Do you hate waiting in queue in banks? Nepali banks should divert their focus towards Queue Management

Executive CEOs and management bodies in banks are often seen discussing about their new products and schemes. The profit and assets in balance sheet often become a major aspect to promote at the end of every quarter. However, it’s time that bankers address the elephant in the room.

No matter what products and services Nepali banks bring to the customers, the first hand customer experience in banks is consistently deteriorating. The impression of a bank one makes can often be the first hand experience in a queue. Studies have cited that a person overestimates his/her waiting time by 36% more than the actual waiting time. The overall banking experience of customers often sums up in their experience of waiting in a queue.

Although the access of digital wallets, mobile banking and internet banking is gradually increasing, the physical banks are here to stay for a long run. Several developed countries still have their physical banks and branches despite mobile banking have dominated the banking technology. Nepali banks should understand that the e-banking has not been effective in queue management of the banks. Therefore, banks should come up with innovative ideas that will make customer experience better.

A lot of banks are developing their own applications that help customers in accessing information about their transactions and account balance. Mobile applications can play an important role in queue management. If banks can come up with applications that will help customers select date, timing and purpose of their bank visit, then queue management in banks will be easier. Similarly, the application should be able to provide customers a regular update on their turn. For instance, when will his/her turn come?, how many customers are ahead in line?, which branch should they visit?, which department should the customer consult?, etc.

If banks bring such applications into use, it will simply not be convenient only to customers but also their employees. Often the employees in teller and customer service department have to go through a lot of chaos while handling customer. Even the security guards cannot manage the crowd well. So, use of such mobile applications solely to manage queue will help customers divide their team work among one another and set the plan for the day accordingly.

Bankers should understand that customers do not visit banks for window shopping. Any customer that enters the bank focuses only on one aspect: “I need to get my task completed and get out of here at the soonest”. A customer comes to a bank to get his/her work done and plan the rest of the day accordingly. However, when half of the time gets consumed waiting in a line, the customers’ satisfaction is likely to burst out in anger. Nepali banks already have a token system however; a digital token system accessed through mobile application can further be productive.

More than 50% of customer complaints regarding banks will come down only if banks can manage queue system. Customer loyalty directly coordinates with customer satisfaction. In this scenario, Nepali banks should work to find the best application that fits in managing the lengthy queues in their branches.  

Let us know your experience of waiting for your turn in a bank? Which is the worst experience so far? Do you think banks should do something to manage the queue?