Mystery Shopping – What is it and how does it work?

Mystery Shopping is a service offered by market research companies to measure the quality of customer service. Mystery Shopping began in the USA during the early 1940’s where it was then used to measure employee integrity, but these days Mystery Shopping is used to improve the quality of customer service and to evaluate the performance of their staff.

Today companies are using Mystery Shopping programmes to help improve their business and to get a more in depth view of how their staff interact with their customers.

Any company wanting to learn more about customer satisfaction, advocacy and operational execution can use a Mystery Shopping programme. Typical businesses using this type of consumer insight information are:

* Petrol Stations
* Restaurants
* Travel Companies
* Supermarkets
* Leisure Operators
* Automotive Companies
* Spas
* Banks
* Cruise Lines
* Many more

Customer service is an important aspect in any business as it lets the company keep up with its competitors. Ensuring satisfaction in every shopping experience is vital to success. Mystery Shopping facilitates your company to ensure that the efficiency of your customer service meets the requirements set out by yourselves.

Mystery Shopping not only looks at how well your staff are doing, but also at how you can maximise the strategic value of your business.

With each Mystery Shopping programme, mystery shoppers are employed and given an assignment where they collect information about your business in a professional and objective manner. The results are then recorded and used to create detailed consumer insight. This raw data is returned to the market research company where they will report the detailed findings back to the client. Often the reportage is created using sophisticated software to highlight information of a strategically important nature.

Mystery Shopping programmes can range from simple questionnaires to elaborate market research projects, supported by cutting edge metrics and business tools. Research can be captured using written word, audio or video recording depending on the requirement of the client.

A Mystery Shopping company that makes a real and lasting difference to your business is hard to find. One company worth mentioning is Retail Active.

Retail Active is a Mystery Shopping Agency with a difference. They will help you to define measures that will drive you and your people to do the right thing. Retail Active Mystery Shopping programme makes a critical business contribution to some of the world’s most recognisable brands. All of their clients have seen significant, measurable and cost effective improvements by working with them. Retail Active will help you take your business to the next level of success.

With Retail Active’s Mystery Shopping programme, the information gathered is extensive and can be gathered in a number of ways.

* Employee Satisfaction Surveys
* On-line Customer Satisfaction Surveys
* Video Mystery shopping
* Retail Audits
* Brand Audits
* Telephone Mystery Calls
* Facilities Audits
* Price Surveys
* Competitor Benchmarking

If you would like to know more about Retail Active Mystery Shopping Programme, you can visit their web site www.retailactive.com, alternatively you can contact them on 01235 438413.

Retail Active
Sequential Solutions Ltd
Start Electron
Fermi Avenue
Harwell Science and Innovation Campus
Oxfordshire
OX11 0QR
www.retailactive.com

Retail Active Pioneers New Mystery Guest Programmes Within The Hotel Sector

Exceptional levels of customer service are vital to the success of any leading hotel brand. Hotels need to continually monitor and evaluate the service their staff offer their customers and are turning to Retail Active Mystery Guest programmes as a means to measure that service.

The benefits of Mystery Guest Programmes within hotels are endless. Not only do the programmes measure and monitor the levels of service the hotel provides, but helps to improve sales and customer retention. Continual measurement ensures standards are constantly achieved.

As the hospitality industry moves toward achieving higher standards than ever, the measuring and defining of customer service standards is essential.

The customer journey can start months ahead of a visit and the initial contact is vital to set the right impression. Mystery Guest Programmes tend to cover every aspect of the hotel visit from a customers perspective. This can be from the reservation process right through to check out and in some cases after sales follow up. Advanced Mystery Guest Programmes also review the hotels website and advertised features and offers.

Increasing staff awareness about the importance of customer service for each department helps to ensure that staff are clear about the standards required and how to achieve them.

Many hotels use customer surveys and satisfaction questionnaires as a method of collecting customer data but find that this does not give them the whole picture of the service they provide their customers.

Every customer touch point should be measured against set company standards. There are a wide range of service elements that can be measured and evaluated in every hotel department.

Hotel Mystery Guest Programmes prove to be most successful when every member of staff is involved in the process.Organisations who ensure staff are trained to understand the expectations of the customers they serve are rewarded with improved sales and increased customer retention.

Mystery Guest Programme reportage should always be shared amongst all staff within every department. This is so staff can see how they are performing against the criteria set. It is vital that reports are presented in a positive manner and wherever possible staff are rewarded for their achievements.

Hotel Mystery Guest Programmes are sometimes referred to as Mystery Shopping, Secret Customer and even Mystery Dining Programmes.