Video Mystery Shopping

Four compelling reasons to use Retail Active Video Mystery Shopping:

1) Customer Experience
See your business from the customer’s perspective – literally.  With Video Mystery Shopping, you can ensure that your company standards are adhered to and that your customers' experiences are of a similar high standard, whichever location they visit.

2) Training
Video Mystery Shops can bring a whole new dimension to your current training programme.  With a DVD of perfect service at your stores, you are not restricted to just telling your staff what excellent service is - you can actually SHOW them.

3) Management
No matter what product or service your company provides, service is always a high priority.  Using undetectable, covert recording techniques, Video Mystery Shopping gives you the facility to monitor and manage your business as never before.

4) Quality
Before undertaking assignments, our Mystery Shoppers are checked and briefed as to the requirements of each project.  The recordings are received by us within a matter of hours and they are put through our exacting Quality Assurance measures, checking video and audio quality, adherence to the brief and reporting accuracy.

We can provide online streaming of Video Mystery Shopping footage or we can have footage recorded on CD or DVD for distribution.  An accompanying written report is always an option and this will always be checked against the recording before both video and report are made available on our online portal.

Whether it’s for a new programme or in addition to a programme you are already running with us, Video Mystery Shopping can bring a whole new element to your business.  Please contact us for a demonstration or for further information, through info@retailactive.com or by calling 01235 438 413.  Retail Active is one of the leading Video Mystery Shopping companies.

If you are an established Video Mystery Shopper, please let us know through shoppersupport@retailactive.com, or you can update your Shopper Homepage with details of the equipment that you own so that we can match you up to our clients’ requirements and ensure that Video Mystery Shopping jobs are available to you.

Service Hero of the Month - December 2012

Retail Active is the leading British brand auditing and mystery shopping company and we like to recognise service excellence not just by providing clients with our acclaimed mystery shopping reports, but from accepting nominations for our Service Hero award.

We are delighted to award this month’s Service Hero to Sharon, a valued colleague at the Glossop branch of Wickes.

Sharon has been nominated for recognition as a Service Hero due to her excellent Customer Service skills, noted in a recent mystery shopping visit.  She takes the trouble to explain the services that Wickes can provide and does so at the right level for her customers to understand. 

Our mystery shopper said, “I felt that she was interested in my needs, not just in a sale, and as a result I felt a valued customer and would have been more likely to buy as a result.”

If you want to nominate someone for our Service Hero of the Month, please email shoppersupport@retailactive.com with your nominee’s name, the company they work for and the reasons for your nomination.

The nomination doesn’t have to come from one of our mystery shopping visits or brand audits.  The nominee could work at your regular coffee-stop or supermarket – we are happy to receive all recommendations.

Please include your contact details in the email, just in case we need to get in touch for more information with regards to your nomination.

If you’re interested in seeing how we can help you to improve Service Excellence and Customer Experience within your business, please email info@retailactive.com for more details.

Service where it matters

Businesses rely on ensuring that their customers and clients keep coming back. As a mystery shopping company, our entire business is set up around this fact. We keep our clients coming back by helping them keep their customers. Because we spend a lot of time thinking about this, we can sometimes be quite startled when others don’t appear to agree. A recent experience particularly got us thinking about how a business gets (and keeps) new customers. There are a myriad of techniques employed to get new customers into your business, but once there, they’ll only stay if you provide a service that is good enough.

Our experience went like this: we decided to get pizza.  Because one member of the group did not want to get pizza from the usual company, we tried a different pizza company. A simple quirk of fate has got us through their door, a good opportunity for them to win some new repeat customers (or not). When we arrive to collect our pizza, our name was already listed as being ready, which pleased us.  Unfortunately, we then experienced a series of customer service 'do-nots' that had us wondering whether they had any customer service training at all. The short list being:

• They did not acknowledge us. This may not appear to be much of an issue, but certainly exacerbated the problems which were to follow.
• They left us waiting for 10 minutes while they took phone orders.  This, again, wouldn’t matter so much if we had received the acknowledgement, but instead just made what was to follow worse.
• They did not have the pizzas ready.  This was pretty bad, but mistakes like this happen and how you handle them can occasionally win you life-long customers.  This did not happen though.
• They misled us.  Two of our pizzas were ready, while one had either been forgotten or accidentally given to another customer.  Instead we were told that it was “nearly ready”, whilst we watched the preparation from start to finish.
• They did not acknowledge or apologise for our extended wait.

