Virtual queuing, a concept where a customer holds his position in a queue while being physically elsewhere has become quite common in many places. This was pioneered by Disney when they introduced Fastpass in their theme parks. This concept is applied everywhere today, like when calling up call centres, restaurants, ride-sharing platforms. How can businesses enhance customer experience while implementing a virtual queue system? The simplest solution is to increase capacity, but this of course is expensive. It is possible to reduce wait times without increasing capacity and improve customer experience without changing wait times.
Providing wait times reduces customers average wait times
Providing wait-time estimates reduces the average wait times for all customers. This is because when someone decides to give up their place in the queue it shortened the wait time for everyone else in the line. Providing wait times helped customers give up their position in the queue when the queue was long and less likely to give up during non-peak system reducing the wait time while keeping the total number of customers constant. This helps in improving the waiting experience for everyone.
Also during peak times, it would help in providing pessimistic wait time, as this would eliminate less-patient customers who are likely to abandon the queue anyway. This will help speed up the queue and improve the waiting time for everyone.
Pessimistic estimates are better than optimistic ones.
The experience has been that waits that were shorter than expected had a less positive impact than when waits were longer than estimated that had a more negative effect. The penalty for under-delivery was quite often very high compared to the benefit of over-delivery.
This indicates that companies implementing virtual queues would be better served by providing pessimistic wait times. It may increase the abandonment rate but it prepares the customer for a longer wait time and surprises them by providing the required service quicker than provided for. This will have a more positive impact on the overall customer experience.
More frequent updates improve customer experience
Customers who received pessimistic wait times were given more frequent updates as their wait times were longer, they felt faster-perceived progress and the abandonment rates reduced. s long as the original estimate is not overtly pessimistic the frequent updates create a positive impact. However, if the initial wait times ar overly pessimistic the abandonment rates would increase and so also the disappointment with the service provider.
Customers who wait longer will take longer when their turn comes
The customers who waited longer than the expected wait time also spent more time once they were connected. One reason could be they asked for more services to justify the extra time spent in waiting.
This indicates that providing pessimistic time estimates help companies serve customers faster and thus serve more customers in a fixed time.
All of these is relevant only if the company is able to make an accurate estimate of waiting times. It is important therefore that one makes an investment to improve the efficiency of estimating waiting times. When the uncertainty is high it would make better sense to provide an interval of time. Another strategy is to estimate the wait time and also predict the likely percentage of customers who will be served within that time. This provides an additional level of transparency which increases the trust factor and makes the customer favourably disposed.
When Providing Wait Times, It Pays to Underpromise and Overdeliver
by Qiuping Yu HBR 2020/10
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