Given the dramatic increases in customer expectations as well as the ever-growing number of options consumers can choose from today, brands ranging from national retailers to regional credit unions are overwhelmingly adopting new customer engagement strategies to drive high-value interactions, inspire repeat visits, and grow their business.
One of the best ways to deliver more personalized experiences is through in-person meetings and events. These interactions allow customers to interact with knowledgeable specialists, take products for a test drive, or even receive specialized training and instruction. One of the pain points for many brands, however, is ensuring that clients have a positive experience at every step of their purchase journey – both online and off-line. This is especially important for businesses with brick-and-mortar locations who service a mix of walk-in clients, as well as appointments that may be scheduled in advance.
To create seamless experiences, top brands are investing in a combination of Intelligent Appointment Scheduling and queue management technology. These powerful tools offer customers the option to visit a specific store or branch location when its most convenient for them, while providing your business the ability to better understand who is walking in the door and why, coupled with valuable insights that can identify gaps in service levels, staffing, or employee knowledge and training.
Engageware has offered a queue management solution to their customers for years, and as consumer expectations have evolved— so has our offering. Our latest enhancements to Queue Manager, Engageware’s suite of queue management applications, were developed in partnership with our customers, who are leading brands at the forefront of customer experience. The next generation of Queue Manager is a highly intelligent and configurable queue management solution that lets customers interact with brands on their timeline.
The Queue Manager suite consists of three components:
- Concierge mobile app
With Concierge, employees have full visibility into their daily appointments and can check in customers as they arrive, manage walk-ins, update appointment stages, and transfer appointments to colleagues to minimize wait times. Associates can easily communicate with customers by sending SMS notifications directly through the app, notifying them when they are next in line. Managers get a real-time view of customer traffic and team performance, so they can reallocate staff if needed. - Interactive kiosk
Interactive, self-service kiosks give customers control over their on-site experience—whether they’re checking in for a pre-scheduled appointment or adding themselves to the queue. Customers can even opt-in to receive updates via text, empowering them to choose how and where they wait. - Digital queue display
Digital queue displays inject transparency into the waiting process, helping to create realistic expectations for customers by letting them know their place in line and when they’re up next for service. The customizable displays can be integrated into your existing digital signage and automatically update as people check in and appointments are served.
The latest enhancements to Queue Manager include:
- Seamless alignment to Engageware’s newly released Engagement Center, saving administrative time.
- Estimated Wait Times, which are now are calculated based on customized algorithms that understand the real-time scenarios, including current number of people in line, appointment lengths, current appointments in service and other variables that contribute to wait time.
- Instant in-app visibility into detailed appointment insights, such as wait time metrics, total number of appointments and other information.
- Options to promote appointments in a queue, providing a VIP experience to specific customers.
- Enhanced collection of appointment data to better track cancellations, reschedules and other appointment metrics.
- Proactive wait time notifications, which automatically alert employees if wait times increase so they can take prompt actions to resolve the situation. Location and district managers can subscribe to notifications, too, for a more accurate understanding of day-to-day operations.
Queue Manager is an extension of the Engageware Scheduler Platform, available either in conjunction with Appointment Scheduling or stand-alone. Current Engageware Queue Manager customers may take advantage of this new functionality with an automatic upgrade. Engageware customers not currently utilizing Queue Manager may purchase it as a platform extension.
To learn more about how to provide every customer with a “we’ve been expecting you” experience with Queue Manager, schedule a meeting.