Let’s just say it: waiting is the worst. No one, at any age, enjoys a wait. Waiting can feel frustrating, and that frustration is an unwelcome brand message regardless of who’s being asked to wait, be it employees or customers.
What if waiting didn’t feel like waiting? What if our wait time felt like an intentional part of our experience? In an increasingly “on demand” culture, it’s imperative that we reclaim our wait times and turn them into meaningful opportunities to engage.
Think about the best amusement parks and how they make the queue part of the overall experience. They entertain, they educate, they engage during a wait, building anticipation in a positive way for the ride at the end.
If we reclaim our wait times and approach them as opportunities to engage, not only will our audience’s perception of how long they waited be reduced, their relationship with the brand will be stronger.
How can you make your wait time an engaging brand experience?
There are dozens of ways to approach this, but before you figure out what to do, you first need to understand two things: who you are, and who your audience is.
Understanding who you are is about understanding broadly the message of your brand, your brand personality, then from there the more tactical things you need to communicate: the initiatives, promotions, and information you need to get across. It’s important that you understand what flavor of fun your brand engages in, because if you’re not entertaining, you’ll lose your audience.
Then, you need to understand who you’re communicating to. What are their needs, wants, problems, doubts, objections, and questions when it comes to engaging with your brand a and the specific experience they’re waiting for. What is entertaining to them? How do they want to engage?
Out of that deep understanding, coming up with great ideas to engage is easy. That said, we’d love to help you strategize ways to improve wait time in your business. Shoot us an email at contact@retrieverdigitalsignage.com and we can help!