The bulk of mystery-shop surveys are Yes/No questions, sometimes sprinkled with a couple opinion scales (rate the customer service 1 to 5, for example). These allow you to capture the raw data, to quantify an experience so you can score it. You can ask whether an employee introduced him or herself, if the bathrooms were well stocked, if the parking lot was clean, or if the shopper was greeted within 30 seconds of entering the store—and so on. Imagine your business and what your customers see when they enter, and picture the sales process you expect your employees to follow: you can break that down into scoreable questions, which will create an easy shorthand for distilling a grade.
Getting the Story
But the real meat of our mystery shops at The Brandt Group, the most distinguishing feature that separates a shop survey from a feedback survey, are the comments. We design all of our mystery-shop surveys to feature comment sections throughout, and we train our shoppers to make sure they detail their opinions and observations in all of them. While those Yes/No questions are very useful in the practical sense of generating a final score, the real essence of a shopper’s experience is found right in the comments because that is where the “story” of what happened will come alive.
Finding Context
Naturally, these comment sections often give context to the Yes/No questions that precede it. A Yes/No question can answer whether a shopper was greeted within 30 seconds of entering the store, but a comment section can explain why that was or wasn’t the case. Perhaps there was only one employee on duty at that moment, and he was busy helping an elderly customer to her car. Conversely, perhaps the shopper was greeted the instant she entered the store—simply because there were three employees standing around with nothing to do. The shopper can then add an opinion about whatever transpired: perhaps the shopper was impressed to see the lone employee helping the elderly customer out, which gave formed a supremely positive first impression. Or, conversely, perhaps the shopper felt awkward because the three employees who were standing around with nothing to do stared at her the entire time.
Why the Details Matter
These details offer an invaluable framework for your managers to use when coaching their subordinates. You might see a scenario where an employee misses several key steps in the sales process (taking multiple point deductions), but then be pleasantly surprised to find that the shopper was really impressed with how personable and genuine he was. On the other hand, you might have an employee who did everything by the book, but perhaps there was something about his attitude or his energy that put off the shopper. When a manager only has access to scores devoid of context, he can’t properly critique the employee, can’t positively reinforce certain behaviors or discourage others.
In short, the Yes/No questions will cover who, what, where, and when—but the comment sections will cover the all-important why and thereby give context to everything that happened during the experience. Armed with this information, your managers will be able to train your staff correctly, and improve your business’s customer service (and consequently its profitability!) as a result.
The Brandt Group Difference
While you might be thinking that you can ask for comments on a feedback survey, remember that these are entirely voluntary. The average customer will almost never take the time to really describe his or her experience because they’re not paid to put that level of effort into completing that survey. But because mystery shoppers are compensated, and because we actually coach ours to add useful, actionable details in their comments, you will get all of those crucial details. Find out what you’ve been missing by contacting us today, and learn what The Brandt Group Difference is all about!
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