Outdated policies and unhappy frontline staff do not create a good customer experience. Customers who purchase items from your store expect to be able to return those same items. And they want to be treated with respect. Many stores still force antiquated policies upon their customers. A simple thing like a “No Return” Policy may mean those customers will never return as well. Is it worth it?
How can you know if your policies are turning customers away? One way top retailers find out is through mystery shopping and customer surveys. Professional mystery shoppers pose as ordinary customers, testing out policies, staff, the store environment and your merchandise. They objectively report their observations, which retailers use to amend employee behaviors, environmental or product issues, and policies. Customer surveys are also very useful, offering a subjective look at what your customers really think.
David Rich, President of ICC Decision Services, offers his perspective. “We provide clients with one source for all their measurement tools. We design and coordinate each piece to complement the overall program goals. There is no “˜finger pointing’ ““ the program responsibility rests with us. And our team of market research professionals and industry experts work closely to optimize the effectiveness of your unique Customer Experience Management (CEM) program. Specifically, our mystery shopping programs drive frontline staff performance improvement, and increased revenue. We recruit, test, certify and closely monitor our shoppers. Fully customized and integrated with in-person, Web site, call center and telephone-based components, our mystery shopping programs include dynamic and static 24/7 graphic reporting powered by our proprietary state-of-the-art Web-based technology. Our programs leave no doubt as to what your customers really think of your store and your products.”
Do you do work in the UK? We need a CEM programme for our shopping centres…heeeelllllpppp!
thanks, Mike