We are always looking for ways to make people’s wait experience better, and we have added a new way for restaurants to engage and communicate with guests in a non-obtrusive way while they are waiting.

There is now a new NoshList Premium feature for restaurants and other places using NoshList to customize their public waitlist page on WaitList with any information they’d like their customers to see. Some ideas include daily specials, reward program information, a social media feed or video, a link to leave a review on Yelp, among others.

Here is an example of how a rewards program could be highlighted below the waitlist on the page visitors can check from their phones:

The way NoshList normally works is when a visitor has left their phone number and is added to the waitlist on NoshList, they automatically receive a text message confirming they have been added to the list and giving them a link to the public waitlist so they can check their place in line. The new feature allows guests to see more information below this waitlist, giving restaurants a great way to improve the guest experience even more and give helpful information to guests while they are waiting, right on their phone. The public waitlist can also be displayed on an internet browser in the restaurant or can also be viewed by customers from home. This public waitlist page is free for all NoshList accounts, and NoshList Premium users get access to this new customization feature as well as the option to let customers add themselves to the waitlist from their phone.

To add information to the public waitlist page, login to NoshList on the web and go to the Settings in the Account area. There is a “Customize Page” link that goes to a page where you can add text or HTML and preview how it will look on the page. Adding HTML gives you the flexibility to style the area with any fonts, colors, links, and images that you’d like to appear on the page. Otherwise you can just add text for some simple messages. There are also various online HTML editors as well as HTML views in most popular online blog services (like Tumblr, Blogspot, WordPress, etc.) that can help with formatting text into HTML

Want to customize the page even more or include the NoshList waitlist on your site? Let us know at support@noshlist.com and we can help you with this as well.

Animals are much more sensitive to external stimuli than their leash- and carrier-holding counterparts. If you’re running a pet-focused business, that means the systems and tools you use to keep customers moving through your office are doubly important. Using a waitlist app like Waitlist Me can help you and your pet-owning clients keep your visitors calm, collected, and happy, which leads to a better visit today and repeat visits in the future.

Here are five ways veterinarians, groomers, shelters, and clinics are using the app to ensure smooth customer service and positive experiences for pet owners and their furry, scaled, and feathered friends, alike.

Allow pet owners to wait in the best place for their pets

Some pets are happy stretched out on the tile in your waiting room. Others are more content roaming around outside. Waitlist Me lets you send pet owners a text once it’s their turn, which means they can stop hovering around your reception area while they wait.

Bonus! If they’re a few minutes away, they can let you know they’re on their way using our simple text response feature.

Speed up appointment scheduling and check-in

When you’re juggling a full waiting room and your customer is being tugged away by a Great Dane, you don’t have minutes to spare flipping through a paper schedule. Waitlist Me’s intuitive interface operates from a simple single screen. A few swipes is all you need to make a new appointment, check someone in, or add a walk-in to your waitlist.

Bonus! Waitlist Me’s Premium service has a feature that lets customers check the current wait on your website and add themselves to the list from home, which cuts down on call time and the bottleneck in your waiting room.

Quote accurate wait times—every single time

When a loved one is sick, a 15-minute wait can feel like 45. Waitlist Me helps ease pet parent anxiety (and the frustration they’re turning on reception staff) with intelligent time quoting. Being able to see actual wait times next to quoted times has been proven to improve accuracy, so your staff will quickly become pros in giving the right guidance on expected waits.

Bonus! Our public wait list feature lets them check their place in line from their smartphones, which means fewer “how much longer?!” questions thrown your way.

Squeeze emergencies into a busy schedule

Faced with a skunked dog in need of a bath tub? How about a cat whose curiosity requires a little medical intervention? No matter the emergency, Waitlist Me’s visual layout lets you quickly see how your day is shaping up and which of your staff members is free to handle your walk-in when.

Bonus! Waitlist Me also lets you book different types of pet care appointments by assigning your customers different colored statuses. It’s an easy, visual way to track the services you offer, the time you need to set aside for them, and the staff required to man your office.

Reduce the rate of no-shows

Your customers aren’t flakes; they just forgot! Waitlist Me helps you significantly cut down on no-shows and last-minute cancellations through our text and call reminders. And you barely have to lift a finger! Just press a button.

