Keep clients coming back · Every business
How to Make a Wait Feel Shorter: Eight Principles From Queueing Research
The fastest way to shorten a wait without adding staff is to change what the customer knows and does while waiting, following eight principles that waiting-line research set out in the 1980s.
To make a wait feel shorter, tell customers how long it will be and why, give them something useful to do, start some part of the service early and keep the order of who goes next visibly fair. These steps come from a foundational paper on the psychology of waiting lines, which argued that satisfaction depends on how a wait is perceived compared with what was expected, so the same ten minutes can feel like nothing or like forever.
The eight principles, with what to do at a small business
| Principle from the research | What it means | What to do this week |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time | Idle minutes stretch | Offer something tied to the visit: a style book, a care guide, a before-and-after binder, Wi-Fi with the password posted |
| 2. People want to get started | Waits before the service begins feel longer than waits during it | Start something early: forms done ahead, a consultation question at check-in, a drink or a gown handed over on arrival |
| 3. Anxiety makes waits seem longer | Worry fills the time | Say what will happen first; for nervous customers, name who they will see and how long it takes |
| 4. Uncertain waits feel longer than known, finite waits | Not knowing is the hardest part | State an expected wait at check-in and round up rather than down |
| 5. Unexplained waits feel longer than explained waits | Silence reads as neglect | Give a plain reason when running late ("the visit before you needed extra time") and a new estimate |
| 6. Unfair waits feel longer than equitable waits | Seeing someone jump ahead hurts | Explain visibly why a walk-in or a later arrival goes first, such as a different provider or a shorter service |
| 7. The more valuable the service, the longer people will wait | Tolerance rises with the stakes | Do not lean on this; it covers a big repair or a specialist, not a routine trim or oil change |
| 8. Solo waits feel longer than group waits | Company passes the time | Seat families and friends together; greet solo customers again partway through the wait |
A script for running late
When the schedule slips, the front desk can use three lines that cover principles 3, 4 and 5 at once:
- "Thanks for waiting. [Provider] is finishing with the visit before yours, which needed a little extra time."
- "I expect you'll be called in about [number] minutes, and I'll check back with you before then."
- "Can I get you anything while you wait, or would you like to step out and get a text when we're ready?"
The check-back in the second line matters as much as the estimate, because a promise of an update turns an open-ended wait into a known one.
Why it works
Perceived waits matter because real ones carry a measurable cost. In a study of 11,352 patient surveys across 44 clinics, published in The American Journal of Managed Care, the chance of the highest satisfaction score fell from about 77% at a combined wait of 10 minutes to about 53% at 60 minutes, and longer waits also lowered how patients rated the treatment itself. Shortening the clock is the first fix; the eight principles cover the minutes that remain, and a field study in a bank lobby, reported in Sloan Management Review, found that customers given something engaging to watch reported higher satisfaction even though their sense of how long they had waited stayed about the same.
Sources
- Maister, D. H. The Psychology of Waiting Lines. In The Service Encounter, Lexington Books, 1985.
- Bleustein, C., Rothschild, D. B., Valen, A., et al. Wait Times, Patient Satisfaction Scores, and the Perception of Care. The American Journal of Managed Care 20(5), 2014. 11,352 survey responses, 44 clinics.
- Katz, K. L., Larson, B. M. and Larson, R. C. Prescription for the Waiting-in-Line Blues: Entertain, Enlighten, and Engage. Sloan Management Review 32(2), 1991. As summarized in McGuire, K. A., Kimes, S. E., Lynn, M., et al., A Framework for Evaluating the Customer Wait Experience, Cornell University.
Related reading: What Waiting Does to Customer Satisfaction, According to the Research · The First Five Minutes: How Arrival Shapes the Whole Visit · Small Touches That Make Customers Come Back: A Checklist by Business Type
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