What a Customer Experience Management Companies Can Do For You
One of the reasons mystery shopping has gotten a bad rap is because of mystery shopping providers who simply don’t provide programs that speak to the total customer experience.
The problem is that the viewpoint is incomplete, and the company (end-user) soon concludes the mystery shopping program “isn’t working.” It’s like taking a picture of a group of people with their backs to you, and then when the film is developed and you can’t see their faces, blaming Kodak.
The best organizatons offer a variety of measurement strategies to form a complete picture of what your customers are currently experiencing as they shop in your store. In other words do not just do a loss prevention mystery shop thinking that it is the panacea to all your problems. Sometimes there may be a need to have several mystery shopping programs targeting different areas of the operation.
So choose your provider wisely. Make sure they understand your needs and are willing to customize their programs to your short and long term goals. Don’t pick one component of an integrated program and focus on it to the exclusion of all others. If so, your data will not show the true picture, your results will be skewed and any improvements based on that data will not bring the hope-for changes. Instead, aim for a holistic approach to the customer experience that gathers data from multiple metrics that address all aspects of the typical customer’s visit, from frontline staff to clean restrooms, for a complete overview of how your customer might perceive your brand.