Efficient Queue Management System Qualities

Businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE heavily rely on digital queue management systems to manage and improve the queuing experience of their customers. A queue management system is an essential part of customer experience strategy. Businesses belong to the services based industries require their customers to visit them all the time. No matter if you are a bank, hospital, restaurant, a small local business or a large size government office, if customers are visiting you then you must have a strategy to manage and streamline the customer flow. A queue management system comes with several advantages, which can improve customer experience, such as the automated queue management and tickets solve all problems associated with ticket-less manual queuing. The queue management system reduce customer wait time by improving employee efficiency and aiding them in their routine tasks. It can also increase customer engagements by displaying multimedia content and live queuing coverage at digital signage. Such features keep the user engaged and reduce the effect of wait time. The employee workload is divided which boost their efficiency and the customer end up getting satisfactory service.

These days almost every businesses is using a queue management system. That means all of your competitors would also be using a queue management system. This begs an important question, how you could differentiate yourself from your competitor? The answer is ‘just do better’. It is extremely important that you offer something better to your customers. Only an advanced and efficient queue management system can provide you a tangible competitive advantage. In this blog we will list the key qualities of an efficient queue management system and what you should be looking for while choosing a queue management system for your future needs.

Signup for the Queue

The very first step for any customer or visitor is to sign-up for the queue. An efficient queue management system always use an interactive kiosk and UI (user interface) to allow customers and visitors to sign-up. The intuitive design makes the process simpler. Usually in Dubai and all around the UAE such user interfaces are designed to support multiple languages. It leaves a very pleasant effect on the customers if their business is able to communicate with them with their native or favorite language. The first thing that the system ask the customers is to choose a language, then it asks them to select the required service from the list. Some businesses at this point also acquire customer identification details but it entirely depends on the business needs and policies. A pleasant sign-up experience help generating a positive vibe. On top of that the system can collect necessary information that can be used to further improve the customer journey. An efficient queue management system can automatically sign-up the customers to the right queue as per their selected service or as per their personalized experience.

Customer Waiting Experience

The customer waiting experience is very crucial for customer satisfaction. A pleasant and relaxing waiting experience always improve customer’s interaction with the server/agent. The wait time is not measured or evaluated in terms of numbers. For example, an efficient queue management system is capable of tracking the record of all the previous service deliveries and also the performance of the server/agent. On the basis of this data it can very accurately predict the expected wait time. The expected wait time should be printed on the ticket. This has very positive effect on customer’s minds. When we are sitting in the waiting area we always feel the time is passing slower, when we are standing in the queues, we feel the queues next to us are moving faster. This is only psychological effect and it has nothing to do with the actual wait time. That is why for the customer experience we consider two types of wait time, one is the actual wait time as per the clock and the other is the perceived wait time which we feel. This phenomenon is very important. That is why an efficient queue management system not only prints the expected wait time but also displays the remaining wait time on the signage screens and large displays to keep the customers and visitors calm.

In order to further improve the customer waiting experience an efficient queue management system support digital signage features to run dynamic content on the digital signage used to display queuing information. These signage are installed on all strategic location so that each and every customer in the waiting area or lobbies can view at least one all the time. The live queuing coverage will give them an impression that all the queues are moving. On the same screen the dynamic and multimedia content can be displayed, which increase customer engagements and keep them busy while distracting and dividing their attention. This has a great effect on customers and the sense of waiting can be minimized. Furthermore an efficient queue management system also use sound systems to make announcements and customer calling in multiple languages, which also keep users engaged. The SMS alerts and notifications can also be added to enhance customer experience and it also provide them freedom to go out while they are virtually present in their queues. Such qualities of an efficient queue management system can significantly improve customer’s waiting experience and help minimizing the waiting stress.

