If you are considering a self-serve kiosk implementation, you know the business case, right? You’ve researched how much time and money kiosks can save you. You know impatient customers, especially Millennials, want the DIY power to do exactly what they want, when they want, quickly.
If you’re here exploring the Advanced Kiosks website, you know the value of superior engineering and integration. You know our interactive kiosks are beautiful and tough, built to withstand heavy use in any environment. Thanks to our preinstalled Zamok software, they are also secure and user-friendly. The Advanced Kiosks Advantage and our unmatched 3-year warranty speak for themselves.
But what if we told you there are some advantages to self-serve kiosk applications you haven’t even thought of yet? Self-service technology has been around a long time. As people adapt to it and automation gets cheaper and better, new benefits continue to emerge. Some of them may surprise you:
Customers Spend More at a Self-Serve Kiosk
The research has been around for a while. According to the Harvard Business Review, Taco Bell, Chili’s, and Cinemark have all reported that people spend more money when they order from a self-service kiosk. Sometimes as much as 30% more. But McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook really drew attention to the phenomenon earlier this year when he announced the fast food chain would add kiosks to 1,000 stores every quarter for the next eight or nine quarters. “When people dwell more, they tend to select more; so there is a little bit of an average check boost,” Easterbrook observed.
Interactive display kiosks are hard to resist. When you see that big juicy burger, how can you not add avocado or bacon? Especially when it only takes a quick tap of the finger. When you pair your self-serve kiosks with a customer rewards program, it’s even easier for people to customize their orders. They can design their dream sandwich, save it as a “favorite,” and order it again and again.
Your Staffing Needs Will Change in Unexpected Ways
This one has been a moving target for industry experts trying to predict the effects of automation on the workforce. Two Business Insider articles less than a year apart had dramatically different takes on the impact of self serve kiosks. In 2016, they announced fast food workers’ impending obsolescence. By 2017, they were singing a very different tune. Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) were unveiling all kinds of new ways to repurpose staff. A McDonald’s spokesperson explained that self-order kiosks “provide an opportunity to transition back-of-the-house positions to more customer service roles such as concierges and table service where they are able to truly engage with guests and enhance the dining experience.”
Your workers can focus on making human connections — adding the personal touches that keep customers invested in your company and coming back for more. In that same 2017 Business Insider piece, Panera announced it would add 10,000 new jobs by the end of 2017 because of the uptick in business caused by self-serve kiosks and mobile ordering technology. Some of those new workers will be drivers for the restaurant’s new delivery service.
We all know the buzzwords of our modern era: big data, analytics, algorithms. But buzzwords become buzzwords for a reason. Consumer data feeds the business intelligence that is driving company growth and our economy as a whole. Data visualization software producer Tableau just released their 2019 business intelligence trends. The upshot? We keep getting smarter about how we collect, analyze and act on our data.
Self-serve kiosk solutions make it easy to collect the customer data you need to gain insight into purchasing behaviors. You can see which items are purchased together, in what quantity and when. Add a customer rewards or loyalty program, and you can link demographic info to purchasing decisions. When you connect all the data, it helps you better understand your customers – their wants, their needs, their stories. Which comfort foods sell best on a cold, drizzly day? What incentive does a shopper need to pull the trigger on that extra accessory that makes the outfit? Your self-service kiosks can help you solve the mysteries.
Ready For More Pleasant Surprises?
Now that we’ve let you in on some of the best-kept secrets of self-serve kiosk implementation, are you ready to discover your own unique surprise benefits? Advanced Kiosks technical sales specialists can help you put together the best turnkey kiosks for your deployment. Indoor, outdoor, freestanding, large screen? Need QR scanners or barcode readers for those customer loyalty programs? Yep, we can do all that. And our free kiosk management software is the best in the business. Contact us today. We’ll get you on the self-serve path to increased revenue, more effective employees and better customer data.
Written by Amy Robison, contributing author