How can Mystery Shopping help my business?
Mystery Shopping is a well-established tool to assess, understand and improve the customer experience.
At its simplest level it provides feedback on what actually happened during the customer experience (rather than how the customer felt after an interaction).
…when Mystery Shopping is executed well it will drive improvement in the customer experience
Under the catch all term of Mystery Shopping, there are 3 broad-brush categories:
- Promotional
- Measuring effectiveness of and/or execution of key promotional events/material
- Compliance
- Measuring adherence to either external or internal regulations (e.g., Health & Safety, POS)
- Operational
- Measuring frontline service teams on areas they can directly influence against an established service framework
The specific needs of your business and your operational framework will determine what method of Mystery Shopping is best-suited, but when Mystery Shopping is executed well it will drive improvement in the customer experience.
Placing a spotlight on the CX through a (operational) Mystery Shopping programme allows organisations to:
- Demonstrate to both customers and employees the importance placed on service
- Better understand service ‘pinch-points’ and identify reasons for this (e.g., lack of training / unclear communication / staff rota management)
- Use data to inform strategic decisions
- Embed the desired set of service behaviours (e.g., link-selling, making a personal connection, closing the sale etc.)
- Deploy targeted training and/or communication to improve service delivery
- Motivate and engage all frontline teams to focus on the customer
- Recognise and celebrate the success of colleagues who do the right thing
Focusing on and improving the customer experience will lead to greater consistency in service, which in turn leads to an uptick in both customer loyalty (through retention and positive word of mouth) and strengthens brand image. And this, ultimately leads to an increase in sales.