Read More: Queue & Waiting Time Management

Automatic Customer Routing and Customer Flow Management

In any business and organization there are always multiple services. In the office or at a branch a business serves multiple services. For some services there are dedicated counters, for some services there are not. Some services are stepped services and require a customer to go to several counters to get a complete service delivery. Some businesses have different priority levels for different sets of customers such as VIP or Premium customers, the customers with special needs, and regular customers, etc. Businesses also allocate specific counters for specific customers as well. All these variables makes the customer routing and customer flow management more difficult. Difficulties lead to mismanagement and unnecessary delays in the service which have a very negative impact on customer experience. An efficient queue management system is capable of routing customers as per the pre-determined protocols and policies of the business. Which makes the customer flow smoother and quicker. In order to prevent bottle necking, an efficient queue management system is also capable of diverting customers from one counter to the other. Hence the customer journey can be reduced and the wait time can be minimized.

Boost Employee Performance

An efficient queue management system can aid employees in various different business processes. The automation and digitalization provides more control and less hustle. The employees get free from unnecessary tasks, which means they can focus on their primary tasks. This boost their work capability, efficiency and quality of service. In addition to that an efficient queue management system also provide an intuitive agent dashboard. Which is used to provide various controls and information to the servers/agents. The agents can control the customer flow through their dashboard and they can also get customer information and any other data beforehand. An efficient queue management system is also capable of data integration and data synchronization, which enables it to help agents in preparations for the service delivery, reduce their effort in each service delivery and also expedite the service delivery process. All that can be achieved due to the customer identification and/or identification of the service they are looking for. An efficient queue management system also aid the post-service tasks and can automate several steps. All those qualities of an efficient queue management system reduce the employee workload, stress and efforts which can significantly boost employee performance.

Reduce Wait Time

One of the most valuable quality of an efficient queue management system is that it significantly reduce the wait time. The wait time is one of the most impactful aspect of customer journey and a longer wait time can completely ruin customer experience, no matter how much efforts you have done regarding other aspects of the customer journey. It is extremely important to reduce the customer wait time and improve their waiting experience. If a customer had a longer waiting time, they will get stressed, and when a stressed or anxious customer arrive at the counter it is extremely hard to change their mood and provide them satisfactory service. However, if a customer journey is shorter and the wait time is less and the waiting experience is good, the customer will arrive at the counter in a very calm and neutral mood. It is much easier to satisfy customers who are calm and are more accepting towards agents.Moreover the improved employee efficiency, business process automations and improvements and better customer flow result in significant reduction in customer wait time.

Increase Profitability

The automation and digitalization always result in cost reduction and higher profitability. If a business commissioned an efficient queue management system, it automates queuing process, customer journey and customer flow management. Which means a business needs very less human resource to manage this operation. The cost of human resource is much higher comparing to the operational and maintenance cost of a digital system. This significantly reduce the operational cost and resultantly the per-service cost get reduced. Moreover the customer churn is a biggest lost, as most of the customers leave without availing the service due to longer wait time or crowd at the branch. An efficient queue management system results in improved customer experience and quicker service delivery which also prevent crowd formation and enables smoother customer flow that reduce the customer churn rate and increase revenue of the branch/business. Furthermore the queue management system also provide in-depth business intelligence data which help businesses to understand their policies, business processes and employee performance. This information is very helpful in decision making and long term strategy building which also help boosting the revenue and profitability.

Customer Satisfaction Drives Customer Loyalty

The customer happiness and customer satisfaction is considered to be the key to success. Any business’s performance can be judged on the bases of customer satisfaction. As the customer satisfaction means everything is in right order and the performance is at optimum levels. When a customer get satisfactory services from a business, it is most likely to come back and do repeated business. This is called customer loyalty. The loyal customers are a great asset and act as a foundation for the long term success and sustainable growth. Every business does marketing and efforts to promote its brand to acquire new customers. If it keeps loosing existing customer, no matter how much efforts it is putting into acquiring new customers, its growth would be halted, and eventually it will take negative course. The happy and satisfied customers are tend to be loyal customers. The customer loyalty help business elevate and the loyal customers are also good brand ambassadors, they spread brand message and positive feedback though social media, word of mouth and endorsements. The customer loyalty and positive brand image help businesses achieve their marketing goals.

