Self service kiosks are a fairly new technology that has seen a surge in popularity in recent years. More commonly found in larger corporate stores like Target or Walmart, self service kiosks can also be used by smaller businesses.

These kiosks have proven to be beneficial for small businesses by addressing customer needs and, ultimately, helping businesses to grow.

What are self service kiosks?

Also known as interactive kiosks, self service allows customers to interact with a business without assistance from an employee. Customers can place an order, make a purchase, or retrieve information through the kiosk, allowing for greater efficiency and ease when they are patroning your business. You can learn more about self-service technology here.

Self service benefits your customers

As stated above, self service offers several advantages for your customers by addressing their needs. Recently, consumer preferences have been increasingly geared toward speed and convenience, and self service is capable of providing exactly that by allowing customers to interact with your business on their own terms.

Take a look below to see some of the other benefits self service offers your customers:

Shorter wait times

Customers have the choice between using a kiosk or getting assistance from an employee when they place an order, checkout, or retrieve information. With self service kiosks, automated processes allow customers to do what they need to more quickly. The more quickly they use the kiosk, the more customers that can be served in a reasonable time frame.

Ease and reliability

With self service kiosks, there are limited variables to affect your customers’ experiences with your business, so that every interaction they have with your business through the kiosk is reliable and constant. This also serves to streamline their interactions with your business, making it easier and more convenient than ever to complete the tasks they need to complete.

Higher level of support

While customers use self service kiosks for the greater speed and convenience they offer, your employees are able to focus on providing more personal support to individual customers. Your staff no longer has to worry about performing tedious processes, but can interact with customers on an individual basis and capitalize on the human connection that comes with the in-store experience.

Personalized experience

In addition to your employees being able to provide more personal support to your customers, your customers will also have personalized experiences at the self service kiosk. The artificial intelligence behind the kiosk collects customer buying data so that you can view each customer’s desires, frustrations, and preferences, and use the information to personalize and optimize their next experience.

Self service benefits your business

While providing self service as an option for your customers offers several benefits to them, it will also give your business several advantages, as seen below:

Higher customer satisfaction

Customers will be more satisfied with your business than ever before because of all the benefits self service offers to them. A high level of customer satisfaction will help you to improve your customer acquisition and retention rates, giving you a reliable customer base for your business.

Streamlined operations

Reduce the amount of time your employees spend on necessary but tedious administrative tasks that could be automated. This allows your staff to focus on your customers, and allows you to focus on long-term business goals rather than mundane operations.

Reduced labor costs

Rather than hiring additional employees that you then need to train, your time and money can be spent on other pursuits designed to further your business’s long-term development.

Business management

Cloud accessibility allows you to view reports and manage your business from anywhere. Built-in applications allow you to view and manage your inventory, schedule employees and supervise their payroll, and retrieve transactional reports like deposit and batch information or your monthly processing statements. All these capabilities in the same place make it easier for you to manage your business.

Getting started is easy

For a technology that’s all about addressing customers’ needs for speed and convenience, there’s quite a few self service kiosks that are overly complicated to get started with. Other kiosks, like Aivah, simplify the process of getting started. All you need to do is contact a sales representative, and provide information related to your business type, necessary features, and model preferences. The development team will take care of the rest, and you’ll receive a turnkey solution that is ready as soon as you plug it in.

Key takeaways

Both your customers and your business will start seeing the benefits when you implement a self service kiosk at your business. With a self service solution, you can improve your customer acquisition and retention rates, resulting in increased revenue and a reliable foundation for your business. Then, you can start pursuing more of your long-term business development goals instead of just day-to-day operations.