What happens when you use Digital Signage for Queue Management?

Incredible results, that’s what.

Digital signage takes queue management to a new level.

Queues involve customers waiting with little else to do. On the other hand, digital signage is all about drawing the attention of viewers and engaging them with a message.

To us, it sounds like a match made in heaven.

Current Queue Management

Screens have been used in queues for a long time now. The “take a number” format of queue management was quick to transition to digital. But, the same fundamental drawbacks that existed before weren’t corrected by simply transitioning to computerized numbers.

Current queue management options are little more than expensive red tape. Customers are informed of what their position in the queue is, and that’s it. There is no opportunity to leverage the waiting eyes of those in line, or to provide additional information that could enhance the consumer service experience. Moreover, the plain numbering of queue management does little to assuage frustrated customers with nothing else to do but watch the paint dry.

Businesses that use digital screens for simple turn-based queue management aren’t leveraging the full potential of their digital options.

How Digital Signage does it Better

Digital signage can enhance queue management in a variety of ways.

Indeed, digital signage elevates queue management to a comprehensive customer experience—rather than simply waiting in line, digital signage lets queue owners leverage unavoidable waiting time to provide useful and relevant information to customers.

Aside from helping consumers, digital signage for queue management creates serious benefits for your business. Consider the value of the “queue” for marketing. You have a captive audience with nothing to do but watch. What better time to inform, influence, and entertain with content on your digital displays?

Digital signage for queue management is a great way to increase organizational efficiency. Consider how much time customers waste when they spend an hour waiting in line at the bank or DMV, only to have the clerk at the desk tell them that they have the wrong forms filled out. Digital signage can showcase informational displays that offer guidance on what materials are necessary for each request. Keeping those in queue updated on these guidelines can save them the frustration of navigating bureaucracy of it all while ensuring efficiency on the part of your business. Less confusion for your customers means more efficiency (and more growth) for your brand.

A survey by AV in 2015 found 87% of respondents believed that brand promotion was the most important application of digital signage.

Options and Services

Digital signage can also enhance queue management by providing relevant information to waiting customers. Depending on the industry, this information could relate to special offers or services that may influence consumer behaviors.

Customers waiting in line at the grocery store, for example, may see that a different brand of bread is on special, sending them back into the store in search of better value. Those waiting for services at a car mechanic may see a digital readout about special maintenance packages for their vehicles, prompting them to spend more than they had originally intended. Data on digital signage advertising found that 80% of brands experienced a 31.8% increase in sales, particularly for hedonic purchases that were unplanned.

Creating awareness is the first step of increasing sales of a given product; something digital signage for queue management excels at.

Improving the Consumer Experience

Digital signage for queue management can speed up a customer’s experience.

In our digital age, many forms and documents are available online. However, particularly in older populations less used to technology, many people don’t realize these options exist. Digital displays can keep customers informed about all options available to them, including those that involve them leaving the queue. Nothing is more frustrating than waiting in line and finding out later that you could have accomplish your goal from home. Digital signage keeps consumers in the loop and contributes to a better overall experience with your company.

Bridge Language Gaps

Language barriers are always a challenge for enterprises, particularly in geographic regions where the population speaks multiple languages. Fortunately, digital signage comes to the rescue yet again.

We’ve already established how digital screens are the perfect way to display information, and multi-lingual applications are no exception. Imagine all of the valuable page real estate wasted when providers of traditional signage have to list the same information in two, three, or even four different languages. Digital solutions can continually cycle through screens, allowing each language to be addressed without needing to cram multiple translations on a single page.

Reduce Wait Times

Nobody likes to wait. We’re a culture of instant gratification; we want things fast, and when we don’t get them, we get frustrated easily. Naturally, waiting in a queue with a bunch of other frustrated people doesn’t create positive feelings towards a business. This is true regardless of where your queue is—waiting rooms, retail store lines, government offices, and so on.

When it comes to retail, customers are only willing to wait a maximum of ten minutes before becoming frustrated. Fortunately, digital signage can be applied across each of these industries to give customers something to look at and reduce their perceived wait time. The key word here is perceived—digital signage can’t speed up the clock. However, it can give the impression of time moving faster by providing engaging content that keeps customers entertained.

Research indicates that digital signage for queue management can reduce perceived wait times at store checkouts by 35%.

Accelerating Your Queue

Digital signage and queue management go hand-in-hand.

Digital tactics can speed up the perceived wait times of an audience while simultaneously decreasing their actual wait time through better organizational efficiency. On top of that, digital signage gives business owners options for advertising new deals, informing those in queue about other service options, and making multi-lingual information accessible to all. Ditch the “now serving” strategy. Give digital signage a shot to see how these solutions can work for you.