If there’s one thing social media has shown us, it’s that skincare, makeup, and hair products aren’t going out of fashion. Everyone wants to look good and feel good in their own skin, and this niche helps them do exactly that.

There’s great news for cosmetics retailers, too. While other industries are beating back e-commerce competition, beauty counters, branded boutiques, and local bath and body shops alike have a major advantage: their customers crave professional advice and want to try before they buy. That advantage keeps shoppers walking through doors rather than logging in online. The best way to keep them coming back, though, is to wow them with stellar customer service.

Want to gain an edge on your local cosmetics store competition? Check out Waitlist Me Pro.

First, let’s talk about waitlists

Waitlists are more common in restaurants than in retail stores, but Waitlist Me is changing that one customer experience at a time.

The thing about waitlists is that they make every situation during which customers might encounter a queue smoother and more positive for everyone involved. Whether they’re in a makeover line or need the help of a sales associate to make a decision about a product, waitlists let stores cut frustration out of the equation (along with the line-cutters that drive customers nuts).

At its most basic level, our app lets businesses add customers to a waitlist and text them when they reach the front of the line. Except with a digital waitlist, there is no line! Guests are free to roam about your store and look at different products they might be interested in, or to walk down the block and return when a sales associate can focus on them one-on-one.

Read more about how cosmetics stores can use waitlists here.

Why Waitlist Me Pro 

Superior customer service is more than a guessing game. To gain insights on how to improve your business, it helps to have data to back up your gut instincts. That’s where Waitlist Me Pro comes in.

The Pro-level app, which is compatible with Apple, Android, and web-based devices, comes with several valuable reports. Just by using the app you’ll be saving information in the background while you and your employees are working. When you’re ready to create new schedules, you can quickly download these reports to see when you need more help and when you can get away with less.

Waitlist Me Pro helps you track your customers from the minute you add them to a waitlist to when they walk out the door. That makes it easy to see where you need to allocate time and resources, and how you can improve your store’s efficiency and productivity.

When the weather outside is frightful, where do people go? Indoors, of course! And once cabin fever strikes, they’ll be rushing through sleet, snow, and beyond-freezing temperatures to find diversion at your business.

A waitlist and reservation app is the best way for any small business to manage this kind of forecast. Not only will an app like Waitlist Me improve your customer’s waiting experience, but it will also help you manage your resources, boost your efficiency, and increase your margins.

Keep reading to learn how a waitlist app can help you win over new customers and make more money this winter.

Bowling alleys

Thanks to theme nights, top-notch eats, and a brilliant bar scene, bowling alleys are making a comeback. A waitlist app helps you juggle all your draws. Waitlist Me keeps every guest enjoying their outing thanks to text notifications. When their lane, their table, or their game is ready, they’ll get a heads-up automatically—without needing to physically wait in line.

More businesses that can use this feature:

Skating rinks

Arcades

Casinos

Gyms

“New year, new you” is the mantra health and wellness centers across the world live by. Make it come true for your gym business and your clientele with a little help from a waitlist and reservation app. An app can help balance new clients with regular rise-and-grinders. The newbies can explore different stations (and make an appointment with a private trainer) while gym rats can reserve equipment (and jump right into their usual workout).

More businesses that can use this feature:

Spas

Salons

Rec centers

Shopping malls

Brr! Is there a better place to be on a chilly weekend afternoon than an indoor shopping wonderland? We think not. But to keep people coming in the door, retailers in mall environments need to offer one thing online sellers can’t: superior customer service. While some customers are independent browsers, many are thrilled to take advantage of personal shoppers, especially during the holidays. Stores can use waitlists to offer superior service to individuals who crave personalized attention—and with Waitlist Me, shoppers can wander while they wait.

More businesses that can use this feature:

Cosmetics stores

Bookstores

Thrift stores and consignment stores

Play places

A zillion rowdy tots tumbling into one ball pit? That’s an accident waiting to happen. Indoor play spaces can use a waitlist app to ensure that every wee visitor’s experience is as fun and safe as possible. Station an attendant with a waitlist by the door or by a popular piece of equipment with a maximum occupancy. Add newbies to the waitlist (and cycle players in and out regularly) to let everyone have a turn.

More businesses that can use this feature:

Climbing wall centers

Trampoline parks

Escape rooms

Museums

Savvy visitors want to get the most out of their trip, and that means checking out all the tours and interactive experiences your museum has to offer. Whether you offer living history or natural, performance art or visual, a waitlist app lets your museum’s guests queue digitally. This means they won’t waste a single minute of their visit tapping their toes in line. They can wander through exhibits and, when your docent is ready for them, arrive in time for the grand tour.

More businesses that can use this feature:

Aquariums

Wineries

Breweries

With Memorial Day Weekend behind us, it’s all tourists, all the time, for restaurants in vacation destinations. Are you ready for the crush?

While the boom can be terrific for your bottom line, a mid-summer dinner rush can be a nightmare situation for your host. And the only thing worse than a frazzled host is an unhappy vacationer. Avoid the panic and frustration with Waitlist Me, a waitlist and table management app that’ll help you run things more smoothly and bring more smiles to your customers’ faces.