As might be assumed, we decided to never again venture from our usual pizza place. However, this had very little to do with the initial mistake, we’ve waited for pizza before and were hardly in a rush.  Instead, it was to do with the apparent attitude of the staff towards us.  The feelings a customer has towards a company define whether they will return.  If a customer feels undervalued or unwanted, then they are very unlikely to come back.  Of course discovering how your business makes your customers feel can be very tricky, but then this is where selected mystery shoppers can make a world of difference. So, when in doubt, call the experts at Retail Active Mystery Shopping.

Service Hero of the Month - November 2012

We are pleased to present this month’s Service Hero; Charlotte, a valued member of Boots, who works at their store in Leeds, United Kingdom.

Charlotte has been nominated as a Service Hero due to her personal and excellent Customer Service, noted as going out of her way to ensure that Boots' customers are happy and have everything that they need.  In a very busy location, Charlotte makes time to engage every customer as an individual and always has a smile to share.

We are always on the look-out for nominees for Service Hero of the Month so if you have experienced extraordinary Customer Service, whether during a Mystery shopping visit or at any other time, please email your nomination to shoppersupport@retailactive.com along with the reasons for your nomination, your nominee’s name and the company they work for.  Please include your details so that you can be contacted regarding your nomination for further details if needed.

To find out what Retail Active can do for your company to improve Customer Experience, please email info@retailactive.com.  If you are interested in becoming a Mystery Shopper, please visit www.retailactive.com. 

The rise of the e-card

Christmas is just round the corner and here at Retail Active our tree is already up and the office is covered in cards and advent calendars.  We’ve also started to receive a few e-cards, which has got us thinking.

As a mystery shopping company, we are thinking about the relationship between business and consumers, and particularly what a company’s behaviour says about itself and its relationship with its customers.

A quick search around the internet will find a lot of people decrying the e-card as pointless and impersonal.  The reasons given are all fairly similar, the ease of which an e-card is sent makes them feel less meaningful.  With a traditional card, you know the person sending it has thought about you as they chose, wrote and sealed the card, whereas with an e-card they may well have simply imported their email contacts and clicked 'send all'.  But these arguments are all on the assumption that it is an individual sending cards to another individual.  When a company sends greeting cards, they are taking your name from a database, using bulk purchased cards and preparing them in an automated envelope stuffer – probably the same one used to send your bills.

The process is not all that different from what they would be doing with the e-cards, so why not save the environment a bit and skip delivering actual cards?  The answer is fairly simple as it turns out. 

Most companies put a lot of work into not appearing faceless and corporate, they engage in massive programmes to engage their customers and ensure their customers think of them as something more than 'just another company' (we would know, we provide the mystery shoppers who check how they are doing!).  When you’ve invested this heavily in building that relationship with your customers, the last thing you want to do is give the impression that you are being impersonal.

With electronic communication ever taking the place of traditional modes of communication, it is safe to say that the e-card is here to stay (and the traditional card might be doomed), but for now, if you are a business who cares about your relationship with your customers, a well chosen traditional card is your only real choice.

Let us know! Will you be sending e-cards this year?

Service Hero of the Month - October 2012

We are pleased to present this month’s Service Hero; Daniel, a valued member of Timpson, who works at their Fenchurch Street Station store in London, United Kingdom.

Daniel's hard work, dedication and enthusiasm for the brand he represents were evident during recent visits to Timpson, Fenchurch Street Station. His passion for great service and expert knowledge has helped his customers make the right choices for repairs and product purchases. We have received outstanding praise from customers regarding their experience, specifically stating that their opinion of the brand has been positively influenced as a direct result of Daniel's great advice and guidance.

