5 Reasons to Use Mystery Shoppers
Advantages of using Mystery Shoppers
The world of Mystery Shopping is not so much a mystery in itself. The basic idea is to send in a trained “Shopper” to check on the quality of the service delivered. Often times, just checking if the basic guidelines are met.
Why use Mystery Shoppers and go through the trouble just to check on the basic service level that should be delivered?
Here are 5 reasons to use Mystery Shoppers:
Objective Opinions of the Demographic
The Shoppers that are sent in to audit these stores are always briefed and trained beforehand. They are given specific instructions to follow to be able to provide feedback.
These Shoppers go into the visit with a specific mindset. And would be able to view the store differently during the visit. This may not always be in terms of service, however, would also mean the environment of the store is being evaluate. How the staff attends to other customers, body language and behavior of the staff as well are all being observed.
If you have never tired Mystery Shopping, you should. If only for the experience of viewing the service you receive in a different light.
A Trained Eye
Every business has its idea of the ideal demographic. Mystery Shopping programs are design to specific requirements. It allows the company to narrow in on a specific demographic that they want to hear from. Of course a company can get a general over view as well. If the company does not set any specific requirements.
These Shoppers will then provide objections options on the service delivered by the store/brand. This in turn allows the company to know what is going right or otherwise, in the opinions of this demographic.
For example, Millennials may not react in manner as Baby Boomers to a scenario.
Shopper Insights
Once in a while our shoppers would come across exceptional service. Or a bad situation that needs to be highlighted.
We call these insights. We have spoken about these in previous articles. And yes, it is a big advantage of using Mystery Shoppers.
As the insights given by the shopper could be used to improve on a situation immediately. Maybe a staff member went above and beyond the call of duty to provide exceptional service to a customer. Or maybe a staff member was sleeping on the job. The shopper would report these findings and it would be reported to the company.
Read more on insights here.
Shoppers Are There For Your Brand
As mentioned in points above. These shoppers are within your demographic, trained to observed and point out insightful information. While providing feedback and data about the service that they had experience.
A large number of these Shoppers take the job very seriously. They know they are part of the fabric that makes the service industry. They want to receive good service and they are trying to help the industry improve where it can.
When they visit a store, they would base their opinions on the requirements of the brand. Keeping in mind what the brand offers, and how the service should be. These Shoppers don’t compare apples and oranges. They look at the situation objectively and think about what could be improved.
Data Driven Action for Continuous Improvement
Now that you have the results of the visit you can use that to improve. The data allows you to narrow in to which aspects of the visit that needs to be improved. Action can then be taken on this to continuously improve on the Service Delivered to the customers of the store.
The ultimate goal of Mystery Shopping is all about continuous improvement. We want for companies to deliver great service to customers. Our Shoppers want for companies to deliver great service to them.
Great service goes beyond the results of one Mystery Shopping survey. Through the years, patterns can be seen in the data. Whether the store or staff are consistent. One bad score out of 10 would not be alarming. However, if it was the other way around that would signal that action needs to be taken.
Read our previous article on Improving on the Results of Mystery Shopping to find out more.
How you feel that Mystery Shopping can benefit a company? Contact us today if you want to know more
