How Mystery Shopping Can Supercharge Your Marketing And

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SPONSORED BY: How Mystery Shopping can Supercharge Your Marketing and Training By dramatically improving product quality and the customer experience, mystery shopping could be called the ultimate brand insurance.

By Maggie McCandless Stone Mystery shopping is an approach to measuring the guest experience from an objective point of view. Evaluators conduct shopping interactions in subscribing locations to evaluate customer service and brand presentation. According to estimates provided by The North America Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA), it is at least a $1.5 billion industry utilized to improve guest experience provided by all sizes of businesses from single location stores to franchisors, such as Cowboy Chicken, to corporate giants like McDonalds and Walgreens.

David Agius, president of Sentry Marketing Group, believes “a good Reasons for Customer Attrition mystery shopping program should pay for itself.” This means providing a return on investment. This kind of program is the most cost effective way of Relocation Death identifying areas where company standards either need to be established Other 3% 1% 5% or more clearly defined, providing management with the opportunity to Competitive reasons quality control for guest experience. That data can then be utilized to target 9% potential sources of attrition and focus on customer retention.

Product Taking the mystery out of mystery shopping dissatisfaction 13% Poor service Taking your business to the next level involves brand promotion and effec- 69% tive employee training. While not every business owner knows it, a cohe- sive mystery shopping program can help you do both.

Frequently there are misconceptions about the rigors involved in developing mystery shopping programs. Agius elaborates that potential clients tend to Mystery shopping as a form of quality be surprised by the structured focus on building the individualized program, control can address the top three reasons objective data collection as well as shopper recruitment and preparation. for customer loss. “If people could be exposed to what goes into it for their money, they’d be (Source: Mark Michelson, 1997, “Taking the mystery out of mystery shopping” from much more open to the idea of putting together a program.” Quirk’s Marketing Research Review) A young, exciting organization starting a franchise should definitely look at a mystery shopping program as brand insurance. Anyone with a vested interest in their company knows that external assessment is crucial to confirming that their brand is presented in ways that are consistent with the business’ operat- ing philosophies, guidelines, and principles at every location.

“A good mystery shopping program should pay for itself.” – David Agius, president of Sentry Marketing Group

“Mystery shopping provides detailed insight to our operations from an objective viewpoint. It allows us to measure how well we are meeting our operational brand standards,” said Sean Kennedy, president of fast casual concept Cowboy Chicken. “We find it a valuable tool to help pinpoint oppor- tunities for improvement as well as celebrate those teams that are exceed- ing brand expectations.”

The program helped not only shore up the execution of brand standards, Kennedy said. It helped buttress revenue-generating strategies.

“For instance, data from our Mystery shop program recently identified that our cashiers were not consistently hitting our expectations on the suggest- ed sale of beverages. We can now focus and retrain on that practice with our in store teams.”

More than a survey Another mistaken notion is that mystery shopping and surveys are inter- changeable when, in fact, the two methods measure complementary aspects of guest service. Agius uses the analogy of quality control in a tennis racket factory to explain the different scopes addressed by the two measurement methods. In the factory setting you would expect a supervisor to pull a tennis racket from the assembly line every so many hours to verify that it conforms to the required specifications. Essentially that’s what mystery shopping does. When a shopper visits your location, it is a check of how well the location and its employees measure up to company standards.

Conversely, if a tennis racket manufacturer wanted to know what people thought about the tennis rackets, a survey would be the appropriate tool. Using this logic it is easy to see that mystery shopping and surveys go hand in hand. While surveys assess the extent to which guest standards are met,

mystery shopping measures an organization’s performance against its own standards. Simply put, the survey indicates what the mystery shopper should be looking for. If the survey data demonstrates that most customers are not aware of a store’s loyalty program, the mystery shopper should note whether employees make the customer aware of it and encourage their participation.

“I think the whole point is you don’t ever want to pick one; you want both,” Agius said. “The thing for an organization to say is, ‘I’m going to dedicate $200 a month to guest experience measurement, and here’s how we’re going to do it. We’re going to measure voice of process: Are our processes working? And we’re going to measure voice of customer: the survey.”

Businesses subscribing to mystery shopping services deserve to get the most bang for their buck. A key benefit of a mystery shopping program that some may not consider is its ability to fill the gap between marketing and operations. This translates into the client being provided with actionable data that can be used across multiple parts of the organization.

Saxbys Coffee exemplifies a business that utilizes mystery shopping infor- About the sponsor: mation across departments. They have Sentry mystery shoppers check for the display seasonal point of purchase materials. If the POP is not being The Sentry Marketing Group was founded displayed, why not and what steps need to be taken to address the matter? to help businesses of all size measure the These issues fall under the purview of operations, marketing, and training. perception and reality of the customer service delivered by their teams. The company Clients should receive deliverables from their provider that include informa- believes that knowledge is power and that an tion they can take advantage of, whether that means ensuring that the spirit important key to success is having access to of the brand is conveyed via pleasant and prompt customer service, upsells a steady stream of performance data. are offered, or sales are rung up accurately. Mystery shopping allows you to catch an employee doing something right, discover superstars on your team, or discover some employees that you thought were good are actu- ally hurting your business. Remember, the best marketing campaign in the world cannot work for your business if your staff isn’t selling it.

The real mystery With a well-matched provider working for your business, mystery shopping is the best free marketing you can have. A comprehensive program will essentially pay for itself by providing timely, valid data that various arms of your organization can utilize to retain customers, ensuring the delivery of the spirit of your brand, and verifying that company standards are being met. With all of the benefits mystery shopping offers to the realm of retail and fast casual dining, the real mystery is why more retailers and restaura- teurs are not taking advantage of its benefits.