Digital signage keeps queuers engaged

Queuing is never pleasant, but unfortunately, it cannot be avoided completely. Even careful queue management cannot eliminate lines completely. However, one can make the waiting much more bearable by introducing digitals screens that display content relevant to the business or service.

Effectively placed digital signage can make the tiresome experience of waiting in lines a lot more tolerable.

Waiting in queues is a tedious task to say the least. Nevertheless, there are many services and institutions in which long lines simply cannot be avoided. Even the most intricate queue management system wont eliminate lines altogether, but there is a way to make the wait more pleasant. Research is conclusive: whatever you do to engage queuers will help to ease the wait.

Effectively placed digital signage can make the tiresome experience of waiting in lines a lot more tolerable and even if it cannot shorten the actual time of waiting, it can make the time go by faster. Occaupied time feels much shorter than unoccupied time. Banks, post offices, airports and cinemas are just few of the places where queues are all but unavoidable. But by providing interesting and relevant content, one can go a long way towards making sure that customers have a more pleasant experience despite waiting in lines.

The compact V-Tablet is easy to mount and has its own power source, so it can be placed wherever needed.

Research clearly indicates that when customers have something to do while standing in lines, the perceived waiting time reduces dramatically.

Imagine having a small screen placed on posts usually employed to manage queues, or on a wall facing the queue. With it, you could display relevant information regarding your service. For example, you could display appropriate protocols (e.g. at airports), news, announcements, special offers, or simply show average waiting time. Such digital displays could also perform one of the most basic tasks – inform customers of the purpose of each line and guide them towards the right one. Let’s face it, we have all found ourselves in a situation in which we waited in the wrong line and only realized it when we reached the counter.

Not every digital signage display is appropriate

In order to be able to employ such a solution, displays would have to be very easy to mount regardless of the surface and should run on its own power source, as you cannot lay down power lines to every single digital display. Above all, content editing should be as easy as possible in order to always provide the most relevant and up-to-date information.

Such digital signage solution is perfect for institutions queues frequently occur in, such as banks, cinemas, airports, retail stores, etc.

Visionect’s V-Tablet devices and the accompanying V-Platform are ideal for such a digital signage solution. The compact V-Tablets can be easily mounted or placed on various surfaces. They are robust, dust and water resistant, so they can handle frequent usage. V-Tablet employs e-paper touchscreen display from E Ink, resulting in excellent visibility and viewing angle, and, more importantly, incredible battery life. It can last for weeks on a single charge, which means power lines are not an issue. But the most important benefit is that all the content is entirely web-based. V-Tablets themselves do not store any information, they only display the content received via Wi-Fi. The latter is thus the only thing you need in order to deploy Visionect’s system.

Updating content via server

When you have several devices spread out through a possibly large area and you need to update them frequently, easy content updating becomes a key aspect. Visionect’s devices are updated via server (any PC that runs Visionect Server Software) that connects the e-paper devices with web content. V-Tablet displays the information it receives from the server. All interactions with devices are sent to web application via server, and responses are turned into graphics that are displayed on V-Tablets. But because everything runs so smoothly, the whole process is completely fluent for the user. Everything is built around open-source Linux, which enables easy compatibility with your existing servers and ensures there are no additional license fees.

Content updating and device monitoring are easily performed from one location.

Web applications for the V-Tablet are developed just like all the others, using standard web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. If your application can run in your browser, it can run on the V-Tablet as well. Visionect’s server provides you with an easy way to manage your devices from a single location. You can therefore upgrade or reboot a device or several of them from a single computer. Of course this centralized management extends to the monitoring of devices as well (power usage, Wi-Fi signal strength, etc.). The entire system is designed for high performance and guarantees unparalleled reliability. If the need arises, you can deploy hundreds or even thousands of V-Tablets and connect them with several servers.

Centralized tracking of several hundred devices from a single server.

It makes a difference

Even with careful strategy and management, one cannot completely avoid queues. However, with digital signage, waiting can be made much more tolerable. Research clearly indicates that when customers have something to do while standing in lines, the perceived waiting time reduces dramatically, resulting in a more pleasant experience overall. A customer with a more positive feeling about the whole visit is one that is likely to return. Customer satisfaction is key to business success.

Engaging customers during their time in a queue can greatly enhance the experience, but you have to go about it in the right way. Not every display is suitable. Large displays do offer more content, but are much harder to deploy in these circumstances. Visionect’s V-Tablet, on the other hand, is perfect for the job. It is compact, easy to deploy and maintain and requires just a Wi-Fi connection. What is more, it is equipped with an excellent e-paper display that seamlessly blends in in every environment and emits no excessive light.

Display relevant information, protocols, special offers, or the purpose of each line and estimated waiting time.

Perhaps the next time you find yourself standing in a line at a local supermarket, bank, cinema or airport, digitals displays will be there to provide you with important information, thereby making your wait shorter and much more bearable.

Whether you would like to employ Visionect’s devices to engage your customers while waiting, or have come up with a whole new idea of how to use them, do not hesitate to contact us. Also, take a look at our blog to learn about the various other applications of Visionect’s devices.