To nominate someone who you feel should be recognised for their excellent Customer Service skills, please email shoppersupport@retailactive.com with your nominee’s name, the company they work for and the reasons for your nomination. Please also include your details so that we can get in touch regarding your nomination, in case we need some more information.

Remember, your nominee doesn’t have to be from one of your mystery shopping assignments and you don’t have to be working for our mystery shopping company to nominate someone.
If you would like to find out what Retail Active can do to improve Customer Service and Customer Experience in your stores, please contact info@retailactive.com.

Not just a pretty face - Customer service doesn't mean just being nice

The media has latched on to customer service as a hot topic – but industry professionals are asking whether this populist portrayal short changes the issue.

They say customer service is now a boardroom issue as companies realise that, in a tight market, it is an essential way to add value to their brand – without raising prices.

Companies like Oxford-based Retail Active, which sends out thousands of mystery shoppers every year to assess levels of customer service, say there’s more to creating genuine improvements in customer service than just highlighting shortcomings and naming and shaming.

Retail Active’s Managing Director, Julian Chamberlain says: “We are delighted that customer service is on the agenda. Our undercover agents do reveal a lot of areas where customer service can be improved – but what happens next is to apply a proven approach to delivering service excellence.

“First class and sustainable customer service is a structural issue within companies – not simply a case of identifying a few individuals who fall short of expected standards or of picking out poorly managed facilities.

“Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business. You want your customers to go away happy and come back again and again.

“It’s not difficult to sell something once – but to sell products and services to repeat customers takes skill and application.

“That’s why customer service is now a boardroom issue – not just a media talking point.

“In difficult trading conditions like these – customer service is the essential make or break ingredient between profitability or loss.

“Our aim is to permanently improve level of customer service and the expectations of consumers – so that, in future, everyone benefits.

“There are ways to achieve this and there’s no mystery about it – you have to follow the rules.

There is no one size fits all but we would recommend retailers:-

• Understand how customers experience your product offering – known as the consumer journey

• Identify the key touch points of the consumer journey – these are real moments of truth where there is an opportunity to exceed expectations, consistently and constantly

• Focus on delivering a flawless execution of service by designing strategies to maximise engagement of your identified moments of truth

• Use a regular customer service assessment programme such as mystery shopping to identify performance and what could be improved on

• Support your service strategy with bespoke and focussed training, taking care to ensure every level of employee understands what is expected of them

• Continuously review your ability to deliver great service

Hidden Charges Rip-Off Sparks a Consumer Revolt - New Survey

Eight out of ten people would not willingly go back to companies which hit them with hidden charges, according to a new survey.

And there’s a warning that hidden charges are sparking an angry consumer backlash, which could soon start to cost offending companies business.

Budget airlines were named as the worst culprits for ripping off customers with hidden charges – according to a survey by the mystery shopping company and business intelligence analysts, Retail Active.

A catalogue of complaints from customers includes a traveller being forced to buy a new full fare ticket after getting the names wrong on the booking form.

The survey, which polled 2000 people, says customers are fed up with being hit by an increasing number of hidden charges in a wide range of sectors including in the leisure, holiday, entertainment, travel and on-line retail sectors.

Customers are demanding action to force companies to come clean about their real costs.

Ryanair and Easyjet were named as the worst offenders for bumping up advertised budget rates with a string of hidden charges, which could add hundreds of pounds to a booking.

Many of those taking part in the survey said they had abandoned the process of making an on-line booking with budget airlines, as the ad-on charges piled up.

More than nine out of ten people said they resented paying hidden charges and the remainder said they only found it acceptable if extra services were involved.

The same number said they didn’t feel they were being advised about extra charges in time and that they were left until the last minute – when it was too inconvenient to abort the booking.

