A successful business is based on the quality of the interaction between staff and customers. It is highly important to measure the level of service, customer experiences and customer satisfaction on a regular basis in order to guarantee future success and sustainability of a business.
About the research
Mystery shopping is a research technique for measuring and monitoring of the interaction between a company and customers on a regular basis, according to previously ascertained scenario. Mystery shopping research is based on an observation and remembrance, and it is applied in small and massive scales in service-based sectors, such as banks, restaurants, retail shops, automobile centers, technological services and so on. The process commences with the entry of a trained person who identifies themselves as a customer into the premise, continues with their observation about the operations executed by the staff members, shop or office environment, attitude to customers, kindness of the staff members, queues and so on, then concludes with the purchase of products and service as a real customer, giving back the purchased products or services if necessary and the evaluation throughout the whole process.
Mystery shopping researches are generally sponsored in two forms:
- To research their own company
- To research their competitors’ companies
The increase in the number of departments and affiliates of companies, the growing impact of customer relationships on the level of service have contributed to the importance of mystery shopping researches.
The content and main benefits of the research
From the perspective of companies, the mystery shopping research is a kind of seeing themselves from “the eyes of customers”. In general, the mystery shopping research comprises the following elements:
- The opportunity of foreseeing problems before real customers;
- The decrease in the number of customer churn;
- Determining the needs of customers for trainings;
- Measuring the effectiveness of the trainings organized for staff members;
- The evaluation and improvement of staff performance;
- The increase in customer satisfaction;
- Developing products and services;
- The opportunity of tracking competitors;
- To create a competitive environment among departments and affiliates;
- Proper establishment of the motivation system of staff members.
Being a part of your buyer audience, our mystery shoppers collects highly necessary information about the most effective touchpoints with your business and customers. Our analysis and reports give you an opportunity to evaluate and compare department and affiliates, staff members, competitors and so on.
An anonymous evaluation allows you to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of your companies unprejudicedly. To know about expressions of your customers will assist you to understand the reasons why they came back and repurchased the product and why they left and never returned.