True or false: Customers hate waiting.

Answer: False.

No, really: Customers don’t hate waiting. At amusement parks, they’ll wait all day. What customers hate is where they do all the waiting. Stick them in a bland doctor’s office waiting room and they’ll get twitchy in 2 minutes flat. Give them an area to explore, a space that’s an experience in itself? Well, then the wait becomes part of the ride. And you don’t have to run a theme park to tap into that kind of magic.

Why your waiting room is terrible

Most queueing areas are like purgatory. They’re awkward spots your customers dread sitting around in while they await the main event. They’re a no man’s land. They don’t look or feel particularly like your business, and they don’t look or feel like any place your customer wants to spend time in.

That’s not good for your bottom line. The moment your guests begin feeling uncomfortable or unhappy is the exact time you start losing money. They become frustrated, and they take that frustration out on you and your staff. Sometimes, they walk out the door without giving you the chance to win them over.

Why?

Because whether you intend to or not, a bland, uncomfortable waiting area signals that your business doesn’t prioritize the experience of your customers. The waiting room is the first chance you have to wow them. And right now, you’re squandering it.

How to make your first impression a good one

Forget about hiring an interior designer and picking new paint colors. We have a different change in mind, and it doesn’t have to cost you a penny.

Waitlist Me is an app that handles waitlists and reservations for all sorts of different businesses, including restaurants, retail stores, and doctors’ offices.

How can a waitlist app transform your waiting area, win over customers, and help you make more money? Easy: by improving the first interaction they have with your business and making the time they spend waiting better.

Here’s how Waitlist Me changes your customers’ waiting experience for the better:

Wait from anywhere

Your customers are busy. With Waitlist Me’s same-day reservations feature and add-yourself web widget, they can jump on line without wasting time.

Set them free

Untether your guests from your hostess stand or check-in desk thanks to our text notifications feature. It lets them window shop or run errands without losing their place it line.

Make your business more attractive

Fewer customers standing around in your waiting area means fewer walk-outs due to long, visible lines and a less cramped, more inviting space for those who do prefer to wait inside.

More flexibility

Running behind schedule is stressful enough. With our simple response feature, guests don’t have to worry about missing their spot. When you notify them by text, they can respond and let you know they’re on their way.

Smarter wait times

What’s worse than a long wait? A wait that’s even longer than the estimate. As hosts use Waitlist Me and can see their quoted times next to actuals, it becomes easier to quote more accurate waits.  

Contact us for a free trial and see how Waitlist Me can help improve your customers’ waiting experience today!

The pandemic has changed many aspects of business and everyday life, and the importance of customer convenience is absolutely not going anywhere. Consumers have become used to almost every interaction being as fast, simple, and convenient as possible, and this trend is encompassing every industry in our lives.

Grocery shoppers are still doing curbside pickup, ordering an entire household’s supplies with the tap of a few buttons.

The routine of getting a haircut includes reserving a time slot online at a salon or joining the waitlist at a barbershop.

Getting your car worked on at the dealership can now include them sending you a text when that brake job is done.

Society is quickly learning that this isn’t a fad like the Atkins diet in the early 2000s. This way of doing business is here to stay, and businesses that fail to adapt are simply going to get left behind. Customers are done with wasting away in a lobby or waiting room when they could be relaxing in the café down the street.

Here’s a quick 10 second thought exercise: Let’s say you bring your dog to one of two groomers that are right next to each other in the same strip mall. These groomers are nearly identical, and there is about a one hour service time for both of them. The only difference between the two? One of them has an electronic service that will text you when Fluffy is ready, allowing you to grab a milkshake at your favorite burger joint down the street. The other groomer has a lovely waiting room that offers the luxurious aroma therapy of wet dog scent, and the tranquil sounds of a dozen dogs that very much do not want to be getting a bath. Which would you choose?

Everyone has to wait in life, but not everyone has to wait the same. Processes that were previously mere conveniences have turned into must-have features across many industries, with wait times and crowds being two of the main factors that need to be optimized.

Keeping customers waiting can have a devastating impact on any business. They might spend less, leave a bad review, or walk out your door, never to return. Waitlist Me is an app that keeps customers happier while they wait.

How do we do that, exactly? It’s a breeze. Waitlist Me brings your waitlist from a crowd in your lobby to an easy-to-manage digital interface. Our app makes it simple to see waiting customers at a glance, provide accurate wait estimates that are tracked in real time, and notify customers with a text or automated call message when their table is ready. It also has a number of other features like reservations, table/resource management, and the ability for customers to add themselves from a kiosk, your website, Google, or even a QR code. Letting customers join the list before arriving and skip waiting in the lobby is a great recipe for customer happiness, which can also lead to higher revenues and better reviews.  

The last thing you want to see is would-be customers walk in your shop, eager to take home a new piece of jewelry, and then they walk right back out because none of your sales associates is free to help them. That could be thousands of dollars in current and future purchases, trotting down the street to a competitor.

But what if you could capture walk-outs before they, well, walk out? With a reservation management app like Waitlist Me, you can.  Here’s what a waitlist app would allow you to do:

Treat customers like VIPS—even when you’re slammed

Forget about splitting your attention between the woman eyeing earrings in the case in front of you and the couple that just walked through the door. Greet people when they come in the door to find out what they need, so you add them to the waitlist and let them know you will be with them soon. This let’s new visitors know you care and helps your sales associates feel comfortable giving 100 percent of their attention to the client at hand.

