Inside the Customer Experience

 

It’s not new, but we’re seeing it pop up more and more in the mystery shopping industry – clients are requesting a debriefing session with shoppers. This typically involves a representative from the mystery shopping provider to talk with the shopper after an evaluation has been completed to get more subjective information about the experience. Sometimes the interviews are recorded, and other times the data is compiled into a report for the client.

 

We had a project once for an assisting living company that offered a wide range of services and facilities. They requested that one shopper conduct all of the evaluations over a three month period, from phone calls to onsite shops. After each evaluation, the shopper submitted a report as is typically done. The twist? Once the project was complete, the shopper went to meet with the client’s board of directors to offer additional insight into their operations and customer experience. This is definitely outside the norm and not typically done when debriefing is considered, but in this instance the client wanted in depth information outside of the parameters of the evaluation itself.

 

Why do this? Clients are realizing that shoppers are also their typical customer, and want to get more out of their program than just the operational data that is collected.

 

While it can’t be done with every shop that you do, there are certain cases in which you might want to consider a post-shop debriefing:

 

• New locations have recently opened and are incorporated into the shopping program
• Concerns with performance in a specific employee, location, district, or region
• Launch of a new service or store concept
• Obtaining subjective data to pinpoint correlations between exceptionally high and low performing locations

 

There is an additional cost when debriefing is incorporated, but the cost is well worth it if you need that additional information to make decisions regarding business operations.

 

 

Sometimes clients will have concerns about a particular employee, but need more data to substantiate their issues. Other times, management wants to see how employee service levels are after a training session is completed.

 

This is the time when clients will contact their mystery shopping provider to conduct a targeted mystery shop. This takes a bit more preparation, and, depending on staffing schedules, can be tricky. However, it can be done when the need arises.

 

Before contacting your mystery shopping company to conduct this type of shop, be sure to have the following information ready:

 

1. Is the employee’s schedule set, or does it vary week to week? How far in advance will you have the employee’s schedule to provide to the mystery shopping company? The more set the schedule is, and the further out the employee is scheduled, the better the chances of the shopper connecting with the right employee.

 

2. Not only a name, but give the company a good, detailed physical description of the employee in question. This will immensely help the shopper confirm that they have the right employee. Names are good, but an accompanying description is best.

 

3. Does the employee work in a specific department? It’s much easier for a shopper to target an employee who works in a specific area of your business. The more transient the employee is, the more difficult it is to target him/her.

 

4. Will this be a standard shop, looking at the same guidelines as your typical mystery shopping program, or will a separate survey need to be created? This may depend on the setting. For example, when targeted shops are requested in a restaurant/bar situation, especially with bar integrity issues, clients typically prefer a narrative heavy report so that the shopper can make detailed and specific observations over the length of the visit. In other settings, such as retail, clients can utilize the same report they do for their regular program.

 

The above tips are key factors that you need to think about before setting up this type of shop. It will take flexibility, and sometimes more than one attempt to get the right employee. You will also need to set up a “go to” person on your side to be ready for the mystery shopping company to contact you with any last minute “what if’s” or changes in schedule, etc.

 

Targeted mystery shops can provide clients with detailed information for a specific employee – this can help alleviate concerns or acquire data needed to make employment decisions if need be.