By Nikki Baird, Managing Partner
6/9/2009
I had a conversation with a colleague in the kiosk industry last week, and one of topics that came up regarded retailers' continued skittishness towards kiosks. Digging deeper into the reasons why, it became clear that, at least from one solution provider's experience, a lot of lessons that I thought were well learned are actually still hamstringing kiosk implementations today.
So I thought a review of Kiosk 101 was in order. For me, these are the best practices that many retailers have learned the hard way that are critical to successful kiosk implementations. Kiosks are just another technology, and their role in the store is not going to go away, even where retailers have a high-touch customer service strategy. When I hear retailers say that kiosks don't work, I hear a retailer who did not put enough of the right processes in place to ensure success: it's not the technology, it's how it's implemented.
So here are the most critical lessons learned that I've seen for successful kiosk implementations:
1. A kiosk needs a primary, specific function, and the flexibility to perform multiple functions. An in-store kiosk is not a website on a computer that sits by the checkout in a store. If customers needed a website, they wouldn't have come to your store in the first place. So a kiosk project has to be conceived with a specific primary function in mind: save the sale product location, credit applications, loyalty balance check, coupon or promotional offer printout, wedding registry, or even wine or cheese selection are all possible primary functions for a kiosk. The most important point to remember when thinking about a kiosk's function is to ask yourself, what part of the shopping process am I trying to enable or enhance, and how do I envision customers using a technology solution as part of the process? And then you need a reality check to make sure that you're not envisioning technology for technology's sake - is it easier or cheaper or a better experience if this is delivered other than through a kiosk? So, for example, a high-touch retailer may invest in a kiosk for credit applications for the retailer-branded credit card, because it's a private interaction that preserves a customer's perception of privacy, thus making them more likely to apply for credit than without the kiosk.
But it's not just about that primary function, for two reasons. One, despite a primary function, customers will expect access to all functions at a kiosk. For example, a save the sale kiosk should also be able to let customers check their loyalty points balance. But a kiosk should be flexible also because there is no guarantee that what you envisioned and how you envisioned it fitting into the customer shopping process is how customers actually end up using it. If you paint yourself in a corner regarding a kiosk's primary function, then you may find yourself stuck or out of funds when it comes time to adjust it based on what you see in implementation. No matter how much testing you do, you can't guarantee that you'll predict how a kiosk gets used "in the wild" of the store environment.
This also applies to considering not just customer use, but who else might use the kiosk, like employees and store managers. Flexibility might mean providing access to employee-facing applications like store execution management or training for when the kiosk is not in use by customers. The more flexible your kiosk, the more value you will be able to drive out of it.
2. A kiosk needs to be placed where it physically fits into the shopping process. A shopping process in a store is not just about the steps that a customer takes, it's about where a customer is in the store when she takes them. Therefore, it makes no sense to offer product lookup where a customer sees it after checkout. But it would make sense to offer a customer satisfaction survey kiosk there. It also makes no sense to stick a kiosk in a dark, low-traffic, dusty corner of the store simply because that's where the power is. If you're going to do a kiosk, put it in the right place - and budget for that. Provisioning a kiosk can sometimes cost more than the kiosk itself, depending on what you need to do to power it or connect it to the in-store network. If your company shies away from wireless in stores, then you better be prepared for the cost of an Ethernet connection. Power over Ethernet can solve both problems at once, but still requires an investment to be budgeted for and ultimately made.
3. A kiosk requires a significant training effort. When you put technology in the store, store employees become de facto first-level help desk for customers. They need to be trained to serve that role, or they will be unenthusiastic supporters to say the least. Also, employees may still play an important role in a shopping process that also uses a kiosk, but it may be a different role than in the past, and they need to be educated on the shift they will need to make. Here's two quick examples.
One, a department store retailer put in a gift finder kiosk. They weren't getting the usage they expected from consumers, so they observed a few locations in detail. They learned that employees had been trained to approach consumers as soon as they started using the kiosk, but that was too soon in the process. Consumers needed a chance to use the kiosk to get gift ideas, and when they were through, it was the perfect time for a store associate to ask if they needed help locating the item. When associates approached too soon, they ended up chasing consumers away.
Second example: in the first iteration of a deli automation system, something that was supposed to make deli ordering easier for consumers and deli employees alike ended up getting turned off all the time - because it didn't fit with the deli employees' process. Orders that came from the kiosk came in on a separate system from orders that came in from the counter. Employees, when choosing which order to fill, naturally gravitated to the person waiting impatiently at the counter over the anonymous order spit out of a receipt printer. But when customers came to pick up their kiosk orders and found those orders hadn't been started yet, they rapidly became even more impatient - and unhappy. The solution was to route ALL orders through the same system, so that kiosk orders got filled in the same priority as any others.
The important thing to note about both of these examples: the ultimate solution didn't look exactly like the original vision of the solution, and retailers needed in-the-field experience and observation before they had enough information to adjust.
4. A kiosk requires a significant marketing effort. Even when you design it the right way, for the right application, with the right training in the store, and put it in the right place, your kiosk implementation may still not be successful, because it also requires a significant marketing effort. Signage to let people know it's there is only the beginning. Depending on the type of kiosk, mass market advertising - for example through TV or radio ads, circular support, direct mail, email, and internet marketing - may be required to support a rollout. In particular, if the kiosk is related to promotions or is a central part of a retailer's offering, then this kind of marketing support will be needed.
At a minimum, in-store support is ALWAYS required, no matter what kind of kiosk it is. In-store support should include signage and a concentrated effort to educate consumers how to use a kiosk through a docent or guide during the initial rollout. Additional in-store support might include promotions or a give-away or drawing to incent people to use the kiosk. The goal is to drive a big spike in uptake or adoption in a short amount of time. The more people who can be trained to use the kiosk, the more likely they are to use it after the intensive training period is over.
The best "best practice" in driving consumer adoption has been embodied by the United States Postal Service, with their Automated Postal Centers. When they first implemented these self-service kiosks, they spent about 3 weeks using a docent, who recruited people to try the kiosk as they walked in the door, and guided consumers through the process to make sure that they didn't get stuck the first time they tried it. The docents were a consistent group from store to store, following the rollout timeline, so that they had significant expertise in enticing consumers and helping first time users of the kiosks. They also became "train the trainers," helping store employees learn how to continue the docent role after the rollout docents had moved on. Store employees also got an education by watching - getting trained themselves on how to use the kiosks, and how to help customers through common questions by watching how the docents handled things.
Like any technology, kiosks are not a silver bullet. There are plenty of situations where a kiosk is not the best solution. But alternatively, one implementation failure does not make "kiosk" a dirty word. There are many more lessons that I could share, but if you get these four right, you've gone a long way towards ensuring implementation success.
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