Wait Loss

With each passing year, we are becoming more and more restless. Waiting is a waste of time. Yet, we cannot escape the inevitability of the waiting experience.We find it tedious to wait in lines – even for God. Go to one of the famous places of worship and you will wait in line for hours to get a fleeting glance of the deity. After spending hours getting sandwiched in the queue, we get jostled out of the line of sight because the other devotees are getting impatient.The act of waiting gives us an important insight into culture. For instance, the distance between people in line is socially dictated. In cultures where people expect others to unfairly jump the queue, the distance between people standing in line is minimized. In some countries, cars waiting for the traffic light to change are expected to keep at least a “one to two cars” distance with the car ahead to avoid being seen as rude. In our culture, keeping that distance is an invitation to the other vehicles to step in and reduce the gap. Waiting in lines is viewed as symbol of modernity and urbanization.Reducing the waiting time is a great way to tell customers that they matter. Privilege is depicted by shortening waiting periods. So passengers flying business class or first class are made to board and disembark first even though they need to wait for everyone else to join. The lounges run by the airlines are meant to improve the waiting experience of the privileged few.Organizations pay less attention to reducing the waiting times of employees. Senior leaders demonstrate their power by keeping others waiting. The one who waits is less important than the one who can dispense favors. In some organizations, an ante room is created for people to wait for a meeting with their senior leaders.There are three elements to manage waiting in lines feel tolerable. We like to know how long we need to wait for; have something to do that keeps us busy; and that no one else is unfairly jumping the queue.How long: This is purely about giving information. Customer service phone lines will tell us approximate waiting times as soon as we dial the number. Avoid extending the waiting time in incremental chunks. Predictability (like having a countdown timer) makes the wait easier.What to do: Hotels install mirrors to keep the customers busy preening themselves as they wait. Aircrafts compete with each other to provide in-flight entertainment. Doctors stash magazines in the waiting rooms. This waiting time can be turned to a great opportunity to engage with the customer and get deep insights if designed like a game.Fair: This is the toughest one to manage. Even a short waiting can leave people unhappy, if they see that someone else is getting ahead without “paying the price” of a wait. In some places like hospital emergency rooms, it is quite possible that someone with a more pressing need will be prioritized. Logically speaking, that should not frustrate us – but it still does.Products are consumed, services are experienced. It is easy to miss the intangibles.----------Join me on Twitter @AbhijitBhaduri