Top complaints against budget airlines were:-
• Adding charges for essentials like checking in, baggage allowances and paying on credit and debit cards when there was no other choice.
• Paying to guarantee passengers could sit together
• Exorbitant airport charges
• Paying “penalty” charges for administration for errors made while booking
• Exorbitant fuel, airport charges and transfer fees

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “Our survey reveals growing consumer anger with companies advertising misleading prices and then sneaking in hidden charges as part of the purchasing process.

“For many people, one more charge has become the “last straw” and they’ve called off the deal. More than 86 per cent of those surveyed said they would not willingly return to a company which hit them with a hidden charge at the end of the booking.

“Many of those taking part demanded that retailers should be forced to be honest about the real costs.

“It is clear that consumer patience is running out over hidden charges and companies persist with this practice at their peril.

“Two budget airlines were named as the main culprits – but there are many other areas where customers feel exploited – including hotels, “all-inclusive” holidays, restaurants, concerts and on-line shopping.”

One respondent booked at a hotel advertising free meals and accommodation for children only to be told there was a £20 per child “supplement”.

Postal charges for goods ordered on-line was another problem area – with customers reporting a £25 delivery on an item costing only a few pounds and being charged two lots of postage for two items in the same parcel.

Julian Chamberlain said: “It is obvious from the response that hidden charges are becoming a major consumer issue and that companies which don’t fairly publicise their extra charges could soon start to feel a backlash from angry customers.”

Razor-sharp Shoppers Give Stores a Customer Service Time Bomb

A new survey says the recession has sharpened consumer’s demands for better customer service and retailers who haven’t learned lessons could lose out in the recovery. It’s a customer service time bomb for stores which fail to shape up.

The survey says poor service could cost High Street stores millions of pounds and drive customers away for ever.

Research by Retail Active, Britain’s leading mystery shopping company, says a record number of British consumers are now prepared to complain about poor service.

Seventy one per cent of shoppers say they wouldn’t suffer shoddy service in silence – the highest figure ever recorded.

More than half the shoppers surveyed believe customer service has declined in the past year. Eight out of ten wouldn’t shop again at stores giving poor service.

Almost as many said they would spend more on products at stores with good service and more than a quarter said they complain more than they did before the start of the credit crunch.

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “Stores will be having to deal with a customer service time bomb.

“The recession has sharpened customers’ demands and more than ever before – seven out of ten - say they are prepared to complain about poor service.

Retail Active has identified several types of shopper who can damage businesses if they are not happy.

“The most dangerous for stores is the “Silent but Deadly” type, says Julian Chamberlain.

“According to our research, nearly a third of customers never complain at all – but they never go back either. And what is worse for retailers, they tell on average nine other people about their dissatisfaction.

“If the average customer value is £100 – that means every silent complaint costs a company at least £900. These figures are confirmed by the Office of Fair Trading, which puts a figure of £935 on the cost of each complaint.

“On the positive side customers who do complain and have their complaint well handled, tell on average 12 people about the great service they received. There is a distinct commercial advantage in good customer service.

“With internet sales booming – online companies are just waiting to welcome customers disillusioned with the High Street.

“This is really a crunch year for retailers, those who haven’t learned lessons from the credit crunch could lose out. Our survey shows that customer service will be the vital ingredient in deciding whether customers stay for next year – or desert in droves.”

Retail Active is one of the UK’s leading Customer Intelligence and Mystery Shopping companies. It sends out thousands of agents every year to monitor customer service standards for a wide variety of clients in the retail, leisure, automotive and travel sectors.

It Pays to Complain - And Business Benefits Too!

It pays to complain – that’s the message from hundreds of dissatisfied customers who are cashing in on compensation from embarrassed companies.

Brits are learning that they can pick up thousands of pounds in cash, new goods and other benefits just by complaining about sloppy service or faulty products.

Terry-Anne Gulko, from Norwich, is the self-confessed Queen of Complainers. She says she’s made more money from compensation claims than from her day job.

She discovered her talent for complaining ten years ago and decided to cash in on it.

