Is your business offering a truly touch-less experience?

We have entered the touch-free era. The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened our awareness of how many hands touch certain surfaces each day, and how many potential germs and bacteria live on those objects. 

• How many unwashed hands touched the bathroom door handle in a public restroom?
• How many fingers have punched in debit card numbers on all those retail card readers?
• How many hands have handled those restaurant menus and condiment dispensers?

Even when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, people will hesitate to touch objects and surfaces that others may have used. Some will even go as far as to demand a 100 percent touch-less experience at whatever businesses they visit, be it banks, restaurants, retailers, health care facilities, and hotels.

Going through the complete buying process without touching common surfaces is now a key part of the overall customer experience. Customer experience equates to how customers feel your company treats them. If you give them a touch-less experience, your customers will think you care for their comfort, health and well-being.

Why does this matter?

A Walker study found that at the end of 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. Plus, a good customer experience means your customers will spend more. In fact, 86 percent of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. The more expensive the item, the more they are willing to pay, according to a research from PWC.

How are customers getting touch-less experiences?

One survey showed that no-touch payments increased 69 percent during the first half of last year. A study done last year in the United Kingdom showed that 80 percent of respondents said they will change the way they engage with publicly available technology. About half prefer to use contactless payment systems. Additional respondents said they would lessen their use of ATMs and would do more of their shopping online.

Curbside pickup has also been a common addition at many retailers and restaurants. This same report revealed that nearly three quarters of respondents had either worn gloves to use common touchpoints or wiped down a public touch surface.

Not every business can survive by enabling more online sales and curbside pickups. After all, many sales occur in the store, point-of-sale marketing is critical to some businesses and many types of businesses depend completely on in-person customers. A number of these types of companies and industries have responded by instituting touch-free customer experiences.

The air travel industry is marketing a touchless travel experience, including Delta, American Airlines, and a number of airports. Companies ranging from Discount Tire to Verizon Wireless have done the same.

According to last year’s Healthy Hand Washing Survey conducted by Bradley Corp., 91 percent of Americans believe it’s extremely or somewhat important that public restrooms are equipped with touchless fixtures. About 60 percent say their preference for touchless hand washing fixtures has risen since the pandemic.

An official at Bradley, a manufacturer of commercial plumbing fixtures and related products, said that the most requested improvement from its commercial customers is “making everything touchless.”

If your business has or is planning to spend the money to install automatic faucets and hand dryers, then you also need to consider making the door touch-free as well. After all, what good does it do to wash your hands if you have to touch the bathroom door to exit? And even though more people are washing their hands more frequently because of COVID-19, not everybody is. And even those that are washing their hands may not be doing it thoroughly enough to kill germs.

The easy, inexpensive, lowest level of effort solution is to install a foot operated door opener like StepNpull. A foot door opener will minimize how often your customers touch germ-infested door handles with their hands.

StepNpull is a sanitary door opener that works on any latch-less commercial wood, metal or glass door. In fact, the touch-less experience you provide customers should begin the moment they enter your shop or facility. StepNpull can be installed on exterior doors as well, meaning your customers and employees can enter without touching the handle. And at $30 each, a StepNpull hands-free door opener is significantly less expensive than installing an automatic door, which can cost an average of $2,100.