Studies have shown that the businesses with positive brand image tend to do well in their marketing campaigns comparing to the businesses with negative brand reputation. Hence the positive brand image results in better ROI from the marketing campaigns too, which ultimately reduce the cost of lead generation and conversions. Another advantage of loyal customers is that they always stick with the brand, they are always willing to give another chance and they do not quickly switch to another service provider. Studies have shown that the loyal customers also provide better feedbacks and share their opinion and suggestions more openly. The studies have shown that it is 9 to 12 time less expensive to make a sale to an existing customer than acquiring a new customer. In long term this could have a huge impact on the profitability and growth of the business.

Offers Virtual Queuing

Virtual queuing was designed to enhance customer’s experience. Especially it provides a lot of freedom and more flexibility with the waiting experience. However, during the past two years the virtual queuing gain popularity in Dubai and all around the UAE. The virtual queuing enables businesses to let customer sign-up for virtual queues and doesn’t require them to be physically present all the time in the queue. Now a days the virtual queuing is further improved with the functionality of remote sign-up features. It means that a customer don’t even have to come to the office or branch to generate ticket, in fact they can do so remotely or through their mobile devices. There are several channels that can be used for remote sign-up process such as mobile applications, SMS, email, online/websites, customer portals, QR Codes, etc. An efficient queue management system must provide advanced and modernized features to ensure an excellent customer experience and maximum productivity. Once a customer sing-up via a remote channel such as mobile app, they start receiving important information about the on-going queuing, they get alerts and notifications too. Hence a customer can plan their visit only at the time their turn will come. It means that the wait time can be reduced to none. That is why virtual queuing is gaining too much popularity as it reduces the wait time and improve customer experience and convenient.

Enables Third Party System Integration

An efficient queue management system always support and provide system integration with the third party tools and enterprise software. In this modern era of digitalization it is very important that the entire business information center is centralized and connected to everything else. An efficient queue management system can be linked with other systems to synchronize customer data, feedback data, and much more to improve relevant business processes, customer experience and service delivery processes. The system integration allows the queue management system to push and fetch data from any other integrated system or data center. Moreover an efficient queue management system can be integrated with other tools and hardware peripherals such as customer feedback collection tools, touch screens, EID readers, RFID, passport reader, QR Code/Barcode Scanners, etc. Such integration help queue management system to automate various business processes and reduce the customer efforts throughout the customer journey. The integration also enable the businesses to link the reporting and system stats with the other systems and vice versa. The system integration is great to boost the performance and efficiency of the system.

Collect Business Intelligence Data

An efficient queue management system collects business intelligence data and system usage details from each and every touch point of the customer journey. The queue management system also tracks and record employee performance data. For example the system can capture details about the customer journey and customer experience. What services are used the most, what are the busy hours, what is the average service delivery time including each service delivery time as well. The complete log is maintained for analysis and decision making purposes. An efficient queue management system offers in-built analytical tools and data processing algorithms. These tools help businesses to process the business intelligence data and help them identify the areas of improvements. Another great quality of an efficient queue management system is that it also collects customer feedback data. The customer feedback collection gives customers confidence, trust and a sense of importance, which is good to strengthen the customer relationships. The customer feedback data can provide a deeper insight to customer’s minds and help businesses to understand customer’s needs, expectations and problems. Businesses can use customer feedback data along with business intelligence data to evaluate their business processes, quality of products & services, employee efficiency and much more. This information is critical in taking actions and making future strategies for a long term growth.

Conclusion

These days a queue management system is not just used to streamline customer flows and manage waiting lines, in fact an efficient queue management system can literally transform the customer experience and customer journey. An efficient queue management system automates various steps and optimize business processes that are impacting customer journey. A good customer experience drives customer satisfaction which is a key component to gain customer trust and customer loyalty. The customer loyalty have a great impact on brand image. An efficient queue management system also reduce the workload of the employee and boost their efficiency. All these qualities along with automation and digitalization help reducing the cost and improve overall efficiency of the business. In this blog we have listed all important qualities of an efficient queue management system. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you have an enquiry, please 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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