As a business owner, the task of providing your good or service to customers in the most efficient and cost-effective way can seem daunting. Long lines that lead to extensive wait times and busy employees unable to provide genuine customer service are just a few of the standard problems facing today’s business owners. Self-service kiosks are rapidly becoming the solution for many of these problems across a multitude of industries and use cases.
As consumers become increasingly less patient, self-service kiosks provide businesses with the competitive edge needed to entice customers. If you’re considering the benefits of self-service, answering these questions may help you determine whether or not a self-service solution will be a helpful addition to your business.
Are you providing your customer with a service or product?
Whether you’re providing your customer with a service or a product, self-service kiosks can make the process simpler for your customer. For example, automotive kiosks can be used to simplify the customer check-in and payment process for automotive services. They not only offer secure payment acceptance, but also provide a unique customer experience by reducing overall transaction time.
Do you want to increase revenue?
Self-service is changing the way customers interact with businesses. The Harvard Business Review reported that for American fast food chain Taco Bell, orders made via its digital app have been 20% more expensive than those taken by cashiers due to automated upselling. Self-service kiosks can provide the same efficient ordering and automated targeted upselling processes for customers in store.
How long are your customers willing to wait?
Customers want to receive their product or service in a timely manner. Self-service kiosks can provide a more efficient option by streamlining the order, payment, check-in, check-out and pick-up processes. For example, automated locker systems provide secure, kiosk managed storage. The self-service lockers allow customers to place their order online and pick up their purchase from the locker system on their own time, now commonly referred to as a BOPIS system, Buy Online Pickup In Store. This reduces customer wait time and increases customer satisfaction.
Do you want to lower support costs?
Customers who use self-service to help themselves do not cost as much for businesses to support. Websites, mobile apps, and kiosks are less expensive than one-on-one assistance. As a result, business’s overheads reduce at the same time as customers’ satisfaction increases.
How do your customers want to pay?
Self-service bill payment offers customers a more secure, efficient process to pay for their product or services. Rather than wait in line for a cashier, customers can simply use a self-pay kiosk to pay via cash, check or credit card, depending on the solution. Students at Florida International University can use FIU’s self-pay kiosks to look up account balances and make cash and check payments on their tuition, meal plans and housing accounts.
Do you want to use your resources more efficiently?
Self-service kiosks help create efficiencies in business customer support. By allowing customers to help themselves, employees don’t always need to provide one-on-one support for simple tasks. When customers use self-service solutions to place and/or pay for an order, sales and service representatives can concentrate on providing support for more complex tasks.
Is your business next?
If you’ve answered yes to a majority of these questions, then a self-service solution may benefit your customers and your bottom line. Self-service kiosks are designed to solve a number of issues for businesses across industries. Your business could be next.
Stephanie Mewherter is the Marketing Director at Meridian
