The Path of Least Resistance

There are several simple yet effective methods that you and your business can utilize to draw customers to use your kiosks. All of these methods, however, boil down to one basic premise— provide your clientele with the path of least resistance to these machines. Kiosks are meant to enhance and improve the speed, convenience and service options for your business. Making them easy to find and access should be priority one for getting the most mileage out of your kiosks. 

1. Utilize Multiple Kiosks

If it is possible or appropriate for the size of your business, having more than a single kiosk available for customer assistance and processing can be an incredible asset. While this has the practical result of being able to serve more customers per hour, it also has a positive effect on social behaviors surrounding kiosks. If a potential customer can see a current customer using a kiosk, they can be encouraged that it is a desirable method of business interaction. As humans, we are more comfortable using technology or a service if we can witness someone else making use of the same process. It really is as simple as a customer thinking “if that person can do it, I bet that I can do it, too.”

2. Help Customers Locate Kiosks With Signage

Don’t underestimate the human ability to completely miss something that is directly in front of us. Some customers are just more observant than others, and that’s perfectly normal. Make using your kiosks easy for anyone who walks through your doors by making their location obvious. Many customers are just as happy to ask for the location of a kiosk, but you can bet that all customers will take advantage of signage when it is present. Again, this is part of providing your customers with the path of least resistance to your kiosk services. Placing signs directing customers to your kiosks in multiple places can also be effective — something as simple as a sign by the entryway to encourage guests to use your kiosk services is better than nothing. Having concise, clear instructions on the operation of your kiosks placed nearby can also put customers at ease when it comes to making the choice to use kiosk services. 

3. Employee Visibility

While the idea of kiosk services is to empower customers to serve themselves, several customers will feel more at ease when a knowledgeable and patient employee or representative is nearby your kiosks. This can be especially important when a kiosk system is new to your business or you have a sizable customer base that is unfamiliar with using kiosks regularly. Having a friendly face nearby, ready and able to be of assistance and answer questions, will encourage customers to use the kiosk and feel more comfortable using it again in the future. In most cases, customers will all have the same questions about the operation of the kiosk, and your employees can begin to anticipate the customers’ needs accordingly. When a customer successfully operates a kiosk system once and has any questions answered, they are significantly more likely to be comfortable using your kiosks again.

4. Use Light & Color

The human eye is naturally drawn to the brightest object in our visual space. This creates a wonderful opportunity to enhance your kiosk’s visibility with light and color. Providing eye-catching lights either on or around your kiosk can help draw customer traffic. You should also consider the color design elements. A drab, plain kiosk is not exciting. However, a kiosk that cleverly incorporates your business’s colors and graphic design elements can be very enticing to customers. Making your kiosks look like a natural part of your business removes the austere, clinical look of a stark white kiosk.

5. Location, Location, Location

Your kiosks should be smack-dab in the middle of high-traffic areas of your business. Ideally, the natural traffic pattern of customer movement in your business should lead them straight through your kiosk area. If your customers can’t help but walk by a kiosk, it is that much easier to encourage their usage. This goes back to the principle of providing the path of least resistance. If that path is a literal pathway that leads directly to the kiosk, then you have a winning strategy. Avoid placing kiosks in a tucked-away corner of your business. Visibility is job number one for customer interaction.

6. Be Your Kiosk’s Biggest Fan

To get the highest benefit out of your kiosk operations, you and your employees need to be on the same page about how they positively affect your business. Providing your customers with self-service kiosk options needs to be something that is promoted internally so that it can be utilized externally. This can easily be implemented by placing the right individuals in a service position for helping customers with kiosk operation, as well as being a highlight of the services your business offers. Employees that are not enthusiastic about the beneficial utility of kiosks and how they improve the customer experience will be a detriment to kiosk usage. 

Need More Solutions? Contact Site Service Now! 

If you need solutions to your existing kiosk system or are considering adding a kiosk system to your business, we encourage you to contact us immediately! Our experts are able to answer any questions you have about kiosk usage and are ready to provide on-demand service and support for any kiosk need.