Branded Waiting

After all of the zillions in hours and money spent on making the world's corporations customer-centric, there's one brand experience that most companies seem dedicated to delivering: making consumers wait.

Need to call customer service, billing, technical support, or reservations?  Be prepared to wait.  Going shopping at a retail store?  There's almost certainly going to be a line.  Buy something online, and there's a better than one-in-two chance that you’ll have to wait for your delivery. 

You're going to wait to get through an airport, find help in a hospital emergency room, or get into a sporting event.

In fact, it's as if we consumers wait longer for everything, even as the technology with which we interact is faster, smarter, and more pervasive than ever before.  Even the stuff that doesn't take so long feels like it does, thanks in part to how fast we get the things that we usually get fast (like Internet search results).

What's going on?

I'm not necessarily interested in why...there are probably lots of reasons, from an over-dependence on automated systems, and under-dependence on retaining real employees instead of slashing payrolls, to the independence of customer service departments from the rest of the enterprise (and from marketing in particular).

I'm more interested in the what of waiting.  Business that would sacrifice little animals if it got consumer attention don't know what to do with it. 

On the phone, it's sometimes filled with a complex series of IVR prompts.  Maybe a little elevator music in the background.  Mostly, it's just a chore, usually transformed into a series of hurdles erected to "serve you better" when the outcome requires you to repeat everything you entered into the keypad if you're lucky enough to reach a warm body.

Waiting in geophysical reality is usually occupied with not knowing: the lack of information on why the plane is delayed; what that store associate doing in the back room; why are all of the sales people avoiding eye contact with me; or where is the service guy? 

I guarantee you that few brand strategists consider these experiences as being branded, yet that's exactly what they are.

Consumers already assign value to waiting, most strikingly by how much they're willing to pay (or do) to avoid it (using special entrances, exclusive clubs, secret phone numbers, and other work-arounds, if they qualify/can afford them).

But for the rest of us schlubs who can't pay our way past it, waiting is an ugly, ever-present factor in almost every purchase or service experience.  Our "engagement’"with brands is often not so engaging at all.  Or worse.

So would it be possible to turn these moments into brand-positive experiences?

Could we brand waiting?

I have no idea.  But some enterprising businesses might want to look at understanding the what of waiting, by doing such things as:

• Add waiting to your brand attributes: The first thing to do is to incorporate the experience into your overall measures of brand.  Waiting is not an externality, at least not to anything except beautiful branding PowerPoint slides.  Is it a negative that somehow reduces the value of your brand, however you calculate it?  Does it impact customer value individually?  Are there additive impacts, per customer or by segment or product family?  Come up with the math that makes waiting a real component of what your marketing delivers
• Once you’ve done the math, you can decide 1) how to track it, and 2) what you will, and won’t, tolerate.  Should there be a real-time measure of wait times?  What would you do with that knowledge if you knew it?  Perhaps add additional service staff to the system after wait times passed so-and-so threshold?  Is there some automatic incentive or reward that goes to customers once wait times have gotten too long (an automated voice telling me that "...the average wait time is 34 minutes..." is great transparency, but doesn't do a lot for your brand).  Or maybe you don't care at all about the waiting, but at least you'll know if and how much it impacts your business
• If waiting is unavoidable, find ways to use it.  Sharing information is an obvious element, especially if your business isn't necessarily responsible for the wait.  For instance, I don't know why airlines don't make a steadfast, ironclad habit out of updating delayed passengers every 10 minutes.  Giving people more options is another one, like opting-out of the wait and putting the onus on the company to do the contacting (if only there were guarantees on it, too).  Here's a whacky idea: why not monetize waiting, so consumers who are willing to wait longer are given some value -- frequent waiter points, that accrue and can be used on purchases or repairs -- while those that aren’t can get connected immediately?
• Admit that nothing is unavoidable, really.  The best solution might be to make sure you fix the problems that cause waiting (or, put negatively, waiting is the result of a company outsourcing its inefficiencies to its customers).  Put in place the ROI metrics to see whether it impacts your business.  My bet is that it would.

