10 shocking stats on how queues can damage your business
Picture this. You’re standing in line at a takeaway restaurant, waiting to order your dinner. You're hungry, tired and disgruntled. Your patience begins to expire and after standing in the same spot for what seems like hours, you storm out the door feeling angry and unsatiated.
Situations like this occur all the time, and they’re very damaging for businesses. Today, it’s been found that the human attention span has been reduced to a startling 8 seconds, making it even harder to keep impatient customers satisfied.
Here are some shocking statistics that highlight how queues can damage your business:
1 - For today’s customers, patience isn’t a priority.
These days, customers don’t like to be kept waiting. In fact, over 73% of customers state that they'd cancel an order if they had to wait more than 5 minutes for it.
2 - If you thought 5 seconds was bad, some customers are even less patient.
According to research, only 25% of customers will wait two minutes. That is an extremely short period of time, and due to our decreased attention span, this number could get even lower.
3 - Queues impact our perception of brands.
There is a clear link between customer service and brand image. In fact, around 56% of customers in the UK state that faster payment times and shorter wait times are two factors that positively impact their perception of brands.
4 - Queues cost businesses A LOT of money.
It’s been found that extensive queues are causing businesses to lose around £12 billion in sales each year. If this isn’t proof that businesses need to implement queue management softwares, then we don’t know what is.
5 - Many customers perceive wait times to be much longer than they actually are.
Research has found that after waiting for three minutes, the perceived wait time multiplies with each passing minute. This is why waiting for 10 minutes sometimes feels like an hour.
6 - Similarly, a customer’s level of satisfaction is indicated by their perceived wait time, rather than their actual wait time.
This is why customers can be dissatisfied with a perfectly good service after waiting a few minutes to receive it.
7 - There are only a small percentage of people who are willing to wait.
It’s been found that only 50% of people would continue to wait in a queue, even if they were annoyed about it. That’s quite a small percentage of people, so if you’re a venue that has long queues, you should consider doing something to avoid losing customers.
8 - Customers believe that measures should be in place to reduce wait times.
9 - Today, wait times are seemingly getting longer.
This is particularly true in the US, as 30% of restaurants have reported their wait times to be longer than usual.
10 - In the hospitality industry, wait times are hard to avoid.
In fact, only 7% of eateries in the US reported to not experience any wait times at all.
In today’s fast paced society, queues bear terrible impacts on many service based businesses.
Whilst you can't control the foot traffic you receive, you can control the way you manage queues.
Yoello offers a quick pick up feature, where customers can order and pay for their food from their phones. As soon as their food is ready, they’re notified to pick it up, avoiding the need to wait. Technologies such as Yoello’s quick pick up can alleviate queues, keep your venue running smoothly, and keep all of your customers satisfied.
If your business suffers from queues, it’s up to you to be proactive. If you want to retain more customers and increase your efficiency, look into adopting a queue management software today.
Cut the queues with Yoello Quick Pick-Up.
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