customer engagements.
Announcement System: The announcement system is used for customer calling, it displays the ticket number of the digital signage as well as it also call the token number and its allocated counter in multi-lingual audio through the sound system installed all around the premises.
Counter Plates: The counter plates are available in three types, first one is an ordinary name plate, the second type is an LED based Dot Matrix Display and the most widely used is the small digital display screens which displays counter number, ticket number or any other additional information if needed.

These are just the basic components, there are several others that can be added to further improve the efficiency of the system. For example, virtual queuing is one of the most popular queuing method used by both large and small businesses. Another most popular form is QR Code based queuing. The queue management systems are usually customizable, so businesses can come up with their own ideas to innovate new features that could help them to reduce waiting time and improve customer experience.

Advantages of a Queue Management System for Small and Local Businesses

Small and local businesses need an efficient queue management system to improve their customer journey and to increase operational efficiency. As small and local businesses have limited budget and a limited number of employees so it is very crucial to utilize each resource efficiently to ensure maximum outcome. Unmanaged or poorly managed queues not only decrease customer satisfaction but also put strain on the staff which further results in poor employee performance and even poorer customer experience. Another major factor that could make things more difficult is the limited physical space, all small businesses have limited physical space and if it get crowded it will not only harm customer experience but it could have other negative effects too.

Here are some advantages of a queue management system for a small or a local business:

Queue Management System Reduce Wait Time

Simply be managing the queues, reducing the stress of the waiting customer and helping the employees to boost their performance a queue management system can significantly reduce wait time. This can be achieved in many ways, in fact for different businesses the queue management system works differently, let us discuss two most commonly found small businesses. For example a retail store such as clothing brand or just a general grocery store wants to improve its customer experience and customer satisfaction by improving their waiting experience. One thing is for sure, for any small or local businesses the customers must have to wait, it is inevitable. Especially during the rush hours, when the footfall is at its highest of the day, things could really get out of hands. A queue management system can offer mobile apps or SMS enabled sign-up process which help the shoppers to sign-up for the queue. The difference is they don’t have to wait in the line anymore, they can roam around the store and once their turn will come they will be notified by alerts and notifications either in-app or push notifications or simply SMS notifications. Hence the customers can go to their counter and get served immediately without any wait or very little wait time.

Similarly for other types of small and local businesses who are offering some kind of services instead of offering products. For example, there is a salon or small travel agent or a local real estate branch. The physical premises is small but during the busy hours it could be crowded. The queue management system can completely eliminate the problems that businesses might face on daily bases such as someone crossing the line or any dispute occurring among the staff or even with other customers, etc. Without a queue management system usually the staff is involved in solving such problems which deviates them from their primary task and also increase their workload. But with a queue management system this all could be avoided the staff could get more time to focus on their primary tasks, which expedite the service delivery process and the customers also remain calm as they know once their turn come only then they will be served. In addition to that in such small premises the digital signage could play vital role in further improving the customer experience by playing multimedia content and publishing queuing detailslive.

Read More: Queue & Waiting Time Management

Queue Management System Improves Employee Efficiency and Profitability

The small and local businesses usually manage their queues manually which not only reduce the customer happiness and customer satisfaction but also increase the workload of the staff which not only result in poor employee performance but it also results in poor customer experience as well. In fact such situations reduce the overall morale of the staff which directly impact on customer satisfaction and customer happiness. However, with the help of a queue management system when the queue are managed automatically and the employees have less work to do, the effects will be reversed, which means the employee will have a very balanced workload which will raise their morale and also improve their work efficiency. This reduce the overall per service cost and increase overall profitability. Once the employee start working on their full potential they will also cause reduction in the waiting time as the service delivery will be faster, which will also improve customer experience and increase their satisfaction. That is how a queue management system can boost the overall brand image and customer loyalty of a small or local business which is extremely important for a long term growth.

Queue Management System Increase Customer Loyalty and Ensures Long Term Growth

The customer loyalty and the long term growth are extremely important for a small or local business. As the competition in the market is very high, small and local businesses are also located nearby each other, usually concentrated in a certain area or sector of the city which means the customers have too many options available. In such scenarios losing a customer due to bad customer service or mismanaged queues could seriously harm the reputation of the business which could have dire consequences in long term. Hence it is extremely crucial that business ensures ultimate customer satisfaction to make them happy. A happy customer is tend to come back again which help building good relationship with them and increase their loyalty.

The loyal customers are tend to be a good brand advocate, they share their positive experience with their colleagues, friends and family and they recommend your brand to others. The loyal customers are more likely to defend the brand while talking to other people in real life or in online or social media platforms. Which help building a positive reputation of the business. A small or local business with positive reputation can attract more customers hence customer loyalty and customer satisfaction has long term effects on the growth and brand image.

Queue Management System can Gather Business Intelligence and Customer Feedback Data

A queue management system is not only used to manage the queues, but it is a very powerful tool that can monitor and capture data from each customer touch point. The system usage data and other stats are very helpful in identifying the areas of improvements and let the business management understand their customers more accurately. The queue management system can also measure and monitor various KPIs which can further help improving the employee efficiency. For example the queue management system can accurately measure the service delivery time each employee takes to serve a customer, it can also collect customer feedback data and various other types of stats which can be analyzed by its in-built analytical engine and the data can be extracted in reporting formats. Which help the management to take informed decisions and to draw strategies for the future.

Collecting the customer feedback data is one of the great feature of a modern day queue management system. The customer feedback collection not only provide a deeper insight to the customer’s mind but it also help improving customer to business relationship. When a business start collecting customer feedback the customer get a sense of importance and feel more connected to the business. They know that their favorite brand is interested in learning their opinions, views and taking their complaints which shows their seriousness to improve their customer’s experience. This also increase customer loyalty. The customer feedback data can also be extracted in various reporting formats which can be used to analyze various business process, quality of the products/services and also to analyze the behavior and capabilities of the customer service staff. Such data is very important for decision making and planning for the future and help businesses to improve in all aspects.

Conclusion

For any small or local business investing in a new solution could be a difficult decision. A queue management system is not as that expensive but still we have witnessed that small and local businesses in Dubai and also in other parts of UAE are a little bit hesitant in investing in it. A queue management system could be a game changer for a small or local business. It can help organizing the queues and improving employee efficiency along with that it also help improving customer experience by reducing the wait time and offer many features that can benefit the business to further reduce the wait time and help them boost their performance. These all factors result in higher customer satisfaction and improve customer loyalty. The loyal customers are important for a long term growth.

A queue management system also gather business intelligence data and customer feedback which provide a deeper understanding of relevant business processes and customer’s mindset. These all information improve the decision making capabilities of the business and ensure a positive growth with higher efficiency and profitability. RSI Concepts is a leading queue management system provider in Dubai, UAE. If you want to learn more about the topic or if you are interested in a quote, 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.

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