Bonus! Forget about scheduling nightmares. Waitlist Me’s Pro service has a number of resource management features for tracking how long your rooms or staff have been busy with customers.  This helps you see exactly which people you need to assign where—and when it’s OK to send someone home or call for back-up.

Don’t let Amazon’s billion-dollar bank account make you close up shop. Sure, ecommerce is gaining traction, but that doesn’t mean retail is dead. Far from it!

It’s time for a retail revolution. It’s time for boutiques, mom-and-pop shops, and big-box stores alike to delve deep into the one frontier ecommerce institutions can’t touch: one-one-one customer service. Make it your No.-1 selling point, and you’ll turn walk-ins into loyal customers, and loyal customers into raving fans.

Keep reading for our best tips on how to improve your retail store’s customer service today with a little help from Waitlist Me, a waitlist and appointment app.

Ax the long check-out line (and turn returns into exchanges)

As the holiday season comes into view, we can look forward to swelling lines and swelling tempers. Instead of forcing customers into wait in endless serpentines or a series of parallel lines, try using a waitlist. When customers leave fitting rooms or start heading toward the register, add them to the list. While they wait, let them wander…and maybe add another item or two to their basket.

Set customers free from dressing room lines

What’s worse than a long line? Easy: waiting in one with hangers digging into your forearm. For those shoppers who know they’re going to try on a closet’s worth of clothes, Waitlist Me’s kiosk mode makes it a cinch for them to hop on line for a dressing room as they rifle through your clothing racks. A fitting room attendant can call them over (or text them!) when they make it to the front of the line.

Offer appointments for special shopping trips

Whether they’re hunting for 52-inch HDTVs or formal dresses, there are all sorts of different occasions where shoppers walk into stores looking for assistance. Using a simple appointment system, like the one built in to Waitlist Me, allows these customers to arrive knowing that they’re going to get VIP treatment from a sales associate who can help them find whatever it is they want to open their wallets for.

Transform complaints into kudos

When there’s only one manager on the floor to handle everything from returns to complaints about that one employee who’s having a bad day, everyone feels frustrated. A waitlist is a simple solution to keep guests happy and staffers on their A-game, and thanks to Waitlist Me’s multi-device sync feature, every employee has access to it. It makes for a smooth customer service experience (and far fewer ruffled feathers).

Create a complementary personal shopper service

Personal shopping isn’t just for jet-setters! Any retailer, from luxe boutiques to thrift stores, can bring superior service to every single customer who wants it, simply by giving them the option. Waitlist Me offers a same-day reservations feature. Shoppers can book a time that works for them and leave a note with what they’re looking for, and you can staff up (and set aside a dressing room) accordingly.

The move-in rush. The “can we meet for 5 minutes to sort out my schedule?” emails. The all-at-once campus crush as students, faculty, and staff jockey for rooms and resources. There’s nothing like back-to-school season on a college campus. This year, give your “welcome back” spiel with a hearty dose of “we got this!” and then take a well-earned breather. When you tap a waitlist management app like Waitlist Me, you’ve got this back-to-school thing completely under control.

Not sure how to put a waitlist to work at your college or university? Here’s how schools are already using Waitlist Me:

Schedule counseling appointments with academic advisors

With the first day of classes coming up quick, every student’s scheduling concern is a top priority. Add on a new class of freshmen who are just settling in, and you’ve got a slew of counselors who need a better way to manage the onslaught of appointment requests. Waitlist Me keeps every appointment in one place and lets anyone (a receptionist, a student, the counselor in question) book time from wherever they are (a coffeeshop, an office, a dorm room at 2 a.m.). That means no email back-and-forth and no begging for a drop slip while you’re in the lunch line. Win-win, right?

Manage professors’ departmental office hours

Office hours from 3 to 5 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays sounds great—until you pop by the office in question and realize you’re one of 50 students who had the same brilliant idea. Waitlist Me eases the line, allowing students the opportunity to get the help they need on classwork without spending their entire afternoon holed up in a hallway. The public waitlist feature lets them check on their spot in line and allows professors to shoot them a text when it’s their turn, ensuring that appointments aren’t forgotten and nobody’s time is wasted.

