[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":192},["ShallowReactive",2],{"marketing-blog-blog\u002Fwriting-kiosk-prompts-people-actually-read":3,"marketing-blog-related-blog\u002Fwriting-kiosk-prompts-people-actually-read":173},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":7,"category":152,"date":153,"description":154,"draft":155,"extension":156,"image":157,"imageAlt":158,"imageCredit":159,"imageCreditUrl":160,"meta":161,"navigation":162,"path":163,"readTime":164,"seo":165,"stem":166,"tags":167,"__hash__":172},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fwriting-kiosk-prompts-people-actually-read.md","Writing kiosk prompts people actually read","The CheckInHub team",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":144},"minimark",[10,14,17,22,25,28,72,75,79,82,85,101,110,114,117,123,126,130,133,141],[11,12,13],"p",{},"A kiosk has no member of staff standing beside it to say \"no, tap the green one\" when a guest hesitates. The words on the screen are the only instruction the guest will ever get, and they are read in the worst possible conditions: standing up, coat on, bag on shoulder, phone in one hand, a queue forming behind, and roughly two seconds of patience before frustration sets in. Writing for that moment is a real skill, and most kiosk copy is written as if for someone sitting calmly at a desk with all the time in the world.",[11,15,16],{},"The guest at a kiosk is not reading. They are scanning for the one thing they need to do next, doing it, and moving on. Every word that is not helping them do that is a word that slows them down or, worse, makes them stop and wonder whether they have got it wrong. Good kiosk copy is ruthless about this. It says the next action, plainly, and gets out of the way.",[18,19,21],"h2",{"id":20},"write-the-action-not-the-explanation","Write the action, not the explanation",[11,23,24],{},"The single biggest improvement you can make to kiosk copy is to lead with the verb. \"Scan your QR code\" is a better prompt than \"Welcome. To begin your check-in, please locate the QR code in your confirmation email and hold it up to the scanner below.\" The second version is not wrong. It is just slow, and a person standing up does not read to the end of it.",[11,26,27],{},"Compare how the same step reads in two registers:",[29,30,31,44],"table",{},[32,33,34],"thead",{},[35,36,37,41],"tr",{},[38,39,40],"th",{},"Wordy",[38,42,43],{},"Direct",[45,46,47,56,64],"tbody",{},[35,48,49,53],{},[50,51,52],"td",{},"\"Please enter the email address you used to register\"",[50,54,55],{},"\"Enter your email\"",[35,57,58,61],{},[50,59,60],{},"\"We were unable to find your booking\"",[50,62,63],{},"\"We couldn't find that. Try your email instead\"",[35,65,66,69],{},[50,67,68],{},"\"Thank you, your check-in is now complete\"",[50,70,71],{},"\"You're in. Head through the doors\"",[11,73,74],{},"The direct column is not curt. It is respectful of the guest's situation, which is that they want to be inside, not reading. Notice the error line in particular: it does not just report the failure, it tells the guest what to do next. A dead end at a kiosk is where queues stall and staff get summoned, so every error message should hand the guest a way forward.",[18,76,78],{"id":77},"one-screen-one-decision","One screen, one decision",[11,80,81],{},"A kiosk flow works when each screen asks for exactly one thing. The moment a screen presents two questions, or an action plus a sub-option, the guest has to stop and parse it, and parsing is where they look up for help that is not there. Break the flow into single steps even if it means one more tap, because a tap is fast and confusion is not.",[11,83,84],{},"A clean flow reads as a short sequence of single decisions:",[86,87,88,92,95,98],"ul",{},[89,90,91],"li",{},"Scan your QR code.",[89,93,94],{},"Is this you? Confirm your name.",[89,96,97],{},"Collect your badge from the printer.",[89,99,100],{},"You're in.",[11,102,103,104,109],{},"Four screens, four actions, no branching the guest has to think about. If a step needs a fallback, such as \"no code? enter your email\", put it as a quiet secondary option, not a fork that makes everyone choose. Most people take the main path; the fallback is there for the few who need it and should never slow the many who do not. We go deeper on building flows people complete in ",[105,106,108],"a",{"href":107},"\u002Fblog\u002Fdesigning-a-kiosk-flow-people-finish","designing a kiosk flow people finish",".",[18,111,113],{"id":112},"words-that-calm-words-that-rush","Words that calm, words that rush",[11,115,116],{},"Tone matters more at a kiosk than people expect, because a machine asking you to do things can feel cold or even slightly accusatory if the words are wrong. \"Invalid