A fresh pair of eyes
Even companies that are on top of their customer service targets need a new perspective every now and then. Employing a team of mystery shoppers will allow you to see your company in a new light and gain a real insight into how people view your business from the outside. Relying on people who work within the company to give you honest feedback will never be as reliable as hearing the truth about your business straight from the horse’s mouth, so grab any opportunity you can to listen to someone impartial.
An opportunity to make positive changes
Gaining a clear overview of how people perceive your customer service efforts will allow you to understand what is and isn’tworking and identify any training needs. When you know where you are going wrong (and even the very best businesses do get it wrong occasionally) you’ll be able to concentrate on putting it right.
A chance to offer real value
A good mystery shopper will give you a real and honest evaluation of your business and tell you what you could have done to improve their experience. As all customers are ultimately looking for great value, working on any pain points will help you give them exactly that.
Mystery shopping is quickly shifting the focus of business to improving the customer experience. Consumer expectations grow and change from day to day. To stay current with these changes, businesses need to stay in step with their customers, changing expectations through a series of tools and resources aimed at providing valuable feedback on what consumers look for when shopping and how you can best serve them.
What Things A Mystery Shopper Evaluates
When consumers are in your store, the ability to find items, the availability of stock, and the cleanliness of the store are things they will find out only after coming to your business. Your business will be evaluated on the customer service provided by your friendly staff, the overall cleanliness of your public areas and restrooms, availability of paper products in the restrooms, popular items on store shelves or in-stock,was your customer greeted when they entered the store, and would they choose your business over a competitor with similar services?
All this information goes a long way towards improving the customer experience and ensuring that they remain loyal customers for years to come. With so many retailers in business in 2021, you need to possess the knowledge of what customers want and how to provide it to retain existing customers and snag new ones from your competitors.
As business owners, we have all experienced some good and bad shopping experiences in our lifetime. Remember how you felt when you come into a business and cannot find things, prices are not listed, and no one seems interested in asking if you need help.
The difference is like night and day when you find a business that just “gets it.” Store shelves are well-stocked, departments are marked with signs to help you find what you’re looking for, prices are clearly marked, and an associate is nearby to help if you need anything.
Remember that friendly, smiling face that greeted you when you entered and said to let them know if you need any help? These are two vastly different shopping experiences, but ones that can be used to train your staff and improve your customer’s satisfaction when visiting your establishment
Mystery shopping is a market research tool that can help you find out your strengths and weaknesses, as well as make improvements to your customer service, and gain new customers from all those customer loyalty promotions you have been running.
To find out more about how your business could benefit from a mystery shopping experience and how to get involved, get in touch with Ethos today.