Since then she says she has made tens of thousands of pounds a year – more than she does from her job as a PR consultant.

She has complained to dozens of companies large and small after things have gone wrong and she says the secret of success is “Take your complaint straight to the top.”

It started when she booked rooms for her wedding guests with a top hotel chain.

She says: “They mixed up nearly every room and when my two year nephew became seriously ill with an allergic reaction, my sister called me for help but hotel staff couldn’t tell me which room they were in because they couldn’t operate the computer system. We had to run around calling for them.

“I took my complaint to the chief executive – after getting no response from customer services – and got a response within the hour. They ended up asking me to name my price for the mix-up with my nephew. I asked that all their staff should be sent on an extra computer training programme.

“They also gave me vouchers for more stays – but something went wrong with all of them and I had to make more complaints.”

Her next claim was over a phone installation, which ended up with a lengthy planning wrangle and Terry-Anne getting a bill £125,000 for consultancy and other work. She complained and was finally awarded £2000 compensation.

Then another phone fault led to her not getting the message about a family bereavement – and yet more compensation.

Since then she’s taken on banks, energy companies and food manufacturers. She says: “The culprits are usually big companies. The smaller ones usually care more about complaints and don’t get into expensive disputes.

She says: ”Don’t bother going through customer service departments – find out who is in charge and make your complaint directly to them. It is easy to track them down – just go onto the company web site and get their names – very often you get their email address and PA’s phone number as well.”

The findings are part of a survey by Britain’s leading Mystery Shopping company, Retail Active – who asked hundreds of its regular shoppers for details of successful compensation claims.

Retail Active’s director, Julian Chamberlain said: “Our findings show that more Brits than ever - 71 per cent - are prepared to complain about poor service – and it certainly pays to complain.

“You should be compensated if a standards of customer service and product quality are not met. It keeps companies on their toes and helps to maintain standards at all levels.

“There is a positive spin off for businesses too in settling complaints. The evidence is that when a company adequately compensates an unhappy customer – they pass on more positive feed back to more people than they would if they had had good service in the first place.

Complaints include:

• The 75-year-old gran with arthritis who needed to change trains at Milton Keynes. Station staff wouldn’t let her son-in-law onto the platform to help her and then directed her to a goods lift, where she got trapped. She was given a full-refund and extra travel vouchers – although she refuses to travel by train again.

• The mum whose toddler banged his head when a supermarket trolley seat collapsed. She was first offered a big bag of sweets – but was later given £300 when she took it to the top.

• The granddad who counted the perforations in Typhoo tea bags with a pin to prove their ad campaign that there were 100 perforations in every bag was wrong – and won a years supply.

• A bug found in a home delivery pizza. The supplier refused compensation until the customer threatened to call environmental health – and £35 was offered on the spot.

• The father who always took a notebook on family holidays and jotted down every problem and complained about them all at the end of the break – netting hundreds of pounds in compensation.

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.

Mystery Dining

Mystery Dining is a service that is available to all hospitality companies such as restaurants and hotels who want to achieve the best quality of service available for their guests. The hospitality industry depends on the customer’s satisfaction in order to succeed. This is never more true than when the establishment is a restaurant or a hotel catered towards dining. The most important job of all is to make sure that their customers are getting the best service, therefore resulting in more business. Many guests use these restaurants and hotels for personal use as well as business use, so it is important that they are given the best service possible.

In today’s world it is very important for these restaurants and hotels to provide outstanding customer service to their clients as well as providing good food and excellent venues.
With a Mystery Dinning programme, you need to ensure that you get the best Mystery Diners available who will rate or score a number of areas, from how the food was presented to the cleanliness and upkeep of the venue. With so much to lose, it is important for you to find out any areas that need improving to enable you to act on it straight away. By introducing a Mystery Dining Programme, you will be able to achieve your biggest and most important goal of all. Not only will you be able to give the best service but you will be able to set yourselves apart from your competitors.

