Self-service kiosks have become an important part of businesses like restaurants, hospitals, airports and retail stores. Customers place orders, make payments, and get their information without the direct assistance of any person.
Like other technologies, there are self-service kiosks disadvantages just like there are advantages, although there are more benefits of self-service kiosks. Let us explore the pros and cons of self-service kiosks, and how you can navigate them.
Understanding Self-Service Kiosks
A self-service kiosk can be described as a device or terminal where customers perform transactions or access services by themselves.
Kiosks come with built-in touchscreens and provide an interactive interface through which a user can take orders, pay, and sometimes even check-in for flights or appointments.
With self-service kiosks, your staff can focus on the other complex tasks, leaving the kiosk to handle the basic ones.
Pros of Self-Service Kiosks
Self-service kiosks can be integrated into your business to help in making tasks easier for you and your customers. These are some key benefits of self-service kiosks and how they will change businesses:
Reduced Waiting Times
One of the most appealing benefits of self-service kiosks is that it reduces waiting times.
Most customers who walk into a store, restaurant, or even a hotel expect prompt service. This becomes quite easy with kiosks, where customers can place orders or check out themselves.
Self-service kiosks reduce waiting times and this results in faster service, especially during rush hour. When waiting time is minimized, your customers will be happier, resulting in consistent patronage for your businesses.
Increased Revenue Opportunities
Many kiosks have upselling capabilities that suggest additional items or upgrades, depending on what a customer is ordering.
For example, if a customer is buying coffee, the kiosk could prompt that customer to add a pastry or upgrade the size of their drink. These gentle prompts can make customers want to spend more and raise your average transaction value pressure-free for your staff.
Also, kiosks give customers the time to explore your full menu or product list.
Unlike a quick interaction with a cashier, customers at kiosks often feel more comfortable browsing options, considering add-ons, or choosing premium products. This flexibility can yield more sales and maximize revenue from every client interaction.
Improved Customer Experience
People love convenience and control, and this is exactly what self-service kiosks offer. Giving your customers control over their orders, reservations, or whatever transaction it may be provides a sense of independence.
This is the kind of control that most customers will love because they can go over their choices, double-check orders, and make the necessary changes without feeling rushed.
The more comfortable and in control the customer is, the more inclined they are to return, recommend your business, and write positive reviews.
Contactless Transactions
As the world is getting conscious about health, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, contactless transactions have become a necessity.
Self-service kiosks are a perfect fit for this. Your customers interact with a screen and pay using a card, mobile wallet, or QR code.
This does two things: it gives complete peace of mind to these health-conscious customers and portrays your business as modern with a tech-friendly image.
Greater Adaptability and Connectivity
Self-service kiosks also provide integration with other systems to make operations even smoother. For example, the inventory for an item could be updated automatically by a restaurant kiosk. This will let customers know in real time what is available.
Plus, kiosks are very versatile when it comes to branding or business needs. Whether advertising specials and promotions, seasonal menu displays, or adding survey capability, all these are feasible when programming a kiosk.
Cons of Self-Service Kiosks
Although there are several benefits of self-service kiosks, they also have some challenges. It is important to understand both the pros and cons of self-service kiosks.
This way, you will be in a better position to understand the possible drawbacks and how to tackle them
Customer Frustration
Sometimes, technology complicates rather than simplifies. When a kiosk isn’t quite easy to use, or when a customer happens to choose the wrong thing by mistake, frustration seeps in.
Some customers may not be familiar with how to work an unfamiliar touchscreen, and some get lost in the menus or stuck trying to fix an error.
When this happens, instead of smooth and fast, they just feel annoyed, and an annoyed customer might think twice about returning.
To avoid frustrations, choose a design for the kiosk that is friendly to its users; ensure that instructions are clear and intuitive.
You can also provide the option to have customers seek help from staff in case they get stuck so that they feel helped, even in a self-service environment.
Lack of Human Interaction
For most people, that personal touch of a greeting or just talking to a worker makes all the difference in the world.
With kiosks, customers can miss this and feel disconnected. This could be a downside, especially for sectors that rely heavily on services, such as hospitality, retail, and healthcare.
Giving your customers a choice to either use a kiosk or interact with your staff allows them to choose which experience they would enjoy more. In this way, you still maintain convenience with regard to self-service and, at the same time, allow personal touch.
Maintenance Downtime
Technology is unpredictable. When a kiosk goes down, it creates operational disruption and disappoints customers who rely on the kiosk for service.
Kiosks require periodic maintenance and software updating, and if something in that process goes wrong, repairs can be expensive and time-consuming.
Maintenance downtimes may mean longer queues, while customers queue for available kiosks or go back to traditional counters and disrupt the efficient flow you worked hard to create.
The best practice to minimize such interruptions is to have a maintenance plan where the kiosk will be periodically checked, cleaned, and updated.
Limited Customization Options
While the kiosks can be flexible in many ways, they can’t always offer the same level of customization a human employee may be able to. Taking the cashier example, often, self-service kiosks cannot substitute items, make strange custom orders, or accommodate strange requests.
It has certain predefined options and may make customers feel limited when they want something special or out of the ordinary. If your business relies on customized services or unique options, consider carefully how self-service kiosks will fit into your customer’s overall experience.
You may consider offering kiosks as an additional option and maintain a staffed counter for requests that go beyond standard kiosk capabilities.
Potential Displacement of Workers
As you pursue integrating self-service kiosks into your business to streamline processes and cut costs, you will discover that the number of employees needed to perform customer service-related duties has reduced.
This would be great for the bottom line but might bring some questions from remaining employees, particularly in those industries where such kiosks could replace entry-level positions.
Worker displacement can dampen morale, and where this is widespread, it can even affect the local job market, making any feelings about automation quite mixed.
To facilitate such transition, many businesses reassign workers to new roles, focusing their resources on work that requires a human touch, for example, advisory tasks and customer relationships.
In this way, your staff will remain relevant for your business, and your customers will continue to receive the service and contact they want.
The Impact of Self-Service Kiosks on Business Operations
While weighing the pros and cons of self-service in your business, also consider how much impact it will have on your operations
Cost Efficiency
Cost efficiency could be the biggest benefit that self-service kiosks provide. Since more transactions will be automated, you will need fewer front desk employees. This will lead to a cut down on wages and related costs, resulting in significant savings.
For restaurants, retail outlets, or hotels with very high footfall, this can add up over time and free resources you can reinvest elsewhere within your business.
Changes in Employee Roles
While self-service kiosks would certainly reduce demand for many of these jobs, they do not eliminate the need for all employees.
They simply free the employees to shift their roles to those that may offer higher value, like enhancing customer satisfaction and offering a better level of service.
Instead of processing the transactions, employees can be useful in helping customers, maintaining quality, and assisting anyone who might need help with the kiosks.
This also allows your team members to gain new skills, making the workplace for both staff and customers so much more alive.
Conclusion
Knowing both the pros and cons of self-service kiosks will place you at a vantage point where you can make a decision about what works best for your business.
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