For your guests, losing a personal belonging can be a traumatic event. Unfortunately, with so many patrons, it’s bound to happen. When it does. you need a process in place that assures your guests you will do everything in your power to return their items. A quality lost and found process requires an action for every step of the process, from when an item is reported lost to when it’s finally returned to its owner.
Why is this important? Besides being the right thing to do for those who have placed trust in you as a host, assisting guests to the best of your ability fosters guest loyalty. When you help your guests through an unpleasant experience with ease, they’re more likely to visit again in the future and spread the word of their positive experience to others.
What is lost and found software?
Lost and found software eliminates headaches and uncertainty of the lost and found process for both staff and guests alike, by facilitating a fast, reliable, and clear reporting and recovering methods. Not only does this increase return-to-owner rates, but it enhances the patron experience, and builds guest loyalty.
Here’s how lost and found software works:
Report the item as lost.
Realizing you’ve lost something valuable is an awful feeling. What’s worse is only realizing that the item is gone once you’ve returned home from an event.
The best lost and found software assists guests in this moment of frustration by providing ways to report the lost item without having to return to or call your venue.
Reporting the loss through a web form allows the person to provide your venue with the details of the item and their contact information.
Manage the process.
The best software reduces the work involved in managing the lost and found process and increases customer satisfaction.
Using lost and found software, you can manage your items effectively and efficiently by:
- Capturing valuable data
- Tracking lost and found items
- Matching items quickly
Return items to the owner.
Returning lost items back to their rightful owners is the end goal, but you can’t get there without the organization and details provided by the right software. Using report tags applied to an item, you can easily match found items with the description so that your team can quickly and reliably give guests status updates.
Revise the process to improve it.
You want to know how to make the lost and found process better. You can do so by utilizing the power of data collected over time. Using comprehensive reports from past data, you can identify deficiencies in your process and make improvements.
How does lost and found software improve the guest experience?
As said, no one wants to misplace a personal item. But you can make the most out of a bad situation and even turn it into a great experience by implementing and practicing a good lost and found process. The right software facilitates and streamlines that process.
The number one way lost and found software improves the guest experience is that it builds trust between you and the guest by helping your team to demonstrate to the guest that unpleasant experiences will be handled quickly and with care.
A lost and found software does this through:
- Automatic data entry: By eliminating paperwork and replacing it with automated reports, workload is reduced and human error is minimized.
- Centralized data: As soon as the missing item report is in the software, users turn this information into tasks to ensure resolution.
- An easier, faster search process: Intelligent item identification matches a lost claim form to an item that’s been reported as lost, so the item appears in seconds as soon as the form is completed.
- Better organization: The right software helps organize both lost and found items based on item type, color, size, date of report, and other customized attributes. It can also inform you of how long an item has been in your inventory so that you can know when to discard unclaimed items and avoid creating a cluttered space.
How can businesses ensure their software is effective?
With the growing list of lost and found software options to choose from, you need a way to ensure that the software is going to be effective for your needs.
As you begin researching software, be sure the solution can:
Allow patrons to report lost items online.
When given the option to report lost items on your website, visitors can enter information about their lost items directly via web form, which reduces the number of phone calls taken and staff hours used to identify and document lost items.
Identify items through intelligent methods.
Time is of the essence with lost items, which means your software needs to match a found item to an item reported as lost as soon as a lost claim form is submitted.
Organize items through tags and barcodes.
You can make the return process fast by including some form of item identification, such as a barcode on a storage receipt, so you can quickly scan items and release them to their owners.
Generate reports.
With comprehensive digital records, you gain a clear understanding of what you have in your inventory, details on each item, and how long unclaimed items have been there so that you know what to do with them.
Manage lost and found property with 24/7 Software.
An efficient and effective lost and found process comes down to speed, organization, and reliability. Without them, you don’t have a solid process that your guests can trust.
The right lost and found software, can transform your process into one that is streamlined, easy, and even enjoyable for your team and guests.
Ready to take our industry tested software for a ride? Request a demo today!