One way or another, waiting gets branded.  For most brand marketers, it's the corollary of a giant, invisible pause.  Only with teeth.

I'm still waiting to talk about it more.

Comments

[Jonathan]

Good question...healthcare is a tough one, primarily (I think) because the ultimate 'product' isn't so much the totality of the experience as it is the quality/efficacy of the treatment, right?

You're onto something when you consider matching wait times to patient populations, giving emergency calls priority (of course) over check-ups, and perhaps even monetizing access/wait times to non-emergency services, much in the same way that I can pay more to get 'gold level' access and response turn-arounds for, say, technical help for my computer.

But there's more here, and I know you blog about the complexities of the issue.

There's something about 'expectation setting,' so patients (or consumers of any sort, really) have a clear understanding of what's going on, what they're waiting for/going to get, etc. I believe that better communication of the WHY of waiting -- even acknowledging that it occurs -- is almost as important as trying to influence the WHAT.

How do you brand what we're talking about? The quick answer is that I have absolutely no idea. But I suspect it would be based on the idea of 'what you need, when you need it,' in that a heathcare provider is addressing such a multitude of patient requirements -- from the emergency audience to the silliest of ponderous questions -- and that the brand is all about communicating efficiently and effectively to each and every one of those enquiries.

Ultimately, I think waiting gets 'branded' whether we address it directly or not. I get the feeling that I am put on hold by my mobile provider because I don't matter; it also impacts my expectations of satisfaction for the eventual conversation, which are low to begin with. So maybe there's also something about a brand promise to 'resolve issues or concerns' with a single conversation, or more reasonably, delivering a clear path to conclusion (again, more transparency on follow-up calls, web site(s) to check, visits, etc.).

It might be too complicated from a technology perspective, but simply knowing that a caller (or someone waiting in your office) had so-and-so of a wait the last time they interacted with you might be info you could use to change that dynamic the next time. Again, from consumer research of one (very dangerous!), I can tolerate what feels like an extended wait now and then, but if it happens to me CONSISTENTLY, then I'm far more likely to take issue with it.

Marvelous stuff to brain storm. Thanks for your comment.

[Ian Furst]

I would love to know how to brand waiting in healthcare! I've been blogging trying to decrease wait times (http://www.waittimes.blogspot.com). The problem in healthcare is there is a cost to minimizing wait times (compare the Canadian and US systems and their relative costs). On the scale of an office -- if we tried to keep our phone waits below 20 seconds all times of the day we would have to increase staffing considerably. The only option is to tolerate some waits. I think the real trick in healthcare is to manage the waits and keep them in patient populations that can tolerate them. People will wait 2min on hold but not 2 weeks with chest pain. Allow some waiting to minimize it for others. But how can you brand that concept?

[Hope]

In fact, FlyClear’s tag line is “Clear airport security in 4 minutes or less with the ClearCard.” Guaranteeing a short waiting time IS their product.

Also on the topic, although I can’t find the source, I read recently that the USPS is removing clocks in the branch lobbies so that people can’t easily see how long they’ve been there. That’s one approach sure to delight customers!

[Jonathan]

All great examples (and tasty ones, too!). You reminded me of Heinz ketchup, which many years ago used that song "Anticipation" for a commercial that stressed how long it took for the stuff to pour out of the bottle.

I wonder if waiting could be a chance for education or maybe even social media interaction...a 'meet up' for fellow waiters? Maybe a menu for 'top 10 new things to do with your gizmo' option?

To truly explore such concepts, I think I need a Guinness!

[JonF]

Some that spring to mind;

Guinness - waiting for a pint to clear and the head to form has beena big part of how they present the drink for some time. I think their tagline is something to do with waiting (I'm too lazy to check).

Jack Daniels - waiting just the right amount of time to get the product perfect.

Magners Cider - Time devoted to you.

Two things that occur

- they're all drinks. Does this say more about me than the products?
- only Guinness actually addresses customers having to wait. You don't actually have to stand in line until JD release the next barrel of stuff for bottling.