(April 2012) To keep local customers happy, retailers might want to focus less on the register and more on the clock. In these busy, hectic times, retailers better hop to it and wait on customers quickly, or customers will hop on out of there - because customers HATE TO WAIT!
In a new national survey:
• 76% of respondents say a wait any longer than five to ten minutes at a retail business is unreasonable.
• 94% say a reasonable amount of time to wait at a retail business is 5 - 10 minutes or less.
If a retail business makes them wait fifteen minutes or longer:
• 63% say it shows bad customer service and a lack of respect for their time.
• 52% say they take their business elsewhere
• 48% say they assume the business is not well run and badly managed.
When asked what bothered them the most about a retailer:
Most often ranked as the #1 annoyance (in order):
• A rude staff
• They made me wait
• I paid too much
In other survey findings:
• 87% of respondents say they would use a technology that kept them from waiting in line at a retail stores if it saved them 15 minutes of waiting.
• 2 out of 3 respondents say they would use online check-in or download an app that saved their place in line at a retail business.
The survey also asked respondents for the most annoying time waster in their lives.
Most often ranked as the #1 annoyance (in order):
• Getting Placed on Hold
• Waiting in Line
• Sitting in Traffic
Great Clips, a local hair salon brand and the first ever to introduce time saving online check-in, asked consumers about waiting as part of a campaign to introduce the new online check-in app. The technology, which allows customers to check in from their desktops or smart phones, has trimmed haircut wait times from about fifteen minutes to five minutes, so customers can pretty much walk right in with little or no wait.
"In all our research, in focus group after focus group, we hear that today's busy singles and families alike are stressed out, exhausted and short on time - and today, time is money," says Rhoda Olsen, CEO of Great Clips. "Online check-in gives people back those few extra minutes that can take your day from good to great."
Online check-in is already gaining steam, with more than one million customers checking in online in 2011. In 2012, that number is even greater with an average 200,000 checking in online per month. With more than 80,000 new downloads of the app each month, it's clear customers find it helpful.
