Manage the Walk-In Appointment Journey
By Kelly Wilson - May 2, 2019
New technology, like the rise of mobile and personalized experiences like Amazon, has increased customers’ service expectations. Banks and credit unions need to look for ways to improve the in-branch, walk-in appointment journey. Walk-in branch service requests are a convenient point of contact in the customer journey and a serious revenue driver for most businesses. However, branch traffic volume can be unpredictable, with unexpected influxes leaving your customers waiting and your staff overwhelmed. Reduce service abandonment and better manage the queue with the right tools to streamline the branch experience.
How the Current Walk-In Appointment Journey Is Disrupting the Customer Experience
Poor Branch Experience
Walk-in branch service requests are a convenient point of contact in the customer journey, and a serious revenue driver for most businesses. However, branch traffic volume can be unpredictable, leaving your customers waiting and your staff overwhelmed. The average wait time for a walk-in appointment is around 7 minutes and is predicted to rise as more resources are allocated toward enhancing digital channels, as opposed to the in-branch experience. When customers are left waiting, or are unsure how long they will have to wait to be seen by a customer-facing advisor, the risk of service abandonment increases. You may ned up experiencing drop off in the walk-in appointment journey to complete the service another day, or search for another organization that provides them with superior walk-in customer experience. Additionally, when customers arrive at the branch it’s not always clear where to go to request a service or check-in for an appointment, and they often spend additional time waiting in the wrong spot, or again will choose to go elsewhere. With unpredictable traffic volume and unclear queueing processes, it becomes increasingly important to have solutions in place that allow you to manage walk-in appointments in order to provide customers with a seamless experience.
Unoptimized Staff Time
When walk-in traffic is inconsistent from day-to-day and without proper insights to measure trends, it can be difficult to know where to allocate staff in order to meet customer demand. Branches are also missing out on capturing valuable customer data, like appointment history, average wait time, and average handle time. This often results in poor customer experience and inefficient processes that are costing your business money. By implementing a solution that manages and tracks the walk-in appointment experience, your organization will gain more insight into branch trends in order to allocate staff more efficiently.
How to Optimize Branch Performance with a Lobby Management Solution
By providing your walk-in customers with a clear expectation of when a representative will be able to see them and how long it will take, you streamline the branch experience, while also optimizing staff schedules so that they can better serve their customers. With an appointment management solution, you will be able to provide an exceptional walk-in experience that improves branch performance as well as the customer experience.
4 Ways to Manage the Walk-In Appointment Journey
1. Better Queue Management
With a lobby management solution, your staff will be able to see who is waiting and the service that they have come in for. The solution will automatically pair the customer with an employee that is qualified to carry out their service request, and will provide customers with more immediate and streamlined service.
2. Make More Informed Business Decisions
With a solution that can track all scheduled and walk-in appointment action, branch managers can make more informed decisions based on performance insights. Metrics such as average wait time, staff availability, and service engagement can all be tracked with a lobby management solution, enabling your organization to make highly informed decisions on methods to increase branch efficiencies.
3. Self-Serve Technology
With a lobby management solution, customers will be able to join the queue with real-time availability and estimated wait times for their appointment. Should the customer choose that the wait time is too long for their current interaction, the solution allows them to schedule an appointment for another day. The self-serve component prompts branch foot traffic to take action when they enter your location providing more immediate, streamlined service.
4. Enable Easy Appointment Check-In
For customers who have scheduled their appointment ahead of time, a lobby management solution enables them to check-in for appointments from their own mobile device or on an in-lobby tablet once they have entered the branch. Branch staff will be altered as soon as someone arrives for their appointment, improving communication between your advisors and customers, decreasing lobby wait time, and improving branch efficiency.
Streamline the walk-in customer journey to reduce service abandonment, optimize branch performance, and increase revenue with Coconut Software
When customers start out their interaction with your organization through an effortlessly streamlined process, you are setting your organization up for success. With Coconut Software’s Lobby Management solution, you can increase transparency, optimize staff time and reduce service abandonment. All this can help you to improve branch performance while enhancing the customer journey in order to increase revenue in your organization.
What’s next?
Interested in learning how appointment scheduling can help your entire organization engage more efficiently and effectively with customers? Download our Customer Experience Whitepaper.
Ready to get started? Schedule a consultation today.