Here’s our step-by-step guide to nailing your summer service:

Step 1. Greet ‘em with a smile—and an accurate wait-time

The one thing diners hate more than walking in to a wait-time is being given a wait-time that doesn’t pan out. Waitlist Me provides smart wait-time estimates that adjust as you use the app—and you can check ‘em in a glance.

Bonus! Since the app displays actual wait times right next to the estimated wait times, your team can see how they are doing and adjust as needed for lulls and surges in traffic. This simple feedback loop makes it easy to quote times more accurately.

Step 2. Ask if your guests need anything special

A highchair? Crayons for the kiddos? An accessible spot for Gran’s wheelchair? Waitlist Me allows you to make notes for every party you add to your waitlist, ensuring that no detail is forgotten.

Bonus! This is also the perfect time to ask if they’re celebrating a special occasion. If the answer is a big Y-E-S, give your servers a heads-up so they can make the groups experience at your restaurant one to tell the world (and Yelp) about.

Step 3: Encourage them to explore the area while they wait

Text notifications mean your diners don’t have to hover around the hostess stand. Once they’re added to your waitlist, they’re free to check out nearby shops or stroll down the block ‘til their table is ready.

Bonus! As soon as you add a party to your restaurant’s waitlist, they’ll receive a text confirmation with a link to your public waitlist. Let them know the link is there and that they can use it to check their place in line directly from their phone.

Want to see how other restaurants are using Waitlist Me to manage their summer rush? Click here.

The holidays are coming up. You know what that means: a rush of customers eager to snap up the next big tech toy.  If you can’t manage the wait times effectively, though, your customers are guaranteed to be toe-tapping their way around your displays as they wait for the next available associate. Or worse, they may just head to another store.

Waitlist Me Pro can help you turn your customers’ visit to your store into an experience they’ll be more satisfied with. Think: more referral business, glowing Google reviews, and kudos from corporate. Read on for ways our pro-level app will help you do business better.

Schedule your staff more efficiently

Prepare for the storm by tracking your team in real time and accessing reports on staffers’ past performance.

Waitlist Me Pro’s hallmark feature is resource management and reporting. The app lets you assign your associates to different areas of the store (or to different tasks), track how much time they spend with each customer, and see who is working the most and who is working the least. With this data in hand, you’re better prepared to make decisions about serving customers as things get busy.

Add promotions to your public waitlist

Running a special on certain devices or services? Sponsoring an old phone holiday drive? Recycling batteries or chargers? Let your customers know when they check in, thanks to Waitlist Me Pro’s customizable public waitlist.

This pro-level feature lets you add whatever HTML you want to the waitlist. You could include graphics, coupon codes, videos, or plain text, in addition to changing the page’s colors, adding your logo, and swapping out the wording to bring your brand voice to the app’s functionality.

Let customers add themselves to your waitlist, no matter where they are

With Waitlist Me Pro, customers no longer have to start their waiting from your store. They can use the web widget—which Pro allows you to customize more—to add themselves to your waitlist from wherever they are. It’s web and mobile friendly, which means they can access it from home or on the go.

Combine the add-me remote feature with our public waitlist and text notifications, and you’ve got the ideal customer experience. Waitlist Me Pro lets your customers live their lives, run their errands, and make their appointments—and they’ll never worry about losing their place in line.

Quote more accurate wait times

There is nothing worse than waiting around twice as long as the time initially quoted. The app has always helped store associates predict more accurate ETAs. But with Waitlist Me Pro, you can take making better estimates to the next level.

By being able to see in real-time which of your staffers are busy and which are available as well as how much time they’ve spent with each customer and when, on average, they should finish up. With Pro, you have more data at your fingertips to make smarter decisions faster.

Ever wondered how to change the information on your Google Knowledge Card? The Knowledge Card is the helpful information that can appear off to the right in a Google search.  You may not realize that you can customize the information and images in this area of the search results, and can even add a link to your Waitlist Me widget, so customers can easily add themselves to the waitlist or send reservation requests.

Here is an example of the Google Knowledge Card in a search result.

If you’ve never claimed your business on Google, take that first step here: https://www.google.com/business/

Once you’ve verified your business, adding your reservation link is simple. First, get your Waitlist Me reservation link handy. Login online and then go to Account > Settings > Add Yourself and copy the link for your widget page. It should look something like this:

Then, sign into your Google My Business account. From there:

1. Choose the location you want to edit.
2. Click into the URLs section.
3. Add your Waitlist Me link to your reservations page.
4. Click Apply.

That’s it! While you’re there, you can always scope out your pictures and make sure the best ones are showing up in your search results. The pics you upload should in JPG or PNG format. Choose a great glamour shot of your business for your Profile Picture, and then use a square picture for the Logo field. Add a few more pics of the inside, outside, and product to round out your profile!

Here is more on how to use the Waitlist Me web widget page to let customers to add themselves to the waitlist or schedule reservations.