Keeping Customers Engaged While in Line

A long line usually means more customers are spending their money in your store. Although long lines are great for business, they could cause a lot of frustration if customers become impatient and agitated. How can you ensure these customers remain loyal to your store? Keep them engaged while they wait in line with these helpful tips:
Use technology.
If you have it in your budget, consider adding tablets or other tech gadgets around the checkout counter so customers have something to do while they wait. Chili’s recently added tablets to every table in their restaurants, so customers can play games or browse through other items on the menu while they wait for their order to be ready. This is a great way to keep customers engaged and happy. In fact, customers probably won’t even mind the wait if they have a tablet to play with the entire time.
Utilize other employees.
Every available employee should be working at a register to help move people quickly through the line, however if all of your registers are being used, employees can still make themselves useful by engaging with people in the line. Available employees should thank customers for waiting and help them begin to unpack their items to make the process go faster. Employees should also ask each customer if he found everything he was looking for in the store. If not, that employee should go find it for him while he waits in line. But, even if the employee can not be of any help to the customer, simply greeting each person in line and thanking them for being patient will go a long way in ensuring customers leave your store satisfied.
Refresh impulse items.
Everyone expects to see magazines and chocolate bars surrounding each of the checkout counters, so don’t expect customers to get excited about these items as they wait in line. If you are expecting long lines, why not refresh part of your merchandising around the checkout counter? You can keep the classic impulse items, but ask your distributors to add another display with unique items that your customers weren’t expecting. This will give customers something new to look at while they wait for their turn at the register.
Don’t forget about other options.
If you can’t think of ways to engage with your customers, try to brainstorm how you can cut back on wait times instead. By now, most grocery retailers have self-checkout lines, but others are going one step further to make it even easier for customers to get in and out of the store. Some retailers are beginning to look at alternative checkout options to minimize the time that customers have to wait. For example, some grocery store chains allow you to scan your own items as you shop and then complete the transaction all through your smartphone.
How do you keep your customers entertained while they wait in a checkout line? If you have any unique strategies, share them in the comments below!