Managing the wait-time of customers has a direct impact on customer engagement. Knowing the wait time of customers helps a business to deliver exceptional services to the customers. In addition, it serves as a great way to earn their loyalty by making them feel valued and appreciated. With this use case, get alerted when the customer has been waiting for longer than expected.

Introduction

Research has shown that a customer’s perception of an establishment may be determined by how long they were made to wait, influencing customer satisfaction levels. Ideally, the customer should not stay for too long as the customer could perceive this as a lack of efficiency.

Process

In such scenarios wherein customers are made to wait, the person tending to them should give the customer a precise and conservative estimation of how much time they would be requested to wait. By doing so, you are reducing the likelihood of the anxiety and frustration of the situation’s uncertainty could cause. If you have promised output within a specific timeframe, try your best to deliver as the customers’ expectations have already been put into motion. To backtrack from that commitment would significantly impact the image of the establishment.

Dos

• The employees should operate with a sense of urgency and timeliness.
• If there is a delay, be proactive, explain the reasons for the delay and tender the customer an apology.

Don’ts

• Don’t make the customer wait unnecessarily, especially if they want to ask a simple question.
• Do not react adversely if a customer gets frustrated for having made them wait. Instead, be calm and patient and try your best to resolve any issue that they have raised.

An unengaged customer will not only leave your store dissatisfied, but they’ll also discourage others from visiting the store. Staff engagement time detection notifies you if your staff engagement time with the customer is less than the predetermined period.

Introduction

The time taken for an employee to tend to the customers’ needs serves as an important metric for the future relationship between the enterprise and the consumer. Hence, the employees should have a greater propensity to quickly and orderly engage with the customers’ needs.

Process

Customers expect to see all the employees actively moving customers through the long queues and tending to all their questions and grievances, particularly in a retail store. This will instill a sense of contentment in the customer, knowing that the employees strive to assist them promptly. However, suppose the employees are not engaging in activities that best serve the interests of the customers. In that case, the customer will see it as a lack of competence and professionalism, discouraging them from revisiting the store.

Dos

• If there is a perceived wait time, employees should take note and engage in polite greetings, learn the purpose of their visit to the store, and possibly direct them accordingly.
• While waiting in line, give customers something to do, such as stacking magazines on the checkout queue shelves.

Don’ts

• Do not engage in idle conversations or activities while the customer is waiting.
• Do not react adversely if a customer is angry for being made to wait. Instead, resolve the issue by staying calm and offering an apology.

The presence of every single customer at a retail outlet is an asset for the business. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to attend to them. Staff members should try to engage a waiting customer in conversation, help them, and not leave them unattended.

Introduction

Customer waiting time is one such factor that influences a customer’s shopping experience. So, when customers visit your store, they are typically aware that they would have to wait until it is their turn. However, it is important to consider implementing an efficient management system regarding the waiting time for your customers.

Process

Standing in lines or even waiting to be tended to your inquiries are common occurrences in a retail store. But on the other hand, the employees should be quick to respond to customers and try to accommodate their needs as promptly as possible. Failing to do so would entail delays in offering customer service, probably leaving the customer dissatisfied. To appease an unhappy customer is very difficult, and there is a chance that they may not revisit your store. As an employee, if you know ahead of time there will be a significant backlog, then offer a clear indication as to how much time the customer would have to wait.

Dos

• Always be proactive and engaging with your customers and communicate with them effectively if you know there will be a delay.
• If you sense that the customer is frustrated by waiting, simply acknowledge their presence and assure them.

Don’ts

• Do not react negatively if a customer becomes upset over the waiting time. Instead, remain calm so that the issue can be resolved effectively.
• Do not forget to make your customers feel comfortable while waiting, such as offering them a seat.

It is believed that a customers’ perception of a retail establishment might be determined by how long they were made to wait. Therefore, many companies use Computer Vision to mitigate the waiting lines and offer a smoother and more systematic customer experience for every visitor.

Lengthy queues in the retail industry are markers of poor resource and time management skills. Hence, stores will have to work harder towards influencing customer satisfaction levels.

Introduction

A key component to a fast-moving queue is to improve the organization of the waiting lines and how your staff members handle them. Moreover, to manage a queue efficiently would be to alleviate both the actual and perceived waiting time. By reducing the waiting period, not only will you be saving the customers’ time, but you would also scale up the store productivity.

Process

Customers expect to see all the employees actively moving customers through the long queues and tending to all their questions and grievances, particularly in a retail store. As such, employees should ensure that they conduct themselves with a sense of urgency and avoid engaging in something that might very well be perceived as idle tasks or conversations with fellow employees. Such as factor will instill in the customer a sense of contentment, knowing that the employees are striving to assist them as promptly as possible.

Dos

• If there is a perceived wait time, employees should take note and engage in polite greetings, learn the purpose of the customers’ visit to the store, and possibly direct them accordingly.
• Give customers something to do while waiting in line, such as stacking magazines on shelves at the checkout queue.

Don’ts

• Do not engage in idle conversations or activities while the customer is waiting.
• Do not react adversely if a customer is angry for being made to wait. Instead, resolve the issue by staying calm and offering an apology.

The most common customer service situation is a customer seeking help. It is imperative for the staff to be present to help the customer. Correctly done, a customer seeking help will not only feel that they have been treated well but will be more favorably disposed towards buying products from your business.

With this task, get heat maps based insights on customer movement. This information will help you understand where your staff is needed the most, so they can help and assist the customers immediately.

Introduction

Merchandising heatmaps focus on specific areas in the store where the strength and density of the customer influx are high or low. Such a mechanism will help identify where the customers are likely to dwell, and based on that, staff can be directed to those areas to tend to the customers’ needs, which will lead to better customer engagement.

Process

Ideally, retailers should be very considerate of the customers’ choices and preferences, which holds accurate in the case of promotions, product displays, and overall customer engagement.

Merchandising heatmaps enables a store to understand the low and high customer density areas at specific times. In addition, they identify the dwell time, traffic flow, and hotspots of the store.

This information will help highlight those specific areas that are most optimal for shopping. The personnel will know exactly where the customers are gathering and tend to the customers promptly while also optimizing the display of goods. As a result, such a method will enable a better and more effective shopping experience, and the store will gain more economic traction.

Dos

• Deploy employees to high traffic areas in advance or as soon as possible.
• Identify the in-store traffic early so that employees can tend to the customers as soon as possible.

Don’ts

• Do not forget to monitor the performance of a specific product or range of products.
• Do not forget to keep track of what merchandise the customers ignore so they can be better displayed or removed from the shelves.
• Do not ignore the flaws regarding the product layout and work on improving it based on the data.