How to Use Your Visitor Management System to Improve Future Visits

Did you know that you can use a visitor management system, such as the Receptionist for iPad, to improve your visitor experiences in the future?

Visitor management systems (VMS) reduce wait times, streamline the check in process, and improve workplace safety. However, these are not the only benefits you’ll gain from a VMS.

You can use your visitor management system to ensure that you deliver a consistently positive experience to everyone who walks through your office’s door. You can also use your system to design an experience that your future visitors will enjoy even before they arrive.

In this post, we’ll share tips on how to maximize your visitor management system for upcoming visitors. Let’s get started.

Pre-Register Your Visitors

What’s the secret to successfully using your visitor management system to improve upcoming visits? Pre-registration. Pre-registration is the practice of logging your visitors’ information in your system ahead of their arrival.

By pre-registering your visitor, you’re working with them to ensure that they provide the information you need to create a smooth visit. Click To Tweet

When you pre-register your visitor, you can set up a chain reaction that results in your visitor formulating an overall positive sentiment toward your organization.

The pre-registration process is simple, but many organizations skip over this step because it seems easy enough to ask visitors to fill out the necessary information at the time of their arrival. Plus, for many organizations, those extra few minutes that it takes for a visitor to check in can buy the host more time to finish up a previous meeting or complete a task.

However, the check-in process can be frustrating for your visitors. Whenever possible, it’s always preferable to incorporate pre-registration into your visitor arrival process. Let’s take a look at the biggest benefits you’ll gain from pre-registration.

Speed Up the Check-In Process

When you pre-register your visitors, you will save time—both their time and yours. From the visitor’s perspective, checking in can be lengthy and daunting. You may be asking your visitor to fill out a ton of information, all of which you may need, but some of which may be hard for them to access after they’ve arrived. This can, of course, make the check-in process feel more drawn out.

However, if you pre-register your visitors, you can ask for their information upfront so that you lower the time they spend answerings questions on the day of their appointment. Eliminating this part of the process can make the check-in experience feel quicker and more seamless.

Ensure That You Get the Most Important Information

If you have a lot of important questions to ask your visitor, it’s always smart to ask during the pre-registration process. Since pre-registration usually happens days, weeks, or months before the visitor arrives, they’ll have time to completely fill out your registration form without filling rushed. If you’ve asked a complicated question, your visitor will have the option to put the registration on hold until they can find the answer to the question.

By pre-registering your visitor, you’re working with them to ensure that they provide the information you need to create a smooth visit.

Create a Great First Impression

Pre-registration can create a positive first impression of your organization. Organizations that offer pre-registration are viewed favorably because they inspire visitor confidence. Your visitors will feel like your organization is more capable of taking care of them because you’ve gathered the necessary information to ensure a seamless appointment.

Pre-registration also shows your visitor that you care about their experience. Since you’re taking the time to get their information ahead of time, they know that you’re aiming to provide them with a quick check-in process.

Prepare Your Staff for the Day Ahead

Managing human resources is crucial for any organization. By pre-registering your visitors, you can set up your front office staff to win. Here’s how:

When you input your visitors’ information into your system ahead of their appointment, your staff will know who’s scheduled to arrive in the office by day and also by the hour. This allows you, as manager, to make the necessary staffing arrangements that will ensure maximum coverage. For example, if you know that Monday will be a busy day, you can bring in more staff members to cover the front office. Likewise, if your visitor management system shows that Thursday will be a slow day for your team, you can schedule a smaller staff accordingly.

Give Your Visitors More Time to Review Policies

Do you have policies and other documents that your visitors need to review and sign? Instead of asking them to think on their feet or review a document in the hustle and bustle of a waiting room, you can ask them to do it from the comfort of their own homes or offices.

Forward your visitors any policies that they might need to read, review, and/or sign. Even if the document cannot be signed until the visitor arrives in your office, you can share those documents so that the visitor can read through them ahead of time and formulate any questions they may have.

Eliminate Frustration

The check-in process can be extremely frustrating for your visitors. These frustrations can arise from impatience, which often happens if the visitor must wait in line to check in or have to stand for an extended period of time while filling out a lengthy questionnaire. Your visitor may feel like you’re burdening them with “busy work” or asking them unnecessary questions that will directly impact their visit or experience.

However, if you ask these very same questions during the pre-registration process, your visitor will be less likely to feel frustrated when answering (assuming the length of your questionnaire remains reasonable).

Reduce Touch

These days, we’re all more health conscious. Whether or not your office has continued to implement social distancing restrictions, the fact remains that many visitors will simply prefer to avoid unnecessary contact in an effort to minimize the spread of illnesses like COVID-19.

