Article
Customers adapting to kiosks, but acceptance not uniform in all scenarios
A panel of experts who have introduced kiosks in various types of settings shared their ideas on how to make sure kiosk deployments are effective for customers during a discussion at the Interactive Customer Experience Summit at the Omni Frisco in Dallas.
June 12, 2019 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times
Businesses and organizations that use interactive kiosks typically find they can improve customer satisfaction and enhance operating efficiencies. And while interactive kiosk adoption is increasing at a rapid rate, consumers have varying degrees of familiarity, requiring host locations to be aware of how comfortable guests are with the technology and be capable of providing assistance where needed.
A panel of experts who have introduced kiosks in various types of settings shared their ideas on how to make sure that kiosk deployments are effective for customers during a discussion at the Interactive Customer Experience Summit at the Omni Frisco in Dallas. The panelists included operators in the entertainment, foodservice and employee break room sectors. Elliot Maras, editor of Kiosk Marketplace, moderated the panel.
The panelists agreed kiosks improve the customer experience.
"Once people have this system in their office, they never want vending machines again," said panelist Mike Ferguson, a longtime refreshment services operator turned consultant. He said self-service markets known as "micro markets," where customers take products from shelves and pay at a self-serve kiosk, are replacing traditional vending.
"You don't have to beat on it to get products or have wet dollars (to use to pay for products)," he said. "The kiosks have become popular and the micro markets are more and more the norm these days."
From the perspective of the service provider, the micro market typically at least doubles the sales of the traditional vending machine bank, Ferguson said. "Your dollar per ticket volume goes from a dollar to five or six dollars," he said.
One of the unique features of micro market kiosks is that funds can be loaded into customer accounts, either by the customer or by the location. Some micro market kiosks also allow customers to establish payment accounts by scanning their thumb prints. The stored value account eliminates the credit and debit card fees, he said.
"It's easier for them to buy product once money is (loaded) on the account," Ferguson said. "Number two, when they load money on it, they tend to spend more."
Human assistance still needed
Steve Leasure, director of franchise operations at BurgerFi International LLC, a fast casual restaurant chain, said the chain's franchisees have "literally clamored for kiosks" since the business case is "off the charts."
Leasure, whose company has offered kiosks for a few years, said in the beginning they had employees on hand to guide customers. "That's really changed," he said. "Guests know what they are now. There is still a cashier on hand for those guests who prefer dealing with a human. Many feel the kiosk is a faster, easier and more private process."
To encourage kiosk use, a good user interface makes people prefer the kiosk over the cashier, Leasure said. The chain has also deployed facial recognition to remember customers' orders so the customer can simply choose their previous order if they wish. "It's a big time saver for the guest," he said with regard to repeat customers.
"We don't view a kiosk as a labor saving tool," Leasure said. Improving guest satisfaction and check size are the dual goals for his company.
Mark Garcia, director of operations systems at AMC Theatres, agreed customers today are more attuned to kiosks than when AMC Theatres introduced them 11 years ago. The use rate has increased from 11% to above 60%. Millennials are already used to technology, he said, while seniors sometimes resist. The theaters have concierges who monitor the customer response and attend where needed.
The company is in the process of adding cash acceptance to the kiosks, which Garcia believes will drive kiosk use to more than 90% of the sales.
Garcia agreed with Ferguson that consumers tend to spend more at a kiosk. He has noticed this with the foodservice kiosks AMC has installed.
Employee roles change
Kiosks have changed the role of some employees who now serve as concierges to assist customers, Garcia said. The company has standard operating practices for employees to guide them in interacting with guests on using kiosks.
"The concierge needs to be of a different mindset than perhaps the cashier behind the counter was," he said. They need to be outgoing with guests. "You're really translating this to be more of an interaction rather than a transaction."
The concierges are especially important for helping visually impaired guests, Garcia said. It is also important to make the text on the kiosk vibrant, clear and simple.
"You're changing the culture," Garcia said, which is not easy. "That's really where you're going to get the payoff."
Garcia added it is also important to position the kiosk in a way that makes it an obvious method of payment.
Square Roots Kitchen, a fast casual restaurant chain, instructs employees to pay attention to guests' reactions from the back of the house, said Derin Alemli, founder and CEO. The company trains employees to recognize a guest's expression and how long they've been standing at the kiosk. "Our employees are trained to see that 'look' [of confusion] and come out and interact with them," he said.
Nowadays, one out of 15 or 20 customers might need help on kiosks. "The customer questions have gone down dramatically since our launch for sure," he said.
While Square Roots Kitchen has cameras for monitoring customer reactions, the company has found it important for employees to make eye contact to assess customer comfort with the technology.
In the interest of improved simplicity, Square Roots Kitchen has put all menu items on the first page on the kiosk before the customer touches it and made it image oriented as opposed to having a lot of text.
Opposite views on importance of cash
The panelists held different views on the importance of cash acceptance, differences based on the needs of the kiosk environment.
Garcia said cash is important to AMC Theatre's customers. Parents prefer to give children cash rather than a credit card, he noted.
BurgerFi kiosks do not accept cash — Leasure said less than 10% of customer sales are with cash.
For Square Roots Kitchen, cash needs vary by locale, Alemli said. He said cash handling is cumbersome and involves safety risks for employees and is prone to theft, so the company prefers credit cards.
The panelists agreed customer acceptance of interactive kiosks continues to grow, especially among younger consumers.
About Elliot Maras
Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.
Related Media
Subscribe
Get the latest news and resources from Kiosk Marketplace.
