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Mystery Shopping FAQs
What
is Mystery Shopping?
In
its most basic form, mystery shopping is the act of
sending trained operatives into a business posing
as customers, in order to evaluate the customer service,
product knowledge and integrity of the staff.
69%
of the people who leave one business in order to patronize
another
business do so because of poor customer service.
13% of the people who leave one business in order
to patronize another
business do so because of product dissatisfaction
What
is the Value of Mystery Shopping?
Mystery
shoppers evaluate all kinds of service oriented businesses.
These include banks, retail stores, fast food and
fine dining restaurants, fitness centers, golf courses,
hotels and casinos and many more. The information
gathered from mystery shopping can enhance a company's
performance and customer loyalty. Some of the benefits
of a comprehensive mystery shopping program are listed
below.
What
can a Quality Service Inspection do for me?
1.
Gives management the ability to monitor customer service
and product quality from the customers perspective.
2. Gives management the ability to monitor their businesses
in their absence. Mystery shoppers are the eyes and
ears of business owners.
3. Gives management the ability to evaluate sales
performance.
4. Gives management the ability to monitor pricing.
5. Gives management the ability to monitor compliance
with company policy and government regulations.
6. Provides an objective and thorough audit provided
by an anonymous operative which enables management
to see their operation through the eyes of their customer.
7. Provides a fresh set of objective and industry
experienced eyes to highlight procedural strengths
and deficiencies.
8. Gives management the ability to monitor the telephone
techniques, sales techniques and etiquette of employees.
9. Gives management the ability to monitor the visibility
of store managers and supervisors.
10. Helps reinforce performance standards already
in place and identify training deficiencies.
11. Helps train and motivate front line employees.
When employees know they will be mystery shopped,
but don’t know when or by whom, they tend to
give every customer better service.
12. Identify potential problems before they develop
into major problems.
13. Incorporate into employee incentive programs and
identify employees for bonuses or promotion.
How
much do you charge for mystery shopping evaluations?
All
I can say is that each mystery shopping project is
priced differently. It depends on how much time it
takes a shopper to perform your shop and the degree
of difficulty and complexity of the report form. Some
evaluation forms can be built on our on-line system
in a matter of hours and some take days. We often
need to come to your business and make observations
before beginning your project. We may need to see
operations manuals and procedures in order to construct
an evaluation form that meets your needs. In addition
to fees, if our shoppers are required to make purchases
there may be reimbursement for expenses to be considered.
All of these factors will be discussed and agreed
upon up front before a project begins. All that being
said, the price of a mystery shopping evaluation will
generally range between $40 and $100 per evaluation.
How
long do I have to wait for the results or reports?
QSI
requires most of our mystery shopping reports be submitted
to us within 12 to 24 hours of the shop. Our editors
then review the reports to make sure they are through
and complete, and forward them to the client immediately.
We
have our own proprietary reporting system that we use
throughout the country. Can you use our system in Nevada?
Yes.
You may provide QSI access to your site for reporting
purposes, or you may provide access directly to QSI
registered shoppers for reporting purposes. This must
be done through QSI and only for QSI shoppers in order
to be compliant with Nevada regulations.
We
have had issues with other companies making sure all
the requested shops were completed, will you be able
to schedule and complete our shops?
The
answer to this question is that all scheduling must
be done in a manner that complies with Nevada mystery
shopping regulations. QSI employs its own schedulers
who we use to schedule your shops. We do more than
just put them on a web site for self assignment. We
have your project managers monitor your project daily
to make sure that they are being assigned, that your
rotation issues are properly addresses, and that you
are meeting your clients’ deadlines.
We
conduct shops in very remote locations of Nevada, do
you have shoppers to fill that need?
Ever
been to Gerlach, Eureka, Beatty, Wells, Battle Mountain
or Fernley. If you have shops in some of those places
(and others), check out a map before you ask for a
quote. Nevada is a really big state with a lot of
small towns which people outside Nevada have probably
never heard of. We often have to pay premiums for
shoppers to travel hundreds of miles to complete one
or two shops at some of these location. Sometimes
these costs are passed on to the client and sometimes
we share the cost with clients. The point is, the
cost of doing business is sometimes greater in some
of these out of the way locations. Shopping in remote
locations within our state is always an issue, but
we constantly try to resolve this by ongoing recruitment
of shoppers in those remote areas. We offer bonuses
to our shoppers who recommend other shoppers in remote
areas. We do what we think are some very innovative
things to try to reach potential shoppers in these
location.
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