You can offer your visitors a contactless check-in experience, which allows them to avoid coming in physical contact with a human receptionist or even handling the same shared devices with other visitors, such as a check-in kiosk. With a contactless check-in, the visitor can scan a QR code off of the registration kiosk and then fill out their information over the phone.

However, this can open up the door to new frustration for your visitor. If they must take the time to fill out their information over their phone, it might not get done at all.

If you pre-register these guests, you will save time and sanity for all parties involved. Your visitor won’t need to input all of their information from scratch. Instead, most of their information can already be loaded into the system and then be added via pre-population upon check-in. This allows the visitor to verify their correct information instead of taking the time to write it all down.

Reduce Lines at Check-In

Whether you have a registration desk with a human receptionist, a series of check-in kiosks, or a combination of the two, you may not be able to avoid the inevitable line during your busiest days. You may have several people waiting in line to check in virtually. Or you may have that one inquisitive visitor who holds up the rest by asking way too many questions at the receptionist’s desk.

A few minutes here and there can add up, especially if there’s a line. However, pre-registration can eliminate the need for visitors to spend an inordinate amount of time at the check-in kiosk.

Free Up Your Front Office Staff

On the other side, by pre-registering your visitors, your front staff won’t need to spend a lot of time carrying out these tasks each time a visitor arrives. Instead of weighing down your front staff with the burden of checking in visitors (a process that can and should be automated), you can lighten your staff’s load. This frees your staff to help with higher-level tasks, such as answering questions, handling phone calls, and ensuring that every visitor feels welcomed in your office.

Store Information for Future

The information you collect from your visitors during pre-registration can be stored in your system for future visits (if the visitor allows you to keep their information on file). Maintaining a record of your visitors will ease the check-in process. Your returning visitors won’t need to fill out the same paperwork all over again each time they come in for another appointment. Even better is that your staff won’t need to fill out the same information, either. When you use The Receptionist for iPad, your visitor’s pre-registered information becomes part of their visitor’s record and can be stored in the cloud.

Use Data to Inform

The data you gather from pre-registering your guests can be used to predict the future. Over time, you’ll begin to notice visitor trends in your workplace. For example, you may discover that you have more visits scheduled for a particular day of the week or time of day. You may also take note of which department or host receives the most visitors on a regular basis. This can be used to better schedule your staff or to make necessary changes to how you schedule appointments. Overall, your data will give you insight into what changes you can make to better the future of your company.

Automate the Check-In for Contractors

Do you have temporary employees, contractors, or workers who operate under different organizations coming in?

To reduce confusion and increase efficiency, you can make it easier for these visitor types to check in, in the future, by adding them to your VMS and ensuring that you have all of their information ahead of time. This information may include their name, photo ID, and signatures on file for non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or other contracts. It can be kept on file. Your visitor will only need to verify that their stored information is up to date.

it will also ensure that you have a headcount of who will be working in your office at all times.
You can use this information to properly assign hosts to your visitors.

Create a VIP System

Create a very important person (VIP) system with your visitor management tool. This way, your visitor management tool can be configured to automatically alert a host (or a series of hosts) when specific visitors arrive.

You can also use this type of system to manage security threats. For example, you can create a watchlist to mitigate threats so that your security personnel is notified immediately if that person attempts to check-in. This can help you quietly handle visitors who may be considered troublemakers.

Send Out Messages to Pre-Register

Once a visitor pre-registers, you can automatically configure your system to send the visitor vital information they need to know, such as directions to your office, where to park, and who to contact in the case of an emergency. This information will give them more confidence when it’s time for your visitor to arrive at their appointment. They will know what to expect, which can help them feel more prepared and relaxed upon arrival.

Manage Your Deliveries

Most workplaces have a variety of visitors, including delivery personnel. You can improve the future visitor experience for your delivery personnel by using your visitor management system, too. By doing so, you’ll ensure that they have a successful interaction with your staff and that you receive the resources necessary to carry out your tasks.

The easiest way to improve your future delivery process is by setting up a check-in workflow for your delivery people. Anticipate what types of deliveries you’ll receive and ensure that your visitor management system is set up to automatically notify the responsible recipient(s) when the delivery personnel arrives.

Use Photo ID for Easy Recognition

Consider printing photo IDs for all of your visitors. This feature is available through The Receptionist for iPad visitor management system. By making this process mandatory during check-in, you will have a photo ID on file for all of your visitors. This data becomes even more useful for future visits. Your visitors can opt to print off the photo ID on file instead of creating a new one. This photo ID data can also be used to help your staff visually recognize visitors.

Final Thoughts

As you see from the above strategies, you can use your visitor management system to improve the overall experience for your future visitors. Use these tips to ensure that you’re making it easy for your arrivals and your staff.