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Tag: mystery shopping

It’s Just a Snapshot….

 

That’s exactly what a mystery shopping report is – a snapshot in time. Sometimes, especially when a lower overall percentage comes to you, it’s hard to remember this. Carefully reading the report, talking with the staff, and looking at the big picture is all good advice to remember.

 

When you receive a report where there were issues, it is a good idea to read through any narrative/comments carefully and pinpoint where things didn’t go as they should. Depending on the circumstances, you may want to have a conversation with the employee and take a look at past reports that involved this particular employee or employees – is this a recurring issue? Are the areas that weren’t done up to standard consistent with this employee?

 

At any rate, when using mystery shopping reports to pinpoint areas of strength and areas to improve as it relates to the customer experience, using the analytical reporting capabilities of your program is paramount. Looking at the overall numbers, rather than one particular report, will give you the insight you need to determine a call to action.

 

Not all businesses fully utilize analytical reporting. If you fall into this category, here’s what you may be missing…..

 

1. Exception analysis: want to see how your locations stack up? Run this report and it will rank your locations from highest overall percentage to lowest. You can choose to do this for a month, quarter, or entire year.

 

Similarly, if you want to rack locations based on performance on one section of a report, maybe customer service, you can do that as well.

 

2. Survey summary: this report takes each question on your mystery shopping report and shows you how it was answered over time. Again, you can choose any date range you wish, and then look at the data as a company, just for a particular region or district, or even drill down to one single location.

 

This is an excellent report to view overall strength and areas for improvement, and lets you see trends for each question of the report.

 

3. Trending analysis: this report allows you to see performance over a six or 12 month period of time. This is great for viewing progress in your mystery shopping program and can help you determine if the company is reaching its goals for customer service levels.

 

4. Head to head: If you’re using a mystery shopping program coupled with a feedback survey program, you can use this report to compare questions that are similar on both. For example, if you use the Net Promoter Score rating on both reports, you can easily take a look at how the average customer rates your business compared to a mystery shopper who is trained in making key operational observations.

 

Keeping focus on the big picture is key when it comes to a successful mystery shopping program. Individual employee performance is important, and the data collected can be used for additional training, performance reviews, and incentives.  It’s a good idea though to remember that it IS just a snapshot in time…

 

 

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When Employees Dispute Mystery Shopping Reports

 

It’s hard to read about yourself, especially when the information isn’t so great. It causes people to become defensive, and this is no exception in the world of mystery shopping.

 

I try to counsel clients on what to do when an employee comes to them and disputes the information in a mystery shopping report. It is nerve wracking for the client when it first happens, but handling it appropriately will make all the difference in the success of the program.

 

First, take a look at the overall report, as well as the score. Most mystery shopping reports, if not all of them, provide report card scoring. Using the overall score can help alleviate employee disputes. For example, if an employee comes to you and says, “I SO knew that was the shopper, and what they are saying is completely wrong!” You can look at the overall score for guidance. One client’s response to this complaint was, “Well, if you knew it was the shopper, why did you score only a 70%?” That typically ends the conversation.

 

Depending on the situation, you can turn to the mystery shopping provider for assistance. We are always happy to get more clarification or help with any situations that arise, whether it’s providing receipt information, getting more information from the shopper who conducted the shop, or taking a look at the particular employee’s history on past evaluations.

 

Look for trends in disputes – if it is always a particular location that is disputing shops, or a particular employee, that signals an issue that needs to be addressed. They may be trying to undermine the program by complaining – they figure that if they can devalue the program enough, they will make it “go away.”  If it is a particular employee, that may signal dissatisfaction with their job, which needs further exploration.

 

There are times when a dispute is a valid one, and any good mystery shopping provider is happy to partner with their client to investigate issues and, if there is truly an issue, reevaluate the location at no additional cost. Clear and open communication across the board will help make every mystery shopping program a success.

 

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Mystery Shopping Programs: Read This Before Implementing Incentives

 

More often than not, the information gleaned from mystery shopping reports will be used for an incentive, or factored into performance reviews. This is a great use for the program, but one where companies should proceed with caution.

 

Before tying mystery shopping scores into performance reviews or bonuses, consider the following:

 

1. Have you had the program in place, or are you just starting a program? It’s an interesting thing when a company announces to its staff that they will be starting a mystery shopping program, even when it’s promoted in a positive light (as it always should be). Staff become nervous, thinking that it is a “big brother” approach to keeping tabs. Others, who may have had a negative experience in a past life, may want to buck the system and protest loudly to anyone who will listen.

 

It is recommended that a program be implemented and run for some time before placing incentives on it or incorporating it into your performance reviews. This will give staff time to see the value of the program and that it is truly intended to make the company better as a whole. It will also give staff time to work on areas where they need improvement before rolling out the incentive/reward program.

 

2. Set the bar now for employee kickback: it will happen, even in the best of programs. After all, we’re all human and it’s human nature to defend ourselves. Decide as a company how you’re going to handle employee disputes from mystery shopping reports beforehand and communicate that with your staff. If you allow employees to fight every report that is less than stellar, it will send a message that they can try to argue their way out of a lower score, which will devalue the program.

 

That’s not to say that there won’t be reports where clarification is needed; this can happen from time to time, but when employees try to dispute every less than perfect report, you need a plan in place for them to accept that it is what it is and the program is not going to change.

 

3. Make sure the report is measuring what staff are trained to do: sometimes programs need to be tweaked after the first run or two. Make sure that each question on the report measures what you train, otherwise it will not be an effective program. Don’t ask a question that records if a customer was greeted within 10 seconds of entering the store, for example, if your staff were not trained on this or it’s entirely impossible given the store layout or business model.

 

4. Prepare management for the initial fallout: even if you have program in place for a while and then raise the bar by implementing an incentive program, something interesting happens. Employees will become defensive, claim they “knew it was the shopper”, or otherwise try to fight reports from time to time. It’s a natural progression we’ve seen time and time again, and I always share this with clients who have had a program and are now raising the bar in this manner. It’s not an issue with the program itself, it’s just staff reacting to the change. By preparing your managers for this, it will make the transition process as smooth as possible.

 

Mystery shopping programs offer an excellent method of collecting objective data to measure operational standards; using it to its fullest potential will make it even more valuable to your company. By keeping the above tips in mind, it will make incorporation into an incentive program easier and help staff buy into its value as well.

 

 

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