How Digital Menu Boards Impact Perceived Customer Wait Time

Line out the door? People hate waiting. This is a statement that seems to be true for everybody, whether it’s waiting at the doctor’s office, waiting for the elevator, or waiting in line at a restaurant. And when it comes to customer wait time, you don’t want a bad rep. Some may think that time is a constant, and that waiting 10 minutes is the same regardless of the situation.

In reality, waiting is less about the actual time spent waiting and more about perception. The importance and impact of perceived waiting time is why you’ll often find a full magazine rack or a fish tank in your doctor’s office waiting room. These items are there for a reason—to busy, preoccupy, entertain, and engage customers with the goal of making their experience more pleasurable and their perceived wait time less.

When it comes to the restaurant industry, the perception of how long your customers wait to order their food, and then wait to get their food can affect, their perception of your business. And a sour perception can definitely sour your bottom line. Over the years, there has been a lot of research that has gone into minimizing the customer’s perceived wait time in different industries. One major recommendation is to give the customers an experience in the line using video displays. Digital menu boards provide a great avenue for displaying video and could result in a 15% shorter perceived wait time.

By providing customers the opportunity to review your product offerings while they wait in line or engage in a new way, digital menu boards not only give customers something to do while they wait, they also speed up the actual ordering process. Customers who have the ability to view the full menu while waiting in line are more prepared to place their order by the time they reach the front of the line.

You can use digital menu restaurant displays to feature promotions, improve product familiarity, and build brand loyalty while customers wait in line, too. Think critically and strategically about your use of colors and video as well, as motion has been proven to capture the consumer’s eye. Digital menu boards can help you meet a variety of business goals, but at a minimum, they help reduce perceived customer wait time and create a more efficient ordering process that leads to increased customer satisfaction and a better overall customer experience.