input\" makes a guest feel they have failed. \"That doesn't look right, try again\" makes the same point and keeps them calm. The kiosk should sound like the most patient member of your team, not a parking machine.",[118,119,120],"blockquote",{},[11,121,122],{},"A kiosk cannot smile at a nervous guest. The words have to do the smiling.",[11,124,125],{},"A few habits keep the tone right. Use \"you\" and \"your\", because it is the guest's check-in, not the system's process. Avoid jargon entirely; \"QR code\" is fine because it is on the email, but \"authenticate\", \"session\", and \"record\" are not words a guest should ever see. And never blame the guest for a problem the system created. If the scanner is struggling in bright light, \"having trouble reading that? type your email instead\" is kinder and more useful than a generic failure.",[18,127,129],{"id":128},"test-the-copy-on-someone-who-has-never-seen-it","Test the copy on someone who has never seen it",[11,131,132],{},"You cannot judge your own kiosk copy, because you know what every screen means before you read it. The only honest test is to hand the kiosk to someone who has never seen it, say nothing, and watch where they hesitate. Every pause, every glance around for help, every wrong tap is a sentence that needs rewriting. Do this with three or four people and the weak prompts reveal themselves quickly.",[11,134,135,136,140],{},"Pay special attention to the older guest, the guest in a hurry, and the guest who is not confident with technology, because the kiosk has to work for all of them, not just the person who would have been fine anyway. Accessibility is not a separate concern here; clear, plain, well-paced copy is the same thing that makes a kiosk work for someone reading it under stress. Our piece on ",[105,137,139],{"href":138},"\u002Fblog\u002Fself-check-in-with-accessibility-and-dignity","self check-in with accessibility and dignity"," carries that thread further.",[11,142,143],{},"Kiosk copy is rarely admired, because when it works nobody notices it. A guest scans, taps twice, collects a badge, and walks in, never once thinking about the words that guided them. That invisibility is the goal. The screen did its job precisely because the guest never had to stop and read it twice.",{"title":145,"searchDepth":146,"depth":146,"links":147},"",2,[148,149,150,151],{"id":20,"depth":146,"text":21},{"id":77,"depth":146,"text":78},{"id":112,"depth":146,"text":113},{"id":128,"depth":146,"text":129},"Self check-in & kiosks","2024-07-05","A self check-in kiosk lives or dies by the words on screen. Here is how to write prompts that a stranger can follow in one pass, under pressure, with a queue behind them.",false,"md","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1673700540646-cf7799affe51?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop","People standing in front of a gate","Bradrey Nassel","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@ryosuke_nasu?utm_source=checkinhub&utm_medium=referral",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fwriting-kiosk-prompts-people-actually-read",5,{"title":5,"description":154},"blog\u002Fwriting-kiosk-prompts-people-actually-read",[168,169,170,171],"kiosks","self check-in","self-service","copywriting","86WKKjTsx1QkxWgI_31HN9tRCvMvnydn1OIF1JyizuE",[174,181,187],{"to":175,"title":176,"description":177,"date":178,"category":152,"image":179,"readTime":180},"\u002Fblog\u002Freducing-door-staff-with-unattended-check-in","Reducing door staff with unattended check-in","Unattended check-in lets a small team cover a busy door. Here is where it works, where it does not, and how to set it up well.","2026-04-17","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1702411739534-2961ba90fefd?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop",6,{"to":182,"title":183,"description":184,"date":185,"category":152,"image":186,"readTime":164},"\u002Fblog\u002Flocking-down-a-kiosk-without-locking-out-guests","Locking down a kiosk without locking out guests","A self check-in kiosk has to be tamper-resistant and genuinely easy at the same time. The craft is in securing it without making it hostile.","2026-01-30","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1613652038578-a9a988b54a60?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop",{"to":107,"title":188,"description":189,"date":190,"category":152,"image":191,"readTime":180},"Designing a kiosk flow people finish","A self-check-in kiosk only helps if guests get to the end of it. Here is how to design a flow people complete without asking for help.","2026-01-09","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1778229757765-7ae794a67b39?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop",1787334029950]