Queue management software allows retailers to reduce walkout rates, increase average customer transaction figures and improve loyalty and NPS ratings. Here’s how…
Virtual queuing software is a great way for retailers to manage queues to in-store services such as technical support desks at telco or electronics retailers, or services such as nail bars or make up tutorials within department stores – and many use it to power their click and collect service. During Covid-19, the software has also become particularly effective for managing the number of customers in-store or in a department within a store to support social distancing initiatives.
This software creates a more engaging experience for customers, and it makes your store associates’s lives significantly easier, but it also comes with some powerful business benefits. Here are some of them:
1) Decrease customer walkout rates
We might be the best queuers in the world, but if we’re honest with ourselves, even the British hate to queue. That’s why when many customers walk into your store and see a queue, even if it’s short or fast moving, they will leave (and probably not return).
Instead of asking their customers to wait in physical queues inside or outside of store, many market-leading retailers are using a virtual queuing system to enable customers to queue remotely.
This allows customers to wait in their cars, browse the store, or even get a coffee. Customers can join a virtual queue either through a host with a tablet, a self-service kiosk or from their own mobile phone (using an app, a QR code or an SMS code). They are then provided with a queue position number and an intelligently calculated, personalised wait time. Customers remain updated of their wait time and queue position by SMS message, a personalized smartphone countdown and TV displays in-store.
After implementing a queuing system into its stores, telco retailer O2 was able to reduce customer walkout rates by 62%.
Read: O2 case study of Qudini’s Virtual Queuing System
2) Increase average transaction value rates
Not only does a queuing app help customers save time by increasing operational efficiency, it also improves average transaction rates in-store. Customers have more time to browse the store while they wait, or they have more time at the end of being served to make a transaction, meaning they have more time to shop.
Global optical and eyewear retailer, Specsavers, improved average transaction value by 33%, while 24% of customers at an internationally recognized furniture retailer now make an unplanned purchase while waiting for service thanks to Qudini’s virtual queuing app.
3) Higher loyalty rates
As customers are happier with the service they receive, more are willing to return to store. And when customers have a positive experience in-store, they’re willing to talk about it.
One department store experiences a 40% increased in its NPS score due to a 65% reduction in click and collect wait times, while a telco retailer experienced “all time high” customer scores.
“Because the level of customer service has improved, patients are not only more likely to come back to us, but they also recommend us to friends and family,” said a Store Manager from Specsavers
