The following article was written by Tuck Aikin about the psychology behind the customer’s perceptions when forced to wait to get service. Even though it is several decades old, it is as true today as it was then. I hope you enjoy it.
We were running late for the Air Force vs. Navy football game and were stopped by the light at the intersection of Academy Boulevard and I 25. During our idle chatter, I began to feel a rising sense of impatience, “What’s taking this danged light so long to change?” I thought. Despite the fact that we were late for the start of the game, I realized that my anxiety was due to a sense that the “normal” time for a red light had been exceeded, which I’m sure it had. Interesting, isn’t it, that we all set up subconscious levels of expectation while waiting, and if they’re violated, we get pretty irritated.
That’s exactly the finding of author David H. Maister in his article “The Psychology of Waiting Lines” (The Service Encounter, Lexington Books, D. C. Heath and Company, 1985). Mr. Maister’s research concludes that service businesses must not only pay attention to actual queue wait times but also to how patrons perceive their wait experience. To that end, Maister proposes two “laws” of service:
Satisfaction equals perception minus expectation. For instance, if you expect a certain level of service and perceive the service received to be higher, you will be a satisfied customer. Smart restaurants practice this “law” by promising guests a waiting time in excess of what the restaurant is certain will actually occur. The reasoning is that if people are willing to agree to wait this length of time, they are quite pleased to be seated earlier. My experience is that it works, doesn’t it?
It is hard to play “catch-up ball.” Waiting patrons are willing to be somewhat accommodating initially, but if the wait expectation is materially exceeded, the business will have a very hard time subsequently delivering a service that is perceived as satisfactory.
All service businesses, whether there is a waiting line or not, need to be aware of the psychology of waiting, and Maister offers eight propositions that can help such businesses in their service design.
1. Unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time.
Maister quotes philosopher William James: “Boredom results from being attentive to the passage of time itself.” Smart restauranteurs allow for this principle by handing out menus to waiting customers, utilizing interesting wall posters and other memorabilia, and installing waiting-area video and audio.
Maister cautions, however, that all of these diversions should offer some benefit in and of themselves and have some relationship to the ensuing service encounter. “Elevator music” piped into your ear while on hold on the phone, for instance, is almost always more irritating than no sound at all!
Anxiety about unoccupied time increases when we see a long line. Disney realizes that simply moving large lines of people quickly into and out of its rides at its theme parks, of which it is a master, isn’t enough. The perception of a long line is that there will be a long wait, so Disney disguises its lines by bending them around corners so the full length can’t be easily seen.
2. Preprocess waits feel longer than in-process waits.
This one’s easy to understand. I often check in at the airport gate, even though I’ve been assured that such a check-in isn’t necessary. Why? Because I can advance to an in-process wait with the security of knowing that I’ve been acknowledged, that I’m “in the system,” and that I won’t be forgotten.
Conscientious businesses build this understanding into their wait function by having their service people simply acknowledge the presence of those who have just arrived by saying, “I’ll be with you in just a minute.” Net cyber stores also assure customers they are not being “forgotten” by acknowledging online orders via e-mail, usually immediately, with an order number and a thank you.
3. Anxiety makes waits seem longer.
This probably is the basic underlying principle of the entire psychology of waiting. Reduce customer anxiety, and your business has reduced the perception of waiting.
Choosing the wrong line, for instance, increases anxiety for us all. Anyone who has selected the “9 items or less” line at the supermarket only to see the shorter “full cart” lines move faster has experienced this principle.
I never understood why supermarkets don’t use the same queuing method as banks and fast-food restaurants like Wendy’s. Maybe it saves them floor space (I doubt it).
4. Uncertain waits are longer than known, finite waits.
Here’s one that our downtown post office has violated, even if with the best of intentions. After you’ve picked off your dispensed paper wait customer number slip, your only option is to lounge around the lobby, find a seat on a bench if one is available within sight of the electronic sign displaying the next customer number to be served, or just stand and stare around blankly. Yes, it’s “comfortable,” but people aren’t there to lounge. They’re there to be served and leave as soon as possible (the meter’s ticking!).
Without a line you can’t estimate by its length and by what people are holding to mail (13 little boxes, three mail trays) how long your wait will be, so the wait seems very long indeed.
5. Unexplained waits are longer than explained waits.
Just listen to the complaints when we have to wait longer than we were promised or than we “reasonably” expected, then listen to the babble die down when the delay is explained.
An explanation works to reduce wait perception, however, only if it seems to be a reasonable explanation. Sometimes we interpret service personnel’s observed behavior as unreasonable and therefore “unexplained,” however, so service business operators should take this into consideration.
Bank tellers, for instance, who are seen catching up on paperwork with their “Position Closed” sign out, are practically an invitation for customer irritation. Since the sight of serving personnel not actually serving waiting customers is normally interpreted as “unexplained,” such personnel “on a break.” They should always do so out of sight of waiting patrons. Boy, is this ever violated. Fast-food personnel at customer tables, smoke breaks within sight of arriving customers, highway workers chatting and leaning on shovels.
6. Unfair waits are longer than equitable waits.
For most people, this one is the greatest service offense of all. As humorist Irma Bombeck’s Law decrees: “The other line always moves faster.” Watching someone else be served unjustly before you or seeing them receive apparently undeserved priority really gets the blood boiling for most of us. It just ain’t fair!
This is why the bank queuing system is less irritating than the gamble of selecting a service line from many, why the first class section on a flight is curtained off from the rest of us (they don’t want us to see and therefore resent the special service rendered), why it really bugs us when we’ve made an appointment, and our service provider interrupts and answers phone calls in our presence, and why “mob waiting” rather than orderly lines (downtown post office) seems longer, increases our anxiety. We want to be assured that our priority in line is being preserved.
7. The more valuable the service, the longer the customer will wait.
Have you noticed that passengers trying to exit at the end of a flight are much more anxious and impatient than when they were waiting to board initially? That’s because the service has been rendered. It’s over. There’s little value left. The same goes with our impatience waiting for the check after we’ve finished a served restaurant meal – the value’s gone, and we don’t want to wait. Also, if we perceive we’re going to get to talk to the person “in charge,” we’re willing to wait longer than for some entry-level clerk.
8. Solo waits feel longer than group waits.
Author Maister offers this observation: “One of the remarkable syndromes to observe in waiting lines is to see individuals sitting or standing next to each other without talking or otherwise interacting until an announcement of a delay is made. Then the individuals suddenly turn to each other to express their exasperation, wonder collectively what is happening, and console each other. What this illustrates is that there is some form of comfort in group waiting rather than waiting alone.
…Whatever service organizations can do to promote the sense of group waiting rather than isolating each individual will tend to increase the tolerance for waiting time.”.
Finally, for all eight principles, it is especially important for business operators to understand that the critical issue here is customer perception, not necessarily reality. Unfortunately, for any given business, some of these “wait” principles can conflict with others when trying to design a service for customers that is perceived as top-notch, and appropriate to the service being provided. No one ever said running a business was easy!
Tuck Aikin was a former SCORE colleague of mine for many years until his retirement. Tuck is a prolific writer and wrote small business-themed articles for the Colorado Springs Gazette for many years. As a co-mentor, Tuck was my inspiration for me starting this blog. The preceding post is reproduced with permission from the author.
