Customers are only going to wait so long. And as for service agents, they have only two hands like the rest of us to work as fast they can. So, what’s the formula for keeping wait times in check and service rates, moving along at a productive rate? Signage has been a big hero so far in keeping customers busy when the lines move at a slow pace. But what if they are the regular ones, they won’t really go for the same thing that they’ve already read dozens of times before. Updating the signage would really help, but here’s something that would do even better in the case where customers begin to arrive in unpredictable numbers.

1. Know your wait times

What’s measured can be managed. When you’re able to accurately measure, monitor, and predict wait times in an unstructured or structured queue, you are better equipped to begin delivering an exceptional customer experience. Knowing your wait times in real-time, here-and-now.With real-time data and the right crowd control tools, you can open more organized service stations and redirect customers to those shorter lines.

2. Check your service points

As for wait times, if you don’t properly measure them you can’t manage them. How much time does the service agent take to complete a transaction? Is the time it takes in line with the rate of services that is required?Keeping track and opening up more counters would surely increase the transactions per time period. This would bring down waiting times for customers and contribute to the overall operational effectiveness.

3. Monitoring arrival-to-service rates

A 2-minute wait can soon turn into a 10-minute wait when an influx of customers begins to walk through the door. And if you fail to see that coming, the results can be quite the loss. Monitor customer arrivals to help predict service loads and manage labor allocation. And track and monitor service rates to discover training opportunities.

4. Automate your Queuing Process

Everything is easier with automation! To really take the guesswork out of managing queues and service rates, look for ways to automate the processes. Pulling from data captured through your analytics systems, use automation to trigger processes or alerts based on customer flow to help optimize wait times and staff productivity.
Knowledge is power. And the right choices to manage your system can have a huge effect on your service times and better queue management and more profitable customer experience.

Alpha Crowd Control has a range of stanchions, barriers, and signage that can help manage the crowd as well keep them engaged through different signage.