New Study: 82% of Consumers Will Actively Avoid Going to a Business with a Line

Waitwhile's latest "State of Waiting in Line" uncovers growing customer impatience and reveals how brands can deliver speed, convenience, and personalized experiences

SAN FRANCISO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 21, 2023 / Waitwhile, the customizable cloud-based solution that helps businesses create the perfect customer flows, today announced the publication of The State of Waiting in Line 2023, a follow-up to last year's inaugural study that explores how frequently consumers are waiting in line, how they feel about waiting, and how brands can improve in-person customer experiences. Even though technology has helped to eliminate or mitigate many daily inconveniences, Waitwhile found for the second year in a row that lines continue to frustrate consumers who are increasingly seeking speed, convenience, and personalized service. In fact, customer impatience is on the rise.

In the United States alone, people spend roughly 37 billion hours each year waiting in line. Waitwhile's 2022 survey found that almost 70% of consumers associated waiting in line with negative feelings like boredom, annoyance, and frustration, and the 2023 research revealed that customers' impatience has skyrocketed with a 176% year-over-year jump. A striking 82% of consumers indicated that they will actively avoid going to a business with a line, with as many as 40% of those respondents choosing to go to a competing business or abandoning their purchase altogether.

Retail in particular is struggling to keep up with the demand for quick, efficient, and personalized in-store experiences. Waitwhile's study found that Americans spend more time waiting in line at retail stores than at restaurants, pharmacies, doctor's offices, and banks combined. This marks the second year in a row that retail is the top industry where consumers regularly encounter lines, and the length of time customers spent waiting at retail stores has increased by 30% since 2022.

"The data is clear: consumer frustration when it comes to waiting in lines is on the rise, and inaction by brands is no longer tenable," said Christoffer Klemming, CEO and Co-Founder of Waitwhile. "Over the past couple of years, we've seen consumers enthusiastically return to shopping at brick & mortar stores, dining in restaurants, and traveling, yet the expectations for service are growing and loyalty is fleeting. Businesses that want to create a meaningful connection with their customers and drive business growth must implement technology that streamlines customer flows, enables operational efficiencies, and modernizes the in-person experience."

Other key findings include:

• More than 68% of consumers said they leave a physical line before it's their turn
• 69% of respondents said that they would prefer to schedule an appointment rather than wait in line
• 57% of consumers prefer virtual queues
• 64% of consumers are willing to wait longer in a virtual queue
• 38% of consumers said that they would continue shopping or browsing at a business while queuing virtually

To access the research and to learn more about the methodology for The State of Waiting 2023, please visit https://waitwhile.com/blog/consumer-survey-waiting-in-line-2023.

About Waitwhile

Waitwhile is a customizable cloud-based solution that any business can use to create the perfect end-to-end customer flows with waitlists, appointments, messaging, and analytics across any number of locations. Waitwhile lets guests wait from anywhere and track their status in real-time - while helping businesses automate customer flows, reduce wait times, and speed up operations with machine learning.

Organizations like Best Buy, Gojek, Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Ace Hardware, Applebee's, Oklahoma State University, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs use Waitwhile for queue management, appointment scheduling, clienteling, warehouse management, and more. A flexible design ensures Waitwhile can be customized to how your business runs and a robust API with extensive documentation means that Waitwhile integrates seamlessly into your existing workflows.

Used by thousands of companies across every industry around the world, Waitwhile has saved 200+ million people more than 10,000 years of waiting in line.

Media Contact

Megan Leer
Press@Waitwhile.com

SOURCE: Waitwhile

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