There is a saying – ‘The first impression is the last impression’. This holds true for how first-time visitors see your office.
A positive visitor experience can have a significant impact on your company’s reputation, success, and long-term sustainability.
According to a new report, two out of every five people claim their perception of a company or brand has been negatively affected by their experience in the corporate lobby or reception area.
Organizations have an opportunity to excel in this area by providing an ideal visitor experience.
To appreciate the benefits of a seamless visitor experience, imagine a scenario without one.
Let’s say Emily has been invited to an office for an interview. She had received an email invite from her contact to be at the office at 10:00 AM. She reaches there 15 minutes early and approaches the reception at 9.45 AM to find a long queue of candidates waiting there at the counter. When her turn comes, the receptionist asks her for details and who she wants to meet, all the while the receptionist is being interrupted by the staff and the ringing phone. It’s worse when she presents Emily with a visitor logbook for her to write in her details.
Once the manual registration process is over, Emily would either need to wait for the receptionist to call her host, leaving her at the receptionist’s mercy or she would need to message or call the host herself, informing him/her that she has arrived. The whole experience leaves Emily wondering how the culture and working environment of the office will be if the first impression is so riddled with confusion.
Now, what if your customers, partners and guests have the same experience?
Today’s technology provides affordable tools to help you provide a seamless visitor registration and onboarding process.
What is an Ideal Visitor Experience?
Your visitors should have a positive experience with the brand even before they physically arrive at the office. It starts off with the initial invitation and ends when they meet with the host at their office. The whole process should be smooth. This will positively affect the relationship that customers, guests, and stakeholders have with your company. It enhances the brand experience and promotes a feeling that lasts long after the visit is over.
Let’s reimagine the same scenario above with a different experience.
The host gets Emily’s email and registers her for a visit along with a confirmed meeting room. An email with the invitation, address to the office along with a link in google maps is sent to her. Within that email also contains a link to a dynamic QR-Code that she can use when she arrives at the reception. At the reception, she does not have to approach the receptionist. She walks directly to a kiosk where she scans her QR-Code. The kiosk recognizes her and confirms her registration while messaging her host that Emily has arrived.
This whole experience provides a frictionless, smooth onboarding while also surprising Emily on the technologically savvy office she will be working in.
This same experience can be extended to partners, customers, associates and even walk-in visitors.
This visitor experience will augment the brand perception of the company and ensure that visitors spread the good word about your business.
Here is how you can design a complete, end-to-end, and frictionless visitor experience.
A Visitor Pre-Registration Platform
A simplified and integrated platform tool such as ecobook can help in booking meeting rooms and visitor invites from one interface. Email notification keeps everyone in the loop.
Changes and cancellations are seamless, updating the room and visitor registration with automatic email updates.
The Kiosk
At the lobby, the visitor finds an automated check-in kiosk that will enable intuitive, self-guided check-ins. The visitor needs to click on the link in the registration email to generate the QR-Code.
The visitor then scans the QR-code into the kiosk to complete the registration process.
Once the check-in has been completed successfully, the host will be informed through email or message that the visitor has arrived.
You may raise the question, what happens when a random visitor comes to the office say, for example, a delivery person or a sales/marketing executive? Well, in that case, there will be no pre-registration. The person will approach the kiosk where they will be asked to fill in the details.
Upon registration, the system will notify the reception who can attend to the person.
The Front Desk Interface
Ecobook’s front desk interface is designed for receptionists and security personnel to focus exclusively on the schedule of visitors arriving at the office.
The receptionist has a complete view of all the scheduled visits with the capability to monitor and track their presence in the office.
With bulk registration and check-ins, VIP visitors can be seamlessly ushered into the meeting rooms.
A complete history of visits and a list of visitor profiles help to track history and date and time of arrival and departure.
Alerts can be sent to the front desk when flagged visitors attempt to register at the kiosk providing a level of security and confidence in the visitations.
Conclusion
By giving careful thought to these procedures and by investing in a visitor management system, you can ensure that your visitor feels welcomed and taken care of throughout their visit thereby increasing a positive brand experience.
