Author: Admin

Here at Confero, we get lots of questions from mystery shoppers asking how they can improve their shop ratings.  One easy way to improve your shop rating is to make sure you are providing a clean, concise mystery shop report every time.  Here is a list of the Top Six Mistakes to Avoid When Completing a Mystery Shop Report:

1. Copying and pasting shop information.   Each mystery shop is unique, so each mystery shop report should be unique to each individual shop.  Our clients do not accept reports with copied or “canned”comments, as they expect each unique mystery shop/audit visit’s conversation to be reported individually. That’s what they are paying for. Copied or canned comments imply that the mystery shopper did not make the required observations or give them full attention.  For more details about this, see Cathy Stucker’s blog about all the “Dangers of Copy and Paste.”

Our mystery shoppers may have noticed that over the past year, Confero has seen a big increase in clients requesting audits of their location.  Audits are usually used by large companies or corporations with multiple locations, often nationwide. Audits provide a simple way for companies to manage the image they are presenting to customers in all their locations. 

Audits usually require auditors to visit the assigned location and do any of the following items:

1. Take an inventory of particular products.  Companies want to ensure that their shelves are properly stocked at all times.  And sometimes, they are auditing their competitors, so they want to be able to compare what their competitors have in stock.  In a recent program, one of our clients had auditors visit grocery stores to take inventory particular brands of products.  They wanted to know how much shelf space was designated for their product, as well as their competitors.

Unfortunately, scam artists have targeted unsuspecting consumers under the disguise of mystery shopping companies for several years now.  Recently, there have been a couple of news stories involving a few of these scams.  Last year, the wire transfer company, MoneyGram had to pay $18 million to settle charges with the Federal Trade Commission because it was found that “MoneyGram agents helped fraudulent telemarketers and other con artists who tricked U.S. consumers into wiring more than $84 million within the United States and to Canada.”  Also, in early April of this year, a man was sentenced to six years in prison for running a $6 million job scam. 

Did you know that heart disease is still the number one cause of death among women?  Did you know that heart disease can affect women at any age?

Confero has made it our mission over the past few years to get involved in raising awareness about heart disease in women.  Earlier this year Confero staff members participated in National Wear Red Day by wearing red and attending a CPR information session. 

On Friday, May 6^thConfero sponsored the Triangle Go Red For Women Luncheon at the Sheraton in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Our staff members spent time attending seminars on these topics: Heart Healthy Cooking, CPR Training and Know Your Heart Health.

1. A concise survey invitation increases response rates. Basics such as good grammar and correct spelling are obvious, but companies also need to consider brief wording.  Companies should partner with the survey provider to develop a unique invitation that will capture customer’s attention and encourage them to respond.
    
2. Communicate how long it will take to complete the survey– and deliver as promised.  Differing opinions exist about survey length, and it can be challenging for companies to balance the need for customer feedback in many areas while offering a survey that is not too lengthy.  Many times the invitation asks customers to complete a “short” survey, however, when customers dial in or access the link to the survey, they discover that survey completion takes longer than expected.  With a long survey, customers may abandon the survey before completion.  And worse, they probably will not participate in a future survey based on this one experience.

   Our experience shows that surveys with a maximum of 10 questions receive the best response rates.  Conduct trials internally and make note of how long the IVR or web survey takes to complete. After completing the internal tests, include how long it will take customers to complete the survey on the invitation.