So many retailers have jumped on to the kiosk bandwagon as more and more systems pop up across a wide range of stores around the world.

The clear advantages of a self service kiosk is that they put the customer in control, they can reduce operational costs and they can save on staff costs.

On top of this, a kiosk that is designed well can improve customer experience as customers are able to grab their goods and leave with minimal fuss and hassle. However, when they are designed poorly, they can become time consuming and very stressful and overall can have a negative impact on a customer’s experience.

The main problem is down to the minimal time designers and engineers spend on the systems not paying attention to customer needs. Many manufacturers are developing the systems with the service tills used by trained staff and then changing  the interface for customer use. This is clearly a huge error as trained staff use the systems many times during the course of the day and learn to work around the system effectively and efficiently. Customers don’t have this trained experience and will be less tolerant to use a system that isn’t easy and quick to use.

To make sure that your self service kiosk provides a reliable experience for your customers, we have put together a list of the most common frustrations faced by customers and how you can avoid them.

Poor product or service categorisation

Self service kiosks generally require a customer to identify the item before they can scan it. However many kiosks have not been properly installed to categorise systems in line with how customers think, leaving customers confused and frustrated trying to locate a best match for their item.

It can be a real source of stress for customers who have a number of items to process and queues are building up behind them, so make sure that you have staff on hand to help out and re-organise your category lists to make shopping easier for your customers.

Kiosks can’t support the speed of input

A regular customer to your store will eventually gain confidence in using your self service kiosk and speed the rate of scanning items. If the system is too slow and gets confused or lags behind, the customer will get annoyed if they have to perform actions they have already completed or wait for the so called speedier self service kiosk.

Make sure that you update your software and that the system is big enough to store and manage large quantities of data.

Physical layout and ergonomics don’t support common tasks

Make sure that the screen is easy to read and customers can view all the information needed to review their products, proceed to checkout and add or remove items on their shopping list.

Touch Screens can be unclear

Touch screens are the most common format for self service kiosks yet they can be an absolute frustration if the screen is situated over a glaring light or the size of the writing is too small.

Make sure it is readable to customers who struggle with their eye sight and install a system which speaks out the transactions carried out on the kiosk for those who are hard of hearing.

In this day and age it is important that you consider your customer when installing kiosk systems.

A company that considers your customers throughout is Protouch, Europe’s number one distributor and manufacturer of touch screen equipment. They have helped a wide range of companies across different industry sectors to increase the use of interactive technology within their stores.

For more information and advice visit Protouch today.