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8 steps to self-service success

December 28, 2005

So, you think your business is ready for a self-service installation. You think your customers and your employees are at a point where a kiosk can help meet everyone's needs and improve your bottom line at the same time.

It's not hard to find evidence that kiosk solutions often do great things for businesses of every variety. What you don't see are the ones that failed.

But it doesn't have to be that way. With some careful planning, a kiosk can be a 100-percent positive experience for your business. Here, then, is a simple eight-step plan for choosing the right application for your company and making it happen.

Step 1: Answer the basic questions

If you've arrived at the notion that you're ready for a kiosk, it's time to back up a step and ask yourself why. What do you hope to accomplish, and why do you think a self-service machine is the proper way to accomplish it?

"Before getting into the nuts and bolts of kiosks, it is first important to step back and clearly define the goals of your intended project," said Tim Kearns, director of marketing for hardware and software provider MontegoNet.

Pick the one or two applications that mean the most to you - and will generate the quickest return - and focus on those.

"Setting clear goals up front will allow you to formulate an effective strategy and increase the likelihood of a successful kiosk project," Kearns added.

Step 2: Do the research

Once you know where you're going, next figure out how to get there.

Cy Birg, chief kiosk expert with hardware manufacturer Affordable Kiosks, says it is important to ask the right questions at this stage. For instance, do you have an employee on staff who can handle the extra work the kiosk(s) will generate? If not, can you afford to hire one? What are the ongoing costs going to be, and have you budgeted for them?

Birg also names two key research areas that must be given some serious attention:

• Competitive analysis: Have your competitors tried kiosks? Which ones have worked and which ones haven't? Have their customers caught on and taken a liking to the machines, or do they largely sit unused?
  
• Demographics: Who are your customers, and will they want to use the machines? Birg gives an example of a Medicaid office: A payment-taking kiosk in such a location might not be a great idea, as an older clientele is more likely to want to give their payment to a real person. An internet kiosk in a youth-oriented entertainment venue, on the other hand, is a better fit.

Kearns says that you should also give thought to your expectations for the project and how you will measure it. Decide what the machines will have to accomplish in order for you to consider them a success.

Step 3: Location, location, location

Location is crucial. The best kiosk network will do you absolutely no good if the units are placed in unintuitive, low-traffic, or hard-to-reach locations. "This is one area where a lot of retailers goof," Birg said. "The kiosks have to be visible to all flows of traffic within an environment."

But traffic is not the sole determiner of placement. For instance, if your kiosk will take employment applications, you'll want to put it where the user can sit comfortably without worrying about creating a line. Typically, any kiosk that involves a fairly long user session should be placed just slightly off the beaten path - and you'll need to plan the surrounding area to allow for the unique new workflow the kiosk will create.

Step 4: Choose your vendor(s) and machinery

As with any other purchase, word-of-mouth recommendation is the best way to choose your vendors and machinery. If you have a colleague or friend who has had a good experience with a kiosk vendor, that's a strong starting point. Failing that, look for manufacturers that have worked extensively within your industry.

One word that will come up often at this stage is "turnkey." Although this may mean different things for different providers, it generally means that you'll buy the hardware, software and service from one company. Sometimes, it means you'll use off-the-shelf software that you'll customize yourself; in other cases, the kiosk company will include software customization in their fee.

Step 5: Design the customer experience

After all this planning and research, you now have a fleet of ergonomic, location-sensitive kiosks whose color schemes coordinate with your retail space. But your customer won't care about any of that if the kiosk experience isn't pleasant. Customers want kiosks to do what they are supposed to, and in the quickest and easiest fashion.

"It is imperative that a kiosk be inviting and easy to use for the customer," said Sylvia Berens, vice president of kiosk software developer Apunix Computer Services. "Well-designed kiosks with a good value proposition for the customer will be successful. The industry has shown this many times. Well-designed kiosks can achieve ROI in a matter of a few months."

Step 6: The human factor

No matter how many automated tools and self-service systems your business employs, it will always rely on human beings. In most business processes kiosks are useful components, but they are just one link in a chain that begins with a customer need and ends with customer satisfaction.

"It is important to reassure employees that kiosks are not intended to replace them, but rather to compliment them," Kearns points out. "Kiosks should handle routine customer questions and transactions, allowing employees to respond to more in-depth customer needs."

Your employees are also pivotal in getting customers to use the kiosks. While some intrepid shoppers will try out new devices on their own, most require a little hand-holding.

Step 7: Plan for maintenance and logistics

As you get closer to launch date, divide the new duties the kiosks will create. Who will be responsible for checking each machine for supplies and when?

From a technological standpoint, remote monitoring and management goes a long way toward improving kiosk maintenance. Most networked machines come with some variety of remote management functionality built in, allowing managers to check all of the pertinent statistics for each machine from a remote location.

Things do break, of course, and it is essential to have the necessary parts available should a repair become necessary. Birg recommends that owners keep one spare parts kiosk on hand for every ten kiosks deployed.

Step 8: Roll `em out

There are different schools of thought when it comes to rollout. Some recommend deploying your entire fleet of kiosks at once, while others stand by a pilot program where you deploy a few, tweak and modify the system, then gradually install the remainder.

Which approach is right for you will depend on your unique situation, and it is something you should discuss with your kiosk company. There are pros and cons to both approaches, of course.

"The advantage of a pilot is that it offers the ability to test the concept and make refinements prior to mass deployment," said Berens. "It also allows for an initial lower cost investment in the hardware.

"The advantage of a full-scale rollout is that all customers can use the kiosk, excitement can be generated around the rollout and problems associated with different offerings or capabilities at each site can be eliminated."

Birg recommends a solution that blends the two approaches - a controlled mini-rollout in one location, with a human employee standing by to take customer feedback after using the kiosk. "This is an invaluable step to make sure that you are implementing a project at the right time," he said.

This article originally appeared in Kiosk magazine.