Inside the Customer Experience

Being in the industry for over 15 years now, we’ve seen it all. Mystery shopping has many uses, and one of them is seeing things that are happening that you would otherwise have no clue about. These are situations where employees are behaving badly, or doing things that can hurt your business. While we, as a mystery shopping provider, serve as merely the messenger, sometimes we cringe when we have to send reports that detail some alarming issues. Often times we hear from clients that these few shop reports make the entire program that much more valuable.

Some examples from our years in the industry are varied; some a bit comical, others downright disturbing….

1. An appliance retailer was shopping their locations on a regular basis. The program was going very smoothly until an unsuspecting shopper engaged in a conversation about washers and dryers with an associate. The associate discussed features and benefits, but instead of closing the sale, proceeded to tell the shopper to go to their competitor to make the purchase. The associate went on to explain how “awful” this company was to work for, and how the competitor offered better prices and treated their employees much, much better. In fact, he was trying to get a job there so he can get out of “this hell hole.”

2. A mystery shopper went to a bank to inquire about home equity loans. The banker did an outstanding job, and even followed up with a call a few days later. The shopper became nervous when coming home from work one day to find a hand delivered packet of information from the banker in her mailbox. There was a note enclosed about how much he enjoyed their conversation and really wanted to do business with her, and take her out for dinner sometime. He attempted to call a few times after to ask her out on a date as well.

3. One location in a retail chain was not happy about having a mystery shopping program in place. After complaining about it to management with no change, they decided to take measures into their own hands. As reports were coming in, the client was concerned because a shopper listed “Jack” as the employee, but he was not working that day. Another report comes in, and the same thing – “Emily” is listed as the employee the shopper talked to, but Emily was on vacation that week. We had receipts as documentation that the correct location was shopped on the correct day, and interviewed shoppers to ensure they were providing the correct name. After lots of back and forth, it was learned that the employees of this location “banded together” to get rid of the program. They all changed name tags with each other and never wore their own while they worked during this time period – their thinking was that if multiple reports came in with “wrong” names, it would prove that the program was unreliable and should not be used. Those employees were in quite a bit of trouble once this all came to light.

4. A shopper was to talk with a quick serve restaurant to learn about catering options, as they wanted to ensure staff was knowledgeable about the catering options for larger orders, school events, etc.  Here is how the conversation went down….

I’ve had a few conversations this week that made me ponder this topic….each company utilizes mystery shop reports very differently, with each having their own goals in mind for making the most of the program.

The most popular uses I’ve seen include:

* The report goes to the location manager, who reviews the report with the staff involved. Everyone is aware of when the shop took place, where the employees did well, and what areas need improvement.

* The report is shared with managers and staff, but the date and time are removed from the report. Their thinking (which I am a HUGE fan of) is “it’s not the when and where that matters, it’s the “how can we improve?” I’ve seen this especially in cases where there is not a strong employee buy in to the mystery shopping program, and employees tend to try to argue low scoring reports, saying they knew it was the shopper, the shopper was wrong, etc.

* Mystery shopping reports for all locations are publicly posted for all to see – these clients see the data as a learning tool and somewhat of a “competitive” tool. Employees don’t want reports where they’re not doing well to be displayed, so they work extra hard to make sure that they consistently provide good service so their high scoring reports will be what their coworkers see.

* Similar to the above, companies will post monthly scores for all locations in a public space. This creates a sense of competition, which can be fun and motivating.

The last one is a bit more concerning..a friend shared with me that her company is mystery shopped. While not providing me with specific details, she did say she was a bit bothered with the way the results are shared with them.  There are multiple shops conducted on a monthly basis, and each month her manager will talk with each employee who was shopped and simply give them their performance percentage.

There was one time where her score was fairly low and she asked for more information on what it was that she did wrong, hoping to improve on the next shop. The manager simply said, “I can’t tell you that. I wasn’t given the actual report, and I don’t think the shoppers comment on what was wrong. Just do better next time.”

She was upset since she didn’t know what it was she needed to improve on, and I was upset for her. The point of mystery shopping is to learn what is good and what needs improvement – if that’s not shared with the staff, it can create a sense of defeat and low morale.

From my vantage point, I was bothered by the fact that something went awry in her interaction and, according to their manager, the shopper didn’t provide commentary. I realize that the days of heavy narrative based reports are fading away – people are too busy to read lengthy reports – but narrative detail IS important, especially for the questions that are rated less than excellent.

It’s human nature to want to do well and succeed. Mystery shopping reports can help achieve that goal if they are set up properly. If your company chooses not to show the entire report to the employees, that is perfectly fine; however, do share information that will help them improve. And, if you’re a company that is using a simple checklist based or quantitative only questions with no comments, it may be time to rethink your program.