The Wait Is Over: Enhancing CX with Retail Choreography
October 11, 2023
No one likes waiting in a line.
Yet, recently I found myself at the end of a very long line at a book signing. As I peeked through the window and followed the winding path of people amid piles of books, I was certain I was not going to make the cut.
The store had a first-come-first-served arrangement with a not so generous time window. It didn’t take a mathematician to see that the crowd outside didn’t even come close to the number of people who would get their volumes signed.
I looked around with growing frustration and saw similarly disappointed faces all around; some people had already given up and walked away. I couldn’t help but think there should be an easy solution for such scenarios.
Customers can’t stand the wait
In a recent survey, 69 percent of consumers said they had switched brands after just ONE bad experience.1 And bad experiences often include uncertain wait times. Another survey found that 85 percent of respondents routinely walk out of stores if they have to wait in a line.2 Eighty-five percent!
In this economic climate and ever-growing retail competition, retailers simply can’t afford to have that many customers walking away.
Informed Waiting Experiences Serve Both Customers and Retailers
Regardless of the industry, the baseline for a good customer experience (CX) is not wasting the customer’s time. In addition to wanting to know how long a service will take, they also want to know how long they will have to wait to be served.
In a time and age when people get their eyes checked, hair done, and phones fixed on their lunch break, wait times can make or break the deal.
For example, consumers with higher household incomes are three times more likely to walk out of stores and bank branches if they have to wait for service. Similarly, Millennial and GenZ customers are three times more likely to do so than previous generations.3
No wonder leading brands are focusing on creating more relaxed, informed waiting experiences and easy ways for customers to pre-book appointments to ensure fast, timely service.
Creating an Informed Waiting Experience
Imagine how different my book signing experience would have been if the bookstore had better managed walk-ins. Customers could have simply joined a digital waitlist at the door with the help of a store host, a self-service tablet, or their smartphone.
The store could have captured the purpose of their visit and kept them updated while they waited. Customers could have seen a countdown on their phone and received a notification when their time to be served was near.
They could have browsed the shelves or grabbed a cup of coffee while they waited! And once the virtual waitlist got too long, the store could have closed registrations, immediately notifying people if there’s no point in lining up.
Retailers that allow their walk-in customers to join a virtual queue and provide them with their wait times and position in line are best positioned to outsmart the competition. Customers get served faster, have a less stressful experience, and they will be more likely to recommend the brand to others.
On the other hand, learning more about what customers are looking for helps retailers offer more personalized services. It’s a win-win for both parties.
So how can retailers implement such improvements to retain customers and drive sales, while keeping their operational costs at bay?
New retail challenges call for new solutions
Verint Retail Choreography is a new offering that helps retailers attract and retain customers across their physical and digital channels with innovative solutions for appointment booking, queue management, event management, and more.
Think of Retail Choreography in the same way as dance choreography. Brands use it to craft engaging customer routines across exciting store environments. By better planning and controlling the movement of both customers and store associates across channels, including in-store, online and mobile, retailers can achieve their sales, service, and productivity goals.
Retail Choreography for the win
Verint has seen first-hand how Retail Choreography can help enterprise brands retain customers and drive sales.
Tui, the world’s largest travel and tourism company, reduced customer wait times by 57% and walkouts by 65% in their travel agencies.
How? By deploying Verint Retail Choreography solutions, including Appointment Booking and Queue Management, which enabled Tui to provide customers with informed wait times, including position in queue and time to service. Securing their position and knowing how long they would need to wait has created a better in-store CX.
And because Tui was able to increase the number of customers who stayed in their stores, store associates were able to convert more customers to a vacation holiday booking – ultimately increasing sales.
Similarly, digital communications company Virgin Media O2, achieved a 67% walkout reduction and a 27% staff efficiency increase using Verint Queue Management. By upgrading their previous clipboard-and-pen method to manage walk-ins to a more advanced virtual queuing and appointment booking experience, O2 improved the store experience and increased customer retention.
Learn more about how Verint Retail Choreography solutions are helping iconic brands perfect the customer experience.
1 The 2023 State of Digital Customer Experience Report, Verint, 2023.
2 The Top Customer Insights to Help Unify Your Omnichannel Retail CX Strategy Webinar, 2023.
3 2023 Retail Choreography Survey, Qudini by Verint, December 2022.