Key Strategies to Enhance Visitor Experience in 2023

With workplace traffic increasing and hybrid work becoming more predominant, the dynamics of how people access and consume workplaces are changing. Therefore, it is crucial to relook at the status quo and adjust tools and processes to ensure a positive first impression for visitors.

This article will focus on some interventions based on industry trends and interactions with customers across sectors and verticals. You will get insights on the importance of creating strong first impressions, the golden 7 seconds of a visitor’s interaction with your company and the role of small actions that can lead to a positive visitor experience.

We will also highlight how Veris, a tech-enabled visitor management system, can automate manual tasks and provide a touchless, seamless, and personalized check-in experience for visitors. Read on to learn how you can ace the visitor experience game in 2023.

The next big question: what kind of interventions are required to ensure that the overall experience is maximized?

This is where it is important to share certain interventions presented through studying industry trends and interactions with customers across sectors and verticals that will be important to ace the visitor experience game in 2023. These are as follows:

Intervention 1 is all about setting up touchpoints that create strong and welcoming first impressions.

The pandemic had a significant impact on global workforce and led to measures such as hybrid work cultures, remote working opportunities, etc. But as the scenario eased out in 2022 and companies gradually turned towards in person work, it led to an increase in workplace traffic.

According to the At Work Report published in 2023, there were some interesting insights that popped out. There has been a significant increase in visitor footfall for larger enterprises. This jump ranges between 87% – 88%.

Thus, enterprises have had to rethink and recalibrate how they welcome visitors and come up with more engaging strategies. But this shouldn’t frighten you as we have put together some recommendations on ensuring the best first impression for your visitors in 2023.

The biggest and the most noteworthy shift happening is – everyone is a visitor to workplaces. With hybrid and flex work becoming predominant, no one is following a fixed five-day work schedule.

This has changed the whole dynamics of how people are accessing and consuming workplaces. The usage patterns of permanent members tend towards that of frequent visitors. This calls for a great relook at the status quo and a readjustment of tools and processes.

1.1 First impressions are not limited to on-premise experience alone

There is a famous saying that, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”. This stands especially true for companies, as it is a great first impression that marks the beginning of a good visitor experience.

This holds intact for the visitor and the company as even before a visitor actually visits the premises, if they receive a personalized invite, it positively primes their experience. Rather than just sharing meeting time, sending visit instructions, parking privileges and entry permissions in advance and collecting visitor details remotely significantly lowers the chances of delay on the day of their actual visit.

Now that you know how crucial first impressions can be and how it can impact the way your visitors will further engage with your company, let’s look at some ways through which you can assert it:

1.2. Every visitor experience should involve a red-carpet welcome when they are on the premises.

A tech-enabled, hassle-free check-in experience at the lobby ensures that every visitor is positively predisposed to believe that the organization values their time and their visit. It’s a great brand-building exercise for the organization where it should control how it’s being perceived by an uninitiated visitor.

Innovativeness, openness and empathy are the brand traits that are a key takeaway for the visitor, with a new kind of experience delivered at the very first interaction of the guest with the workplace. On one side organizations spend 100s of dollars on every brand impression, on the other side they are not investing adequately in the visitor experience.

Here’s what the 7 seconds rule can do for you!

The first 7 seconds are critical for a great first impression as they mark the first moment of truth of a visitor’s interaction with the organization. A good Visitor Management System (VMS) that allows for a touchless, and seamless digital visitor check-in will ensure that the following two happen:

1. A visitor is not unnecessarily getting delayed from attending an important, pre-decided appointment.
2. The front-desk team doesn’t have to look unorganized and get exhausted by maintaining a manual tab of who is coming when and why. They can let the hosts know when the visitors arrive, flag off any unwanted people on the premises, and leverage the data for reporting.

1.3 At Veris, for example, a part of this red carpet welcome experience is the Veris Kiosk.  

Veris Kiosk eliminates the friction from the front desk team by automating all the manual tasks to be performed by front desk executives like entering the details of the visitors.
For Pre-registered visitors, Veris enables a touchless check-in via a self-service kiosk. Visitors simply show QR codes or their Faces at the kiosk. The kiosk authenticates their identity and issues access badges or credentials based on the authorization granted to them by their hosts or facility. The kiosk automatically notifies the hosts about ‌visitor’s arrival and even provides in-building navigation guidance to visitors on their smartphones.

For walk-in visitors, Veris kiosk acts as a self-service registration desk. Visitors fill in their host details and raise a visit request from the kiosk itself. Once hosts authorize visitors, the kiosk issues access badges or credentials along with in-building navigation guidance to visitors on their smartphones.

Veris easily integrates with building access control systems to provide visitors with time-bound access rights. This not only elevates the visitor experience but also enhances security and compliance to a great extent while creating a strong first impression.

With Veris, the Front Desk staff in the office can actually focus on providing ‌guests with a warm welcome and catering to their personalized needs rather than spending time on data entry or calling hosts.

Small acts go a long way

Lastly, it’s always the little things that people remember. These are the ones that can make or break the name of your company when it comes to creating a good first impression.

The fact that your visitor did not have trouble navigating on campus from the gate to the parking, the fact that there was a designated parking spot waiting for them or the fact they have designated locker space where they can safely leave their belongings even before they punch into the system to enter.

If we can successfully leverage these ‘moments that matter’, we can set in motion a positive visitor experience right at the onset. These small actions for a good visitor engagement is what leads to a great visitor experience and an overall upliftment of the image of your company.

Facility administrators and hosts can easily wow their visitors to create a great first impression by nudging them to these moments that matter throughout their journey.

Secrets for a great first impression in the workplace

Here are some of the best practices that we have deployed for our clients to provide them with the best visitor experience and these might be beneficial for you in the future:

• Beautifully crafted, bi-lingual invites as per branding guidelines of the host
  These can make you guests feel special along with providing all the necessary details about the event or visit. These are especially useful when hosting international visitors.
• Unique credentials to access parking area, smart lockers or Guest Wi-Fi
  This can ensure easy and secure access to facilities in your company and gives your visitors a sense of exclusivity and convenience.
• Accessible web interfaces for differently abled visitors
  This is especially important if your company has visitors with any kind of physical disabilities.
  

• Navigation to Meeting Rooms via Robots
  For large facilities and events, robots can be a good guide for a seamless visitor experience and will also help in safe, timely and efficient arrival of your visitor.
• Equip visitors with an Emergency Evacuation Plan
  In case of emergencies, it is important for visitors to know what to do and where to go. A plan with clear instructions of evacuation can minimize confusion and maximize safety in times of crisis.