Pro-Touch

Top Kiosk Blunders to Avoid

Back to all News

There are many reasons why a touch screen kiosk might fail. Thy can reap tons of benefits for a business regardless of the sector but unless you use specialists in the industry and install the right one in the correct place, you won?t see a great return on investment. What is key is that you use the technology to its maximum capability to achieve success but having poor software, the wrong features or deploying it in an inconvenient location can all result in a let-down. Here are some imaginary scenarios Protouch has created that you should avoid to make the most from your touch screen installation.

Location

Picture the scene; a woman walks up to a kiosk in her doctors surgery to input her private medical details to order a subscription but the placement of the unit means that everyone sitting at the side can see the information on screen. Fitting the kiosk in a corner, away from prying eyes will increase privacy for patients and give them self-assurance of using the software.

Features

Envisage the setting; a traveller goes to use a self-service kiosk to check-in and print out their plane tickets to find that the printing feature is not available; or that the internet is poor. It is important that the sole purpose of the machine is functional to improve customer experience. It is pointless to have a super slow printer if this is one of the main reasons to deploying the technology because this will only boost long waiting times and queues, as well as frustrate your consumers.

Numbers

How many kiosks do you need? Deploying one kiosk for example in a shopping centre is useless because consumers will have to trek from one side to the other just to use the machine. And if it includes way finding features then this is inane due to the fact that it is not accessible easily. Logically work out how many units you need to reap the benefits; an office may only require one kiosk but a hotel will need several.

Appearance

They often say ?don?t judge a book by its cover? but often or not as a society we do. First impressions count and it is reported that as humans, we make up our mind about something or someone in the first 30 seconds of meeting them. How does this relate to touch screen kiosks? Well a consumer will determine whether or not they will use the machine in the first instant so it is imperative that it looks appealing, is easy-to-use, and gives the customer confidence to use it again. Some industry experts claim that a simple screen with a small number of buttons is most engaging.

Help

The whole point of deploying touch screen technology is to give consumers the power of independence and self-service. It reduces staff numbers and gives them the chance to carry our more skilled tasks rather than menial jobs. However, as with anything, there are times that help is needed. Not everyone will understand how to use the kiosk and often or not someone will require help. But if there is none present and if the kiosk doesn?t feature any help information; this will only aggravate your consumers more at their lack of know-how. Make sure a help feature is available with adequate browsing and searching features if the person is looking for something but doesn?t exactly know the right terminology.