It’s no secret why self-service kiosks have proven to be such a roaring success. 85% of consumers say that self-service is quicker and more convenient than staffed alternatives. In other words, kiosks provide a winning experience that is right in line with modern consumers’ expectations.
But that doesn’t mean anyone can be complacent about what kiosks bring to a business. People have high standards these days. There are good kiosk experiences and, well, not so good kiosk experiences. Customers can tell the difference. And yes, they do judge.
The benefits of kiosks don’t automatically land on your feet the moment you install them. Especially with so many organisations adopting self-service options these days, you have to do a little work to make sure your kiosks deliver the best possible experience.
The good news? It’s not that hard to ensure your kiosks tick all the right boxes with your customers. These four easy-win tips prove as much.
Keep your kiosk clean and appealing
First impressions are everything, and the sight of a dirty, shabby, smeared kiosk will immediately put a lot of people off using it. And it’s not just the kiosk they’ll carry a negative image of. It reflects badly on your whole business.
Good housekeeping helps to create the right impression across your whole business, and your kiosks are no exception. As well as paying attention to cleaning and physical maintenance, think about the lighting around your kiosks and how you can make the area bright and welcoming.
Consider how accessible your kiosks are to all users
Accessibility works on several levels. For one, it’s important to think about how easy it is for all your customers to get to the kiosks. Is the space around them sufficient for wheelchair users, for example? Are they at an appropriate height?
Then it’s a matter of thinking about how easy the interface is to use for people with different needs. While there are good reasons to choose smaller touchscreens if space is tight, larger screens mean better visibility and easier controls. We covered more ways your kiosks can boost inclusivity in this recent blog.
Stay on top of software updates and maintenance
The thing that makes the biggest difference to the self-service experience is how well your kiosk is functioning. Nothing will put customers off more than glitchy on-screen navigation, pages taking even just a couple of seconds to load, scanners and printers etc out of order.
For this reason, you simply must make sure software drivers and patches are up to date, and that everything is slick and instant. Your customers expect nothing less.
Give customers an option if something does go wrong
We all know what technology is like, and things do occasionally go wrong even with the very best kiosks. A glitch or outage by itself isn’t irretrievable – what matters is how you deal with it and help the customer, pronto.
A help or call for support button on the screen, and processes in place so a member of staff arrives as a matter of priority as soon as it is pressed, will still leave customers with the impression that you care about the quality of the experience they got, even if something does go wrong.
Find out more about how kiosks can take your customer experience to the next level by contacting our team today!
