Category: Customer Experience

Whether through streamlined mystery shop data, customer survey information, or newsletter tips, our goal is to make it easy for you to view your own customer experience information, as well as the latest trends in the industry.  By now, you may have heard about infographics, a completely visual way for companies to share information.  As companies strive to provide busy customers with relevant information quickly, infographics offer the perfect solution. Customers view these informative images in a condensed format, and the charts can be creative and fun.

As an example, take a look at these customer loyalty infographics, we have collected on our Pinterest. Topics include social customer service, good customer

When you think about mobile devices and their impact on the in-person customer experience, have you considered that nearly 2 billion people will have Smartphones by 2017? If not, you should!

You should also consider how your employees serve these distracted customers.

• Do your new accounts personnel approach waiting customers, only to find them with their heads down, texting away?
• Do your servers wait for diners to look up from their cell phones?
• Do your retail associates stand awkwardly while a distracted cell phone talker holds up the line?

From restaurants to banks to retail stores and beyond, busy associates encounter the same challenge – customers who multi -task with cell phone conversations, texting or using an Ipad. In response to this growing phenomenon, we wanted to take a closer look at the ways that distracted customers impact customer experience in these industries.

Mobile-crazed Diners

Rather than embracing mobile trends, some restaurants simply ask customers not to use their cell phones inside their locations. For example,

Are QR codes confusing to you? They were confusing to us at first, too. Mostly, we found them confusing because, at Confero, we use the term Quality Review (QR) to refer to our detailed process of quality assurance for each mystery shopping or audit report. We are now getting used to seeing “QR” (Quick Response) codes everywhere. If you have customers who have Smartphones, “QR Code” is a good term to understand.

QR codes are those odd looking square patterns that seem to be cropping up everywhere. If you have not noticed one, look at most any print magazine ad and you’ll find one easily.

 Here’s how they work:

Steady customer traffic is what every retail company wants in its stores, but do companies perform as well during the unexpected busy times as they do for the expected high-volume periods?

Companies benefit from an increased number of customer visits only if associates meet customer demands during the rush.  To do this, companies need to prepare an approach and strategy to adapt for larger crowds.  Companies anticipate busy times, such as the holidays, by stocking up with the right items, carrying items within the appropriate price ranges and learning from past holiday trends about which items to carry and how many.   As Inc.com points out, some companies prepare well for the fast-paced holiday selling time by instructing employees to be honest about possible wait times.

As 2012 budget time approaches, companies have one priority when choosing what items to include in their budgets:  ROI.  Now, more than ever, companies are assessing carefully how every service that they use contributes to ROI. Many service providers claim their offerings tie directly into ROI; however, they don’t clearly outline the numbers.  

Managers need hard numbers to justify purchases, and mystery shopping services are no exception.  Whether a company has been using a mystery shopping program for a long time, or is considering one for the first time, estimating ROI can help weigh the costs vs. the benefits of the program.