Why Use Mystery Shopping Services?
There are 2 things necessary to make it as a successful retailer: new customers and returning customers. The goal is to turn new customers into returning customers.
New customers can be attracted with sales and marketing strategies and campaigns but to keep those customers it is necessary to understand what the business does well, to keep doing it, and to identify where the business needs to improve.
By identifying how customers feel and the level of service provided the business can gain an understanding of what needs to be focused on to get returning customers and to increase recommendation rates.
The Mystery Shopper is a person who can anonymously check specific boxes, ensuring the processes that management have put in place are being adhered to. The Mystery Shopper attends a location and checks every aspect of a customer journey. For each client the brief is different but the end result should remain the same – increased levels of service, resulting in a higher average spend and improved customer retention.
The benefits of Mystery Shopper include features such as being able to:
- Measure, monitor and manage customer service performance.
- Manage employee integrity and knowledge.
- Assess brand compliance, merchandising and promotions.
- Identify staff training needs.
- Complete competitive analysis between locations (which locations are performing well and those that are not.)
Mystery Shopper will enable the business resolve issues like:
- Do customers recommend you?
- Are the telephones being answered? Is the line engaged?
- Are emails being responded to?
- Are some staff serving under-age customers (think 21,25)
- Are staff making recommendations (upselling) to their friends and neighbours?
With the data gained by the Mystery Shopper experience the business will have valuable insights into which behavioural competencies staff are exceeding at and what they may be failing at. To maximise the effect of Mystery Shopper, the results should be shared across departments and locations to encourage best practices amongst all staff.
The Mystery Shopper service can impact low performing locations as well as rewarding those staff members that go above and beyond.