How to Calculate ROI for Mystery Shopping
August 30, 2011
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.
10 Ways to Discuss Mystery Shopping Reports with Employees
June 16, 2011-
In person, one on one: One of the best ways to gain impact from mystery shops is to meet with employees one-on-one to discuss results. If an employee does not score well on a shop, managers need to coach the employee privately. They can discuss ways to improve the customer interaction and also the employee’s concerns with any of the mystery shop expectations.
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Email: Companies send summary emails about regional and company performance within each mystery shopping area to keep everyone on the right track. Highlighting the high-scoring areas compliments employees, while detailing often-missed sections lets employees know where to place more effort.
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Staff meetings: Whether at the unit, regional, or district level, staff meetings provide good opportunities to discuss mystery shop outcomes and improvement strategies for the more difficult areas of the mystery shop. For example, if many associates struggle with a closing question, use a staff meeting to brainstorm ideas about asking for the business. If some employees hesitate to refer customers to other departments, dig deeper into the reasons to develop process improvements.
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Mystery Shopping ROI: Suggestive Selling Online Calculator Tool
April 7, 2011Companies use mystery shopping, IVR and web surveys and other measures of customer experience in an effort to increase customer satisfaction, which will hopefully turn into customer loyalty. If your company is considering starting a customer experience measurement program (or if you are already using one) it may be helpful to calculate what the potential return on investment may be. Using Mystery Shopping Results: Key Element of Employee Reviews
March 3, 2011Has your management team considered new ways to motivate employees during performance reviews? A recent article on best practices for employee performance reviews contains suggestions for delivering more rewarding employee reviews.The Remains of the Previous Customer Were on the Table, and Other Mystery Shopper Comments
February 2, 2011Back in the 1980’s, one of our early mystery shopping clients was a McDonald’s franchisee. When our CEO, Elaine Buxton, met with him to discuss our quality review process, she explained that all reports would reflect the utmost professional language. She gave the example stating the review team would change a phrase like “She took her sweet time” to something more professional sounding, such as “She was slow in approaching the drive up window.” That wise client taught us an early and valuable lesson: don’t change the tone of what the shopper communicates in verbatim comments. As he so aptly put it, “I can picture exactly what happened when I read “she took her sweet time”, so keep those types of comments in, please. We learned a lot from that client, including how to guide a quality review team to strike a balance between flavor and tone, content and quality.
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. 
In person, one on one: One of the best ways to gain impact from mystery shops is to meet with employees one-on-one to discuss results. If an employee does not score well on a shop, managers need to coach the employee privately. They can discuss ways to improve the customer interaction and also the employee’s concerns with any of the mystery shop expectations.
Companies use 
Has your management team considered new ways to motivate employees during performance reviews? A recent article on best practices for employee performance reviews contains suggestions for delivering more rewarding employee reviews.
Back in the 1980’s, one of our early mystery shopping clients was a McDonald’s franchisee. When our CEO, Elaine Buxton, met with him to discuss our quality review process, she explained that all reports would reflect the utmost professional language. She gave the example stating the review team would change a phrase like “She took her sweet time” to something more professional sounding, such as “She was slow in approaching the drive up window.” That wise client taught us an early and valuable lesson: don’t change the tone of what the shopper communicates in verbatim comments. As he so aptly put it, “I can picture exactly what happened when I read “she took her sweet time”, so keep those types of comments in, please. We learned a lot from that client, including how to guide a quality review team to strike a balance between flavor and tone, content and quality.