KLM Implement Old ‘Psychology of Waiting’ Trick in New Twitter Tactic

We all hate long wait times. But there’s one thing worse. Not knowing how long you’ll have to wait. Good call centre’s know this. It’s the reason you’re told the expected wait time at the start of your call. Phil Bardon in Decoded – The Science Behind Why We Buy also knows this. He refers to the practice as “reducing perceived wait times” by “reducing uncertainty”.

It appears however, that social media customer service teams didn’t know this. Or perhaps, didn’t know how to implement this. That is, until some smart cookies at KLM airlines last week began updating their twitter profile picture with estimated wait times every five minutes.

It’s a smart move by KLM.

Not only is reducing perceived wait times in this manner far cheaper than hiring additional staff, it’s arguably more effective. Bardon sums it up:

“We’re happier to wait 9 minutes for a train if we know that it will arrive in 9 minutes than we are to wait for five minutes not knowing when the next train will arrive.”

Brands have been using social as a customer service channel for some time now. It’s curious given how nervous everyone’s been about vocal customers with keyboards that the tactic has taken so long to come about. You’d think they’d be pulling out all the tricks. Especially an old one like this.