Advantages and Disadvantages of Self-Service Kiosks

‍

‍
Since the 1980s, when self-service kiosks were first brought into retail stores by the shoe retailer Florsheim Shoe and the manufacturer ByVideo from California (source), non-human assistance became in demand for myriads of scenarios. Proof of that demand? A survey reveals that 66% of shoppers prefer self-service and self-checkout to human interactions, and 75% prefer hand-held or fixed devices to check inventory availability and prices to improve shopping speed and convenience. Here’s another: 95% of consumers want to be left alone while shopping (source). It is easy to conclude that self-service kiosks are much admired today.

However, surprising facts about the QSR industry lie on the flip side. Only 25% of restaurant customers used a self-service food ordering kiosk between May and July this year (source), and only 33% of larger more prominent QSR brands (more than 1,000 locations) have integrated self-service kiosk machines into their stores (source).

Considering the long line of survey evidence, self-service kiosks should be an integral part of QSRs. Customers appear to be ready to welcome this new way of service.
Although the industry has taken a noticeable turn towards implementing self-service systems over the last decade, with many business success stories generated by big-name brands singing victory, the integration rate seems to lag behind expectations.

Here, we discuss the numerous benefits and disadvantages of self-service kiosks in Quick Service Restaurants, considering customer preferences to understand the pros and cons properly.

Benefits of Self-Service Kiosks

‍

1) Self-service kiosk improve accuracy

Overall service accuracy improves as customers are presented with visual content and detailed information about what they are ordering. Self-ordering kiosks eliminate human-to-human miscommunication. Calculation accuracy and speed also improve for all types of payments, which ultimately enhances customer satisfaction.

2) Self- service kiosks reduce wait time

When ordering with a cashier, the customer must specify the items. The cashier then records the order while processing the payment, followed by repeating the order and cost to confirm. All those in line are forced to wait unattended. Isn’t the point of eating at a QSR restaurant to be “quick”? Here’s where self-service kiosks for restaurants come in handy. They can largely reduce this wait time as they process every order without delay, directly controlled by the customers. In the meantime, staff from the register can move to service other parts of the customer experience, enhancing customer experiences by streamlining operations and providing a user-friendly interface. Read on to find out how food-ordering kiosks can help optimize resources.

3) Self- service kiosks optimize resource (including employee) use

Let the machines do the jobs that require accuracy, operational efficiency, information, and consistency. While self-ordering kiosks do the repetitive task of walking customers through the menu and processing orders, staff can be shifted to perform what humans do better: assembling the orders, keeping the restaurant clean, engaging with guests to ensure they are satisfied, and serving food to the table.

4) Self-service kiosks increase sales

Self-ordering kiosks can boost sales by serving more customers efficiently. How? First, upselling. Upselling through employees requires training for both knowledge and interpersonal skills while self-ordering kiosks can do it consistently and automatically by displaying all available and relevant add-ons or menu options for each selected item. The likelihood of customers increasing the size of the final check increases. Second is the science of customer emotion. Finger movements on touchscreens generate novelty and fun, creating experiential and effective feelings in alignment with the playfulness and emotional nature of indulgent QSR-type products (source). The positive emotional connection leads to customer retention, which accounts for 25% to 100% of brand revenue and profitability (source).

Similarly, the idea of self-ordering hands over the steering wheel to the customer with a sense of privacy by removing the need for human interaction in the ordering scenario. This means freedom to order without any disturbance of possible interpersonal judgment.

5) Self-service kiosks increase information detail

Unlike the printed menu with limited space and static content, self-ordering kiosks and other self-service options can provide customers with detailed information about products and services. Customers can conveniently obtain pricing, nutrition, and store information without having to chase down a staff member or cause a register queue. Information sharing ultimately leads to customer empowerment, and customer empowerment leads to greater retention.

6) Self-service kiosks personalized customer experience and satisfaction

Personalized experiences are the key to increased revenue and customer loyalty. Studies prove customers will likely do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences (source). Then the question arises: “What are the odds that machines are better at providing personalized experience than people?” The answer? Very likely.

Customers expect brands to recognize, remember, and consistently provide them with relevant offers and recommendations. By adopting self-ordering kiosks powered by data analytics, brands can log every event happening on the screen and generate customer insights to provide not only personalized experiences in the moment but also consistently improve service quality and customer satisfaction.

Cons of Self-Ordering Machines

‍

1) Self-ordering machines have limited customization

Most self-ordering kiosk content creation platforms available today offer standardized templates without customizability, which may not align with customer preferences and can lead many brands to present similar visual identities through digital installation. This could hinder the adoption of self-ordering kiosks, especially when a brand has specific spatial, technical, and branding requirements. The need for frequent content updates can also cause reluctance to adopt self-ordering machines when the content management platform can make the job slow and complicated. Fortunately, these hindrance factors are eliminated thanks to the latest technologies that support constraint-free work environments within modern, no-coding authoring tools.

2) Kiosk cost issue

Investing in the initial set-up and committing to ongoing maintenance of self-ordering kiosks can be risky. However, in light of their numerous benefits, here’s how a business can justify the cost of self-service kiosks.

First, there is the long-term return. A proven fact is that self-ordering kiosks can boost sales. One study found that consumers spend as much as 30% more when they order through self-service kiosks. Let’s say a business used to make $100,000 in monthly sales. The additional 30% would bring $360k more in sales every year, meaning that the business will gain a year's worth of sales every three and a half years. Does that sound like an excellent long-term return?

Another way to justify the investment is by decreasing costs while pursuing quality. Conventional belief is that delivering truly gratifying kiosk services and all the pros mentioned earlier requires custom development which costs more money and time. While this might have been true in the early days of digital signage, advanced self-service kiosk software platforms of today, such as Intuiface, minimize resource and cost requirements while maximizing value: extraordinary multi-touch capabilities, data-driven, modern design options, high reliability, fast implementation, robust deployment infrastructure, detailed usage analytics. Remember: without pursuing quality, you almost guarantee investment failure.

‍

3) Displacement of workers

In an ideal world, self-ordering kiosks would accelerate profit and improve operational efficiency, and the business would recirculate the benefit into enriching its employees while still securing a margin for itself. Adopting self-ordering kiosks means letting technology do the jobs they are good at while releasing staff to do what humans do better - optimizing resources rather than compromising them. Remember, as mentioned earlier, 66% of shoppers prefer self-service and self-checkout to human interactions, but 34% are unhappy about self-checkout and still expect human interaction. So, businesses need to serve these customers and consider human interaction a vital part of their service.

4) Content management difficulty

It's not an overstatement to say that content is at the heart of a self-ordering kiosk, without which the entire installation becomes useless. Effective content management is crucial for self-service options, as it can significantly reduce customer waiting times and improve checkout efficiency. However, content management, let alone the initial content development, can be cumbersome or difficult if the wrong solution is selected. Nobody wants to stick a Post-It note on a snazzy new display to make corrections.

Ensuring Successful Adoption

The above cons derive from two main factors: 1) lack of tech-savvy and 2)inefficient or poorly featured content management tools.

The good news is that software does exist to simplify the process, enhance customer experiences, and reduce labor costs. The following features of an interactive content creation platform—such as Intuiface—will overcome the cons and accelerate the achievement of the pros.

• Extensibility: enabling agile and flexible communication between diverse content sources
• Creative freedom: enabling users to design anything without template constraints
• Measurability: intuitive and convenient data collection and analysis to deliver insight and assessment
• Remote management: enabling users to manage and deploy content from anywhere in the world