Wow new clients with efficient communication and prompt service

What happens to the couple you can’t help right this second? You can text them the moment an associate is free (or schedule an appointment). When they walk through the door again, you’ll be prepared—maybe with a tray of engagement rings already on the counter—because Waitlist Me lets you add details to every customer, like what they’re currently shopping for.

Don’t let customers slip away during a sales rush

A lot of time and money goes into planning sales events, and they are a sure-fire way to bring in a larger crowd. It can be frustrating, though, to see people leaving because they don’t know when it might be their turn to get some help. For those days, Waitlist Me has an option to use an additional iPad as a self-check in station. It gives customers a simple way to get their spot in line, so they can relax as they browse through the store, or even step outside, without worrying about losing their turn.

Increase repeat customers

An exceptional experience is what transforms a one-time customer into a long-time customer. A waitlist app can help you eliminate the elements clients despise: feeling rushed as they browse, ignored when they come in, or forgotten as soon as they pay for their purchase.

The week coronavirus hit the United States, grocery stores around the nation announced a similar plan: They were going to stagger shopping times to minimize the spread of COVID-19 to the sectors of the population thought to be most vulnerable, the elderly and the immune-compromised.

Most stores’ plans restricted an hour or two of morning grocery shopping time to these customers—and in doing so, introduced a new phrase to the lexicon: staggered waiting.

Wait. Isn’t all waiting staggered?

The short answer: nope.

The old-school, American-style queue amounts to a mosh pit of toe-tapping customers. During normal circumstances, that’s not a good thing. It’s frustrating for your guests and it often leads to lost business. During a pandemic, it’s even worse. You don’t want tons of people crowded together, huffing hot air all over each other!

Waitlists and reservation tools, like Waitlist Me, help businesses stagger waiting in a way that’s become quite familiar. For business owners, it helps even out the traffic flow, ensuring excellent customer service and zero employee overwhelm. For customers, it ensures a positive, efficient experience. Win-win!

Grocery stores are using the idea of staggered waiting a bit differently than most of us are used to, but it’s not actually a new idea. In fact, you’ve probably experienced it before.

How billion-dollar businesses use staggered waiting

Disneyland, the pinnacle of efficient queues, uses a staggered waiting system to provide an extra-special experience to its VIP guests, many of whom visit the parks through organizations like Make A Wish. It’s also offered as a premium, upgraded feature for ticketholders.

Another example of staggered waiting happens weekly at many Target stores across the country. The big box retailer has offered sensory-free shopping hours for customers who are sensitive to light, noise, and crowds for years. It’s been a huge success, especially for those on the autism spectrum.

Ways your business can use staggered waiting today

If you’re looking for new ways to control crowds or traffic patterns, staggered waiting is a concept you should explore. Not sure how that might look for your workplace? Creative ideas can come from different places, and you can look around at what others are doing.  Here are a few examples of how businesses can stagger demand to improve workflows and better cope with COVID-19.

Quick tip: Use Waitlist Me’s custom text notifications to share new waiting policies or instructions with your clients and customers.

– Veterinary office using morning hours for feline appointments and afternoon hours for canine appointments to keep small waiting areas calm.

– Restaurants offering special deals or menu items at different times of the day to encourage people to dine at off-peak hours.

– Tutoring center facilitating study material pick-up staggered by the first letter of students’ last names.

– Auto mechanic offering reverse delivery appointment windows to pick-up cars (and meet with customers) at home rather than at the shop.

– Local organic farmer providing fresh produce home delivery staggered by their customers’ area.

– Doctor’s office splitting patient appointments by background. Immune-compromised and elderly patients are diagnosed car-side, while other patients come inside the office.

– Family-owned pharmacy providing special hours for curbside delivery and in-store pick-up.

With spring comes warmer weather and sandal-shoppers, and more customers in your salon. Don’t leave them stuck sitting on a bench, frustrated with the wait times. With Waitlist Me, you can give your clients the freedom to take a walk in the spring weather while tracking their wait on their phone…without losing their spot in line. They will receive a text notification when they are added to Waitlist Me, and can check to see how many people are ahead of them from their phones. Then just press a button to send a text notification to let them know when you are ready for them.

An easier waiting process will encourage customers to return and refer friends. Waitlist Me also allows you to schedule reservations, so you can keep things running smoothly with both your regular visits and larger bookings like for birthday parties, bridal showers, and outings with friends. Reservations for the current day will automatically appear in the same view as your waitlist so managing your schedule and walk-ins is a breeze.

When giving their name, customers can also specify what they would like for a service, from the person they would like to help them to the style of manicure or pedicure they would like. This makes it easier to schedule them for available or preferred nail technicians, and speeds up the entire process, so you can serve more people per day while providing a more and a more relaxing experience for your clients.

With a waitlist system that gives you more valuable information, you can measure how many people are coming into your salon every day, and how quickly those customers are being helped. This will help you improve the wait estimates you give to your clients and improve their wait experiences. Set your nail salon above the rest by streamlining your services and getting rid of paper waitlists and reservation books. No more remembering to buy another reservation book, losing pens, running out of space and deciphering illegible handwriting.

Spring is the perfect time to clean up your reservation system, so try Waitlist Me.