This is the reason why so many restaurants and hotels are hiring companies like Retail Active to provide a Mystery Dining Service to all clients. Retail Active are experts in delivering Mystery Dining programmes for hospitality and leisure businesses. Unlike other companies they can add real support in this sector because they have spent their life working it, they know food & beverage business inside out!

The Retail Active mystery dining team (aka Mystery Diners or Mystery Shoppers) evaluate staff on customer service skills and knowledge. Once the visit has been completed they give you detailed reports and solutions either monthly or quarterly, so you can keep up to date with how your staff are treating your valued customers. Apparently the Retail Active mystery dining reporting systems are the most advanced available and enables you to drill down detailed and objective levels of information, regardless of how complex the programme criteria.

Mystery Dining can help turn complaints into opportunities, accelerate sales and motivate both customers and staff. Using the right Mystery Dining company is essential and really can take your business to the next level of success.

Retail Active are the only Mystery Dining Company in the UK to have won the National Training Awards, they offer a risk free trial and quality guarantee. More information is available about their services at www.retailactive.com or call Retail Active on 01235 438413 to find out about a Mystery Dining Programme for your business and reap the rewards.

Does Mystery Shopping really improve customer service?

It’s vital that we remain close to what our customers want, but how do we know what they want if we don’t listen to what they say? Is it also true that listening to what customers say and responding positively to their comments will ensure we stay ahead of our competitors?

One company that asserts this is absolutely the case is Retail Active the leading mystery Shopping and Brand Audit Company. According to Retail Active we need to assess the level of service we are delivering to identify where we are performing well and not so well on our customer service delivery. Only when you assess the attributes of the experience your customers see as important, can see how to improve your service delivery of these attributes.
The leisure, hospitality and retail sectors are facing tough trading conditions and the need to evaluate the service they offer is more important than ever. Whilst evaluating your own service delivery it is important to bench mark against your competitors so that you can understand what impresses your customers about the service they experience from them.
Each of the Retail Active mystery shopping programmes is unique and designed specifically for the client. This is absolutely essential so always ensure any mystery shopping company is able to offer this detailed level of service.

Retail Active Mystery Shopping Programmes have many distinct benefits such as:

• Providing management information at your fingertips
• Helps significantly raise standards and behaviours, permanently
• Generate a common understanding of your brand standard within your business
• The mystery shopping process is transparent throughout
• Successful mystery shopping programmes save substantial management time and money, not to mention enhanced customer retention

There is one benefit that is often overlooked when considering if Mystery Shopping works and that is the positive impact it can have on embedding important processes and systems to eliminate inconsistency. So to answer the question, does Mystery Shopping really improve customer service? The answer is a very positive YES!

Retail Active, the Mystery Shopping Company can be contacted on 01235 438413 or at www.retailactive.com

Customer Service Training and Mystery Shopping

The new trend of using specific customer information to help design powerful and engaging training programmes is fast catching on in the UK.

Senior executives looking to make a real and lasting change in their organisation are turning to specialist Mystery Shopping Companies to provide consumer insight about real customers’ experiences. This information is used to create dynamic and participative training sessions to improve the customer experience, staff behaviours and profits.

Companies such as retail active are at the forefront, being one of the most reputable and fastest growing Mystery Shopping and Training providers who offer award winning customer service training.

If your objective is to deliver outstanding customer service and substantially grow sales then Retail Active can help your team gain a real understanding of the customer service challenges. Their objective is to show how world-class service can flourish within your business.

Each time the Mystery Shopping, Customer Service Training programme is used, it will take you on a journey of the customer service experience and pinch points in your organisation. This will help determine not only the customer service issues you may face, but critically it will enable you to determine a plan of action to affect a change in customer service culture.

The Retail Active Customer Service Training programme is totally unique and unavailable from any other source. Once experienced you will have a clear understanding of how effective this method of training is, as well as having the competence and skill to deliver world-class service, again and again.

By the way their Mystery Shopping service is pretty good also!