The psychology of queuing revealed in 6 simple rules

Unravel the intriguing world of queuing psychology through six straightforward principles. Discover how our perceptions and behaviors are influenced while waiting in line, and how these insights can be harnessed to improve customer experiences and operational efficiency.

“Online queue”

The Internet era has created assumptions that we can access whatever we want on-demand, 24/7

Lines are a fair-if disliked-way to deal with high demand in the physical world.
Given the technical challenges of peak website traffic, lines serve the same useful purpose online, and aren’t going away anytime soon

Unfair waits are longer than fair waits

A first-in, first-out (FIFO) wait is the exemplar of fairness. Make sure your queue-whether online or physical-operates in this way.

If you’re operating an online queue, remember to address customers who arrive early.

A primer on queue psychology

Danish engineer A.K. Erlang founded the field of queuing theory in the early 20th century

Early researchers focused on improving the efficiency of queues, serving as many people as possible within a fixed company budget
They paid little attention to how people felt when standing in line
In 1950s New York City, the problem of waiting in line appeared in the elevators of the newly built skyscrapers
The solution was to add floor indicators showing people the progress of the elevator and add floor-to-ceiling mirrors near the elevator to distract people

Provide information on how many other people are waiting in line

Give an estimated waiting time

How an experience ends (known as the peak-end rule) greatly influences people’s assessment of the whole experience.
Being rewarded with an early exit from the queue will pleasantly surprise your customers and leave them feeling more positively overall

The 6 revealing rules of queue psychology

David Maister has compiled the gold standard overview of the psychology of queuing

Unexplained waits are longer than explained waits

Provide a clear explanation of why your customers are in a queue

If possible, keep real-time communication flowing to your waiting customers to keep them up-to-date and remind them why there is a wait

Anxiety makes waits feel longer

Removing anything that could cause anxiety (e.g. warning visitors they have a few minutes to complete their booking) is great. Preemptively addressing any anxieties, rational or not, is even better.

Don’t fail your customers; invest in improving the customer experience with Maister’s 6 rules of queue psychology.

Unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time

Be creative with ways to engage your customers

If callers are waiting to speak to your customer service, give them the chance to get called back when it’s their turn
Let fans join in on a game of trivia using an app like Kahoot
Online queues have an advantage over physical queues as customers aren’t limited by the need to stand in line