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Were all aware of the tremendous potential of interactive kiosks to aid shoppers and drive sales....and as the cost of technology continues to drop, kiosks including web based and DSN units are becoming a far more common sight everywhere....from retail stores to airports to car dealerships. Here are some important tips to evaluate if you are considering an Interactive Kiosk: Keep It Simple Successful kiosks are successful because they offer users a clear, obvious value. One good example is the ATM machines; it provides access to cash without the inconvenience of traveling to a bank. The kiosk used at car rental agencies represent another good example because they offer accurate printed directions -- definitely an improvement over verbal directions. As a general rule, you should be able to define -- in one sentence -- what value your kiosk offers to your customer. If you can’t, this suggests that the source of value isn’t clear to you, and it most likely won’t be clear to your customers either. You will also have difficulty communicating the kiosk’s value via retail signage, which is a critical element in driving kiosk use. Many marketers make a mistake of trying to do too much through their interactive kiosk, inevitably sacrificing clarity and effectiveness in the process. Sprint is one company that appears to be focused. They began with a singular objective -- helping customers pay invoices -- and made sure that this objective guided everything from kiosk content to marketing support that serves its purpose effectively, without unnecessary features and additional costs. Start with Clear Performance Measures and Success Criteria One great way to focus your efforts is to define success criteria and performance measures at the beginning of the project. These objectives should help guide your decisions regarding platform and features. Ultimately, they help you avoid costly bells and whistles that don’t add value. For example, sound often appears to be one of those unnecessary features that actually serves to be one of those unnecessary features that actually serves to drive both shoppers and sales people crazy! On the other hand, printed information (e.g..., product specs)is often of great value to shoppers and is, therefore worth the investment. Generally speaking, your business criteria should address both quantity (e.g.., how many people will use the kiosk) and quality introduction of kiosks. measuring success solely on this dimension, however is a mistake. Often, the positive impact of a kiosk is increased customer satisfaction -- perhaps by reducing the frustration of waiting in line. In other cases, the kiosk may provide printed information that moves the sales process forward, although the actual sales may occur at a later date. In these situations, exit interviews are useful in gathering reactions to the kiosk and company and interest to the product. Gathering this kind of feedback can help you fix or improve a kiosk program, rather than abandoning one that at first, appears to be a failure. Focus on the Store, Not on the Software Some companies make the mistake of approaching Kiosks as software projects rather then POP marketing programs. This often leads to breakdowns at the store level because little thought has been given to employees’ reactions or to shoppers’ habits. We’ve encountered stores in which sales people have actively steered us away from kiosks, supermarkets in which kiosks placed just after the check-out, and --most commonly -- stores in which kiosks stand alone, with no explanation or merchandising support. Those problems can be minimized or avoided by involving the store team -- marketers, programmers, planners and store managers -- in the development and introduction effort. Most important retail positioning and merchandising plan should be in place to ensure that the store environment supports the kiosk’s benefit is communicated through signage and promotional efforts. Use Promotions To Drive Initial Use Often, the greatest challenge is persuading consumers to change their shopping habits and try your kiosk for the first time. For this reason, we recommend investing in additional efforts such as thorough employee training or offering shoppers an extra incentive for using the kiosk. Promotions could take the form of a sweepstakes or a coupon, and are usually well worth the resource commitment. Conversely, placing the kiosk in-store and hoping for the best result is a quick path to disappointment and it may lead to abandoning a project before it has been given the time and support it needs. Speak With Your Customers Throughout the Development Process Finally, it is important to remember that successful kiosk programs are those that address customers’ problems and clearly improve the shopping experience. With this in mind, it is critical to have a dialogue with your shoppers throughout the development, refinement and assessment phases of a kiosk program. Ideally, this research should start with in-store observations and customer interviews, which will clarify the kiosk’s primary purpose and role within the shopping experience. When prototypes have been developed, they should be shown to customers to test usability and to gather ideas for refining content and functionality. Finally, when kiosks are placed at retail, exit interviews can help to confirm that they are meeting users’ expectations and influencing purchases. If these guidelines seems to be based on common sense, rather than based on technology, this is the intention. If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it is that the success of kiosk programs is more dependent on effective marketing (e.g.., identifying and serving customers’ needs) than on programming. If this idea is kept in mind, customers should benefit from kiosks that deliver more value and marketers should benefit from the resulting sales increases. |
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Want A Indoor Kiosk That Really Stands Out?
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