Many New Zealand businesses employ the services of mystery shopping companies, particularly in the retail sector. The idea is for the company to send in a mystery shopper who masquerades as a regular customer. Often the mystery shopper will even go ahead and make a purchase. The mystery shopper then compiles a report on their overall experience.
This is valuable feedback for businesses and companies to understand how their employees are performing when the boss isn’t around, as well as feedback on how their customer service and business methods can be improved upon.
With this in mind, let’s take a brief look at some of the key attributes you’ll want in a mystery shopping company you hire.
Deal With a Company Who Has Experience
While a newcomer certainly deserves a chance, if you’re going to be spending money on a company that specialises in mystery shopping, you’ll want one that has a positive track record and has a stable of reliable mystery shoppers who actually show up when they’re supposed to.
It’s an industry that can be fraught with unreliability, so really the first criteria is to seek out a company that’s been in business for a number of years and has had success.
Their Pricing Will Be Fair and Reasonable
A good mystery shopping business will usually offer you a number of options, depending on how detailed a shopping and feedback experience you require. Pricing can also be affected by the type of business you run, and whether you require the mystery shopper to make an actual purchase.
The company’s pricing structure and options will be transparent, and as the business requesting a mystery shopper, you should also be able to set the limit on the cost of a purchase.
Infographic by Customer|Care
Detailed Reporting
As the whole idea of sending in a mystery shopper is to glean as much information and feedback as you can, it’s important that the company you hire offers at least some form of training and instruction to their employees and also has a reporting system that’s both detailed enough and can readily be submitted via an online form. The latter enables you as the business to receive your feedback as soon as possible.
A Quality Company Will Improve Your Business
The success of your business relies on a few key factors:
- The quality of your staff
- The quality of your goods and services
- The price of your goods and services
- The customer experience
- And more…
A quality mystery shopping company will conduct their services in such a way that you receive the most valuable feedback possible. Focusing on these key areas will help you improve your business, from hiring better staff, good product placement, competitive pricing and so on.
Search for Independent Reviews Online
Another key way to determine if a mystery shopping company is worth dealing with is to search for customer experiences online. These might be found in forums or social media posts, any reviews and recommendations that are independent. This way you’ll get a pretty good overview of whether the company and its mystery shoppers are worth paying for and dealing with.
The important thing is to do your homework on a company before employing their mystery shopping services.
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