Qminder – Get in Line

Waiting in a long line can cause frustration, anxiety, and even rage. Qminder is an application that aims to quell some of those feeling, offering a cloud-based solution to solve an age-old challenge for businesses in a variety of industries.

Restaurants, doctor’s offices, auto centers, and virtually any other business that requires guests to wait for service can use Qminder to decrease wait times and improve overall customer satisfaction. Once your business has gotten set up with Qminder, your customers will be able to participate in remote queuing using Qminder’s mobile app. Customers select your venue from a GPS-based list or search for your venue by name, then take a virtual “ticket” after seeing the estimated wait time. Customers are free to walk around the neighborhood or your store while they wait, and Qminder will send an automated push notification before their turns are up.

Not only can Qminder increase customer satisfaction, but it can help businesses run more efficiently. Business owners can use the data gathered by Qminder to monitor their queues and view statistical shifts, letting them know when they should increase staffing levels to account for longer lines. Although Qminder is primarily a digital queuing solution, businesses still have the option to print paper tickets. They can also set up video displays and in-store tablets to manage every function in the waiting system.

Practical Uses:

• Encourage customers to walk around outside while they wait for their turns
• Notify guests when their tables are almost ready
• Create separate waiting lines for visitors with unique needs
• See which days are the busiest at your business

Insider Tips:

• Review the average wait times and average hourly visits at your business
• Companies can make their waitlists multilingual
• Qminder’s printer uses standard 80 mm paper
• Business owners can assign employees to specific branches or lines inside the Qminder app

What we liked:

• An overview monitor can be set up at the wait desk to notify customers visually when their numbers have been called
• Qminder makes it possible for hosts to call waiting guests by name
• Remote queuing allows people to walk around outside while they wait
• Managers can view real-time wait time information when they’re not in the office

What we didn’t like:

• Very small businesses may have trouble affording Qminder’s monthly fee

Alternatives:

• Qender – https://qender.com
• QLess – http://qless.com
• TurnStar – http://www.turnstar.com

Company Info:

• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Tartu, Estonia
• Founded by: Rauno Rüngas and Kristaps Grinbergs
• Web site: http://www.qminderapp.com

Costs:

• $99 per month