One of the most overlooked aspects of numerous businesses in the design of their waiting area. While most may assume all required is a few chairs and perhaps a couple of magazines to keep customers busy while waiting.
However, this would be a fatal flaw. It will surely leave your customers disgruntled and partially unwilling to return and endure another grueling wait. Luckily there are a few practical ways that you can enhance the experience your customers have while patiently waiting their turn.
Take Care In Selecting Appropriate Furniture
To avoid the common mistake of settling for bland and uncomfortable furniture items that will have your customers eager to leave, you should instead take care in carefully considering each piece of furniture you select for your waiting area. Comfortable, high-quality furniture will work wonders for the relaxation of your essential customers. This means that soft, cosy sofas may be a far more practical solution compared to inexpensive plastic chairs. It would be a fantastic idea to arrange the seating so that families would be able to sit together. Also, ensure they can opt for a warm color palette would enhance a pleasant atmosphere.
Entertainment Is Essential
While it would be good to have a few magazines for customers to read while waiting, this should not be the only available source of entertainment. A wall-mounted TV with waiting room videos is a great idea to keep your customers from feeling the never-ending length of their wait.
In addition to this, you should ensure WiFi is readily available as an additional source of entertainment. Regardless of the type of business you have, you should always compensate for children in the waiting area with their parents. As children are likely to get bored far easier, you should ensure adequate entertainment. These can include things such as crayons and drawing books. Or a toy box with a few toys and teddy bears would also be a fantastic idea.
Coffee Corner
Rather than having your assistant offer coffee to your customers, you could enhance their experience by including a coffee station in the waiting room that they are free to use as they wish. Make sure your coffee station is always fully stocked. It will be good to have a few snacks available. This would be a convenient way of making your customers feel at home while waiting.
Cleanliness Is Key
There is no excuse for a messy waiting area. This would likely be a top reason your customers would feel uncomfortable. Just as you would keep your office clean and in order, you should take pride in the appearance of your waiting area. This is also important for every area of your business. It would be a great idea to create a morning checklist for routine cleaning while maintaining the cleanliness of your waiting area throughout the day.
There should be a rubbish bin in this area to prevent your customers from leaving rubbish items lying around. Furthermore, you could also appoint employees to be proactive about cleanliness at work to encourage general hygiene within your business.
