It may be all well and good installing a self service kiosk into your business to speed up the time spent in-store for customers, however it is no good when the design and information provided on the kiosk is too slow to upload or too touch sensitive when moving around the system.

A self service kiosk needs to be efficient, effective for the customer to fulfil their transaction, obtain the correct information and be on their way.

Alex Grunsteidl, creator of Digital Well Being Labs through his research into self service kiosks at St Pancreas Station and Westfield Shopping Mall, London, found that simple systems that were easy to move around were the best method when installing a self service kiosks providing they were in-sight and in the minds of consumers visiting the area.

• User Interface Design

Alex said, “Why do designers always try to re-invent the world just when about everyone has got used to one or another interface navigation standard?

“The main navigation menu button is situated at the bottom right, at about hip-height, nicely out of sight for most users. More annoyingly each time you press the menu on the touch display a short animation shows a set of button choices stumbling to arrange themselves into a list.

“If I am in a hurry to reach my train and I have to wait again and again for a 3 second transition to pass by whilst I am navigating the menu, I will soon abandon the kiosk. And what does this animation say about the St Pancras terminal brand?

“Apart from the placement of the Menu button did the designers actually consider it to be good practice to hide the most common menu options from view, so that the users have no clue what options are available at a glance at any time during interaction with the kiosks. I fully support simple looking interfaces but in this case, out of sight, out of mind.

“It seems that the content and some of the navigation is provided by completely different agencies not working to the same style spec.”

About the self service kiosks at Westfield, Alex said, “Even if the touch displays seem not to be as responsive as they used to be shortly after opening, you generally get what you are looking for. Not that it will be any easier to find the actual physical location afterwards.

“The interface to send a way-finding message to your mobile is probably one of the best implementations I’ve seen so far. Sure one can disagree with the level of menu options in the menu bar at the top that includes of all things, “jobs” or the wording of the bread crumbs underneath the menu, but overall this is a very decent job.”

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The main points to consider when developing the software behind the system is to ensure that the information and layout is easy to understand, accessible and to the point.

Customers want convenience and services that are quick and easy to understand and a kiosk that provides this will be successful in any business.

Fancy information or too much information can bore consumers into finding the information or products elsewhere.

Short, snappy to-the-point information leaves the customer feeling satisfied that they have received a high level of service within a short space of time.

Protouch, Europe’s number one manufacturer and distributor in touch screen technology, have a range of self service kiosks that can match the style of your business.

From the wall mounted Xen X4 to the award-winning Xen X5, the team have designed top quality products to appeal to the consumer.

For more information visit Protouch today.