With today’s sense of always being in a hurry, it is no wonder that for many people one of the big frustrations can be having a website crash when you are in a hurry. But then, like most people in today’s fast paced environment, everyone is in a hurry and especially if they are on a site. You can bet that just about everyone who ever pops onto your site, no matter whether you are selling widgets for construction or the latest fashions from Paris, is in a rush to do that transaction and move on with their life.
So you can just imagine the number of potential sales you have lost when your site crashes from over popularity. You may have the latest and greatest product, but what good does it do you if the sheer number of people who want it, make your system go down? Here are a few tricks we have learned from software designers and web developers that can help you overcome that problem. It all starts by making sure you have some kind of online queue management system in place.
Managing Your Queue
If this was the pre-internet world and you had a sale, there would be people queueing down the street waiting to get into your store. The lines would create a buzz of excitement, and this would lead to still more people getting in line to see what all the fuss is about. Today’s world of the internet is really no different. The only change is that our queues are harder to perceive. If you offer something that is so exciting that your system is inundated with buyers, then you need to find your own version of the red velvet rope to keep those potential customers at hand and hungry for your product. Expecting them to simply return later is just an exercise in futility and a waste of good social media marketing. When you add a virtual queue to the system, you have a way to manage those interested buyers without leaving them walking away in anger.
Your Online Queue Management System
There are several good options out there to have a software system manage the potential customers when the numbers climb out of control. With these virtual systems in place your customers can easily see how far down the line they are, how long the wait will be, and if they should come back or wait. If the problem is a short term one, they are informed and can choose to wait and be told when they will be able to get back onto the site. Since this is usually within a short amount of time, you will generally not lose customers in the process. Offering a game to play while they wait, soothing music (but not so soothing they fall asleep!) and a promise to email them back as soon as you are up again being just a few of the options you can choose when setting up your own online queue. Trying this latest software solution may be the best choice you have ever made.