Divvy up access to student activity areas

There’s nothing relaxing about a game of ping-pong when there are two other groups of potential players tapping their paddles just a few feet away, waiting for you and your friends to hurry up, already, geez. Instead of calling dibs on the next game and then defending marked territory, a waitlist system lets everyone enjoy their free time—and know exactly when it’s their turn to crush their roommates at pong or pool or whatever it is the kids are playing these days.

Book writing centers, computer labs, and other resources on the fly

You’re continually striving to give your students and your teachers the best resources money can buy. Now, give them a chance to use them to fullest. Waitlist Me lets your entire school community see if there is a wait for popular resources and how many people are waiting.  The add yourself features let them join the waitlist instantly, no matter where they are or what sort of resources they need to utilize. Leaving their dorm rooms for the library? Easy. Making plans to meet up with a group in the middle of the quad? Consider it done. Checking to see when they can meet with a writing fellow? Not a problem.

Streamline student appointments in financial aid and administrative offices

Students struggling with intricate administrative problems aren’t one-time, five-minute stop-ins; they’re repeat visitors who are frustrated that they’re back in your office again. Waitlist Me lets your admin staff keep tabs on on-going issues with a notes feature built right into the app. Before a student walks into for a meeting, you’ll know immediately what it is your team has already tackled and what’s left to fix, freeing you up to address the problem rather than rehash it.

Customer experience is one very important thing you can’t afford to skimp on. That five-star review you’re looking for starts as soon as guests walk through your front door.

The good news: Customer experience is the easiest thing for restaurants to fix. Still, scads of otherwise-awesome spots lose stars before diners take their seats!

Read on to find out where they’re going wrong—and one so-easy-we-can’t-believe-not-everyone-is-using-it way to wow guests, garner top-notch reviews, and keep customers coming back for more.

5 signs your waiting area is turning off your diners

Could your waitlist use an upgrade? If your restaurant is facing any of these five dining experience problems, it’s time to revamp the way your customers wait.

It’s cramped. If it’s tough to squeeze in a party of four between your entry way and your hostess stand, you’re setting your guests up for discomfort right off the bat. The longer they stand there—and make way for new arrivals and passing busboys—the less they’ll enjoy their dining experience.

It’s crowded. Packing guests in like sardines sounds great in theory, but it’s really a disaster waiting to happen. When hungry guests walk in and see a crowd ahead of them, they’re liable to walk right back out—and go to the restaurant across the street.

It’s noisy. A little chatter and some mood music? Totally fine. Guests straining to hear their names being called? Absolutely not. No one should have to miss out on conversation with their tablemates because they’re afraid of losing their spot in line.

It’s dull or dingy. Thanks to smartphones and Instagram feeds, diners arrive at your door with spotty attention spans and high expectations. There’s lots of leeway between busting your budget and giving them a chance to be unimpressed from the get-go.

It’s nonexistent. We’re all for small spots maximizing their floor space. A hole-in-the-wall hideaway is a fantastic find…until we have to park ourselves behind another diner’s chair because there isn’t room to wait anywhere else. Awkward.

The easy fix for your waiting area

You don’t have to invest in fancy chairs or a swanky patio or even a fresh coat of paint. All you need is a  waitlist app called Waitlist Me.

Waitlist Me allows you to set your diners free. Thanks to optional text message alerts and a waiting list with estimated wait times that they can check on their smartphones, they don’t have to worry about missing out. These simple features mean…

– Guests can wander around the area, eliminating the need to accommodate and entertain them inside your restaurant

– Your visible queue will be shorter and more attractive to newcomers

– Diners can enjoy quality time with friends and family without worrying that they’ll miss their name being called

– Your host will be free to provide excellent service because they won’t need to keep answering “how much longer?” questions (or avoid frustrated glares)

The app is simple to learn and flexible to use. Making it work for your dining space is easy, and training your front of house staff to use it takes mere minutes. It works on most tablets, mobile devices, or a desktop computer, and you can sync it to multiple devices at once so that multiple staff can use it at the same time. The more you use Waitlist Me, the better you’ll be at giving accurate wait times, which reduces walkaways and improves the customer experience as well as the bottom line.