Keep Your Mystery Shopping Program Fresh With These Suggestions
Mystery shopping is an effective method to keep check on airlines, real estate agencies, hotels, restaurants, and even hospitals to ensure they are fully meeting service delivery benchmarks. However, if your mystery shopping program remains unchanged for an overly long period, it may lose its value over time. The following are simple suggestions to help you keep your program both interesting and useful.
1. Change Evaluation Criteria: If you review the same items every visit, most employees would most probably guess the mystery shopping program and only concentrate on the checked items. Employ newer evaluation criteria. For example, add checks for environmental sustainability in hotels, and in the restaurants, measure their effectiveness in managing food allergies.
2. Rotate Mystery Shoppers: Substituting all the time the same mystery shoppers can lead to averaging, which is not recommended. Change your shoppers to gain new insights. Different shoppers may see things that others miss – this is very important in industries such as hospitals and airlines where patients and travelers have different expectations.
3. Test Different Customer Scenarios
Customers