A classic queue management system is a system that enables businesses to manage and control the customer journey at their stores, branches, and customer support centers. The queue management system is a great tool to manage customer flow and is very popular in Dubai and all around the UAE. If you have ever visited a bank or a telecom service provider or any government department, you would have noticed queuing systems there, they are everywhere. That is why whenever someone is visiting a business or organization, they are expecting a queue management system rather than long lines managed by the staff manually. Another most impactful event happened in 2020, yes the pandemic, and it changes everything, it also had changed the general behavior and expectation of the customers as well. Nowadays, customers prefer a fully or partially contactless customer journey along with a bit more digitalized customer experience. On top of that, social distancing has become a new norm. Businesses have to limit the visitors and customers to a certain number, depending upon their facility’s capacity. For example, earlier if you could accommodate 100 customers at a time, now you should have only 40 or so.
The social distancing, strict policies, and changed customer behavior demanded an innovative and high-tech solution to manage customer flow and customer journey. In Dubai and all around the UAE more than 90 percent of the population owns a smartphone and also have access to the internet. The government is offering tons of services digitally via smartphone applications. And smartphone usage is also higher in the country as compared to the other regions. People tend to spend hours on their smartphones on daily basis. This makes the smartphone a very powerful and effective platform for communication and customer services. The flexibility of smartphones and technological advancements lead to an entirely new era of digitalization. The queue management system is not different, businesses often ask about the mobile app for their queue management systems. When a mobile app is integrated with a classic queue management system it can offer a variety of features such as:
Improved Customer Experience and Customer Journey
The mobile apps are very convenient and easy to use. Everyone loves them these days. People tend to rely on mobile apps more than on websites for acquiring digital solutions. Several surveys and data suggest that if given a choice between a website and a smartphone app for digital services most of the customers will prefer mobile apps. The mobile apps don’t always require you to sign in, the customers can leave a process in the middle, and as soon as they will open the mobile app next time the process can be continued from there. Smartphone apps are easier to perform tasks, people tend to spend more time on different types of mobile apps rather than surfing the websites. This is why people prefer mobile apps over traditional websites. For example, when it comes to online banking, almost 90% of the times customers prefer to use smartphone apps rather than the website. This is why mobile apps are very important and can be more efficient. The customer journey is improved with mobile apps, and people feel more comfortable with the mobile apps.
In the case of a classic queue management system, the mobile app can provide various features which can improve customer experience and customer journey. Such as:
Enables Smart Mobile Queuing
When a classic queue management system mobile app is used the businesses can offer their customers and visitors to have a facility to issue mobile tickets. These are also like the regular paper tickets but the only difference is the mobile ticket are digital and are stored inside the mobile app. This allows the customers to have freedom of waiting anywhere whether outside or inside the branch. Those kinds of features and flexibilities can significantly improve customer experience and customer journey. This also reduces the workload of the staff and employees and improves their efficiency. When the wait time is reduced and the customer has a great experience prior to reaching the counter, it is easier to satisfy them as well. If a customer had a bad waiting experience or they will have to wait for so long at the end when they reach to the counter they are already frustrated and annoyed, it becomes far more difficult to please them at that time and more customers end up leaving unhappy.
Less Wait Time More Customer Happiness
The wait time is very crucial for customer happiness. The studies have shown that an average customer can wait for up to 13 minutes and wait time any longer than that start impacting their mood and as much as the wait time extends it keeps bothering the customers and the customers start getting annoyed, anxious, or stressed. Long wait times completely ruin the customer experience. No matter how hard an agent/server tries to please them they will not be happy. Another important factor about the wait time is if the wait time is known or not. The fear of the unknown is in human nature, the studies have shown that if the wait time is known to the customers they feel better and the waiting is also less stressful, but it the wait time is unknown then the customers will get more anxious. The smartphone application can be used to provide live information about the queuing with the estimated time of the customer’s turn. This also reduces the negative impact of waiting. With smart queuing and virtual queuing using mobile apps, the wait time can be reduced to virtually none. As the customers have the freedom to wait anywhere, they are only required to arrive at the very exact time of their turn which means they will get served immediately after arriving at the business. This improves the customer journey and customer happiness.
Offers Virtual Queuing with Mobile Apps
The queue management system mobile apps are a great platform to offer virtual queuing. The virtual queuing allows the customers and visitors to signup remotely, without being physically arriving at the business or branch. Usually, the remote sign-up is done through various mediums such as Smartphone applications, SMS, Email, Phone Call, Customer Portals, Websites, etc. But the mobile apps are the best way to offer virtual queuing. The mobile app can instantly issue an E-Ticket or digital token, which sign-up a customer for a virtual queue. The mobile apps can also provide real-time updates, queuing data, notifications, alerts, and much more. This allows the customers to sign-up for the queue from their smartphones, then they can either wait outside or plan their visit accordingly that they reach closer to the estimated time of their turn. This reduces the wait time and is also very helpful for the staff and management. Virtual queuing also allows implementing social distancing and other company policies easily. The management can have more control over the customer flow and can also communicate with the customers through the mobile app if needed.
Mobile App Provides Branch Locator and Trip Planner
The branch locator and trip planner are very useful features of the queue management system mobile app. The branch locator helps the customers to search and locate the branches in their proximity. It can also provide additional data such as the route to the branch, the current queuing details in the branch, the timings, contact details, and much more. The branch locator helps customers and visitors locating a branch with the probability of getting the quickest service. The customers and visitors can also have access to the important branch information, such as the route which can also be linked with navigation and the information of the busy hours, busy days, and the most convenient time to visit. Which could help the customers to easily plan their visit. Such features are very helpful in making the customer journey more desirable and convenient and also improve customer happiness.
Mobile App Provides Appointment Booking Facility
The queue management system mobile app can also be linked to an appointment booking system or it can have an in-built appointment booking module that enables the customers to easily plan their visit and book an appointment at their convenience. Moreover, the mobile app also keeps a record of past appointments and it can also provide useful information about the busy hours, busy days, etc. Sometimes some services are exclusive for certain branches only, that information is very important for the customers. If a customer arrived at a branch and then learned that the service they need is only offered at another branch they will be upset and annoyed. There is so much other information that can be provided in order to improve customer experience and customer journey. The customers and visitors can easily book appointments using mobile apps and set reminders and alerts for that appointments. The calendar app can be integrated too to highlight the appointment on the calendar. There are so many features that can be added to improve customer experience and customer journey.
Mobile Apps Collect Customer Feedback
The queue management system mobile apps are a great way to collect customer feedback. Usually, businesses use tablets, touch screens, and kiosks to collect feedback. Sometimes customers don’t use these devices as they think if they will do the survey the next customer will have to wait. Especially the customer who had a great experience and want to give a positive remark, usually avoid attempting feedback because they don’t want to put the next customer on wait. That is why mobile apps are a better alternative for customer feedback. Moreover, when businesses are setting up feedbacks and surveys for the mobile apps or online they can have more questions. The customers usually do such things when they are free so more questions will not go to affect the conversion rate. In fact, when customer feedbacks and surveys are done through mobile apps the conversion rate is always higher. The mobile apps can have notifications, reminders, and alerts which encourages more customers to do the feedback. Another great advantage of conducting customer surveys and feedbacks through mobile apps is that the business doesn’t have to ask the customer to input their contact and identity details, this can be extracted from the app automatically. Some businesses also have follow-up features. The customer support agent can contact the customers after the submission of their feedback. The personalized communication also improves customers’ happiness and increases their confidence and trust in the brand. Especially in case of negative feedback the staff can easily follow up with the customers and resolve their problems or inform them about the actions taken to prevent any such inconvenience in the future.
Mobile Apps Provide Valuable Business Intelligence
Business intelligence is the most important data that is required while decision-making and making future strategies. The mobile apps contribute to that too. The customer data, their purchase patterns, their favorite products and services, and all such information are very helpful to understand the market trends and to evaluate the products and services. Moreover, mobile apps can also be helpful in tracking the customer journey. The mobile app can track the time between the ticket generation and the service delivery accurately. With this data along with the data of the services, the business can easily understand which services are taking more time and which are taking less time. The business can also utilize this information to compare with the employee KPIs to increase their assessment accuracy and measure performance. In addition to all that the customer feedback collected from the mobile app is extremely important and it can provide a variety of information which are crucial for making informed decisions and effective policies. The customer surveys, happiness meter, NPS Score, difficulty score, customer satisfaction score, and much more are very helpful in evaluating various business processes and practices. Mobile apps are a great source of vital business intelligence data.
Conclusion
The mobile apps are used by everyone, whether it is a social media application, a service app, banking app, eCommerce, food ordering app, everyone is using the mobile apps in one form or another. The pandemic has completely changed the marketing industry and businesses and marketers are eagerly seeking innovative solutions to provide their customers with a digitalized and contactless experience. For classic queue management systems, the virtual queuing and mobile app-based queuing feature is gaining popularity. The mobile apps are a great tool for virtual queuing as well as for ordinary queuing. The mobile apps provide better control over customer flow management and also enhance the customer journey. Businesses can offer so many innovative features to improve customer engagements and increase customer happiness. The mobile apps can offer online appointment booking, branch locators, E-Ticket or digital tokens for the queue, remote sign-up facility, and real-time queuing tracking with alerts and notifications, and much more. The customer feedback collection and business intelligence gathering is a great source of data that can be very helpful in analyzing, evaluating, and improving business processes and practices. RSI Concepts is a leading name in Queue Management System and Customer Satisfaction Solutions providers in Dubai, UAE. Feel free to reach out if you want to transform your customer’s journey by integrating mobile apps with your classic queue management system. You can 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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