As we all know, waiting rooms can be pretty boring—and sometimes, even unpleasant. But, they play an essential role in the customer experience. So, the waiting room must reflect the image of the company that you’re trying to portray, and give the customer some sort of incentive to enter.
Here are 10 ideas for making the waiting room design process easier for you.
9 Simple Ideas for Your Company’s Waiting Room Design
Create a Comfortable and Inclusive Experience
A survey showed that over half of respondents would prefer to wait a few minutes longer than necessary to get to their appointment. If the waiting room is crowded, consider having snacks or beverages available for guests. If the wait is especially lengthy, try providing a space where people can sit down and read a book or get some work done. Even something simple like a standing desk chair can help reduce stress and prevent long lines.
Complete with the Proper Furniture
-
A Waiting Room Chairs
A comfortable chair is an important piece of furniture in your dream office. The first thing your guests will notice is whether or not you have a chair in the waiting room. If you don’t, they’ll instantly assume you don’t care about their comfort and you don’t really care about them. Your guests will quickly feel awkward, uncomfortable, and unvalued.
-
A Couch
If you have a sofa, your guests will immediately sit on it and relax. If you don’t have a couch, they’ll just leave. You want to create the feeling that this is your office, and they’re there to see you.
Select Appropriate Colors
When you’re designing a room in your office, there are two key points to keep in mind. The first is color. Make sure that you choose colors that match your brand and are appropriate for the waiting room. Second, it’s important to make sure the colors complement one another. Don’t choose colors that clash. The best example is a stark red room with pale blue walls. It might work if your waiting room is bright and colorful, but if your waiting room is bland, it won’t be inviting.
Add Photos and Visual Aesthetics
For some reason, we’ve all got this innate need to see pictures in the waiting room. Whether it’s a waiting room in a hospital, a dentist’s office, a doctor’s office, a lawyer’s office, a physical therapist’s office, or even a car dealership, having a picture of someone’s foot in a cast or a picture of a patient with an open wound on the forehead can make us feel better. This can also help create a sense of urgency. The photo of the person’s foot could be a reminder of what’s to come if we don’t make a quick decision.
Aquariums and Artistic Digital Displays
The first thing that comes to mind when you think about a waiting room is that it is often a place to wait, and often a place to be bored. However, a waiting room can be transformed into a space that is a lot more entertaining than what it traditionally is. A good example is the design of aquariums in waiting rooms. The combination of the visual appeal of fish and plants and the calming effect of water makes a waiting room more pleasant. Another example is artistic digital displays that show art, current events, or music videos in a waiting room. These also have the same benefits as an aquarium but can be a lot more convenient since they can display a wide range of content rather than just a single fish tank.
Equip the Waiting Room with the Proper Technology
Technology and its influence on our lives are so pervasive that it’s hard to escape from it, but the most important thing to consider when setting up an office waiting room is what technology can or cannot do for you. To begin with, don’t just put a bunch of computers around the room. They need to be placed where people can interact with them. This means that they should be in an area where they are accessible to everyone who walks in, and if you are using wireless technology, there needs to be a place to plug the devices into.
Set the Mood with Lighting
Office waiting rooms are not just for patients. They should also be places where people can sit and relax. To do this, you need to ensure there is sufficient natural light and that you have a nice mix of warm and cool tones. These can be achieved with light fixtures with LED technology, as well as ambient lighting that emits white or warm light.
Quality Service is Still Important
Office waiting rooms have changed drastically over the years and the average visitor is probably not happy about it. There are few, if any, modern-day equivalents to the waiting room of old. Waiting rooms have become either overly sterile or noisy, unpleasant environments that don’t provide the kind of quality that people have come to expect. The traditional waiting room was a cozy place that offered a bit of entertainment, a comfortable chair, and some privacy. In fact, one could even imagine a small movie theatre or game room in the waiting room.
Add Features Like a Coffee Maker
When the company I work for decided to add a coffee machine into our waiting room, they took a step that is often overlooked. They designed the coffee machine to be aesthetically pleasing. Their goal wasn’t to make coffee, but rather to make people comfortable while waiting for appointments and help improve their mood. I’ve also seen similar tactics used in other areas to boost sales and increase customer satisfaction. In fact, any feature you can design to be appealing and user-friendly is worth considering.
Conclusion
Many companies are realizing the importance of an inviting waiting room. A welcoming atmosphere allows people to relax, while still providing a safe environment where patients can receive care. An engaging waiting room design can also help you differentiate your business from your competitors. The first step in creating an attractive waiting room design is to consider what type of waiting room is needed for the purpose of your business. This includes determining how many people will be waiting in your waiting room and whether your waiting room needs to accommodate families, children, patients, employees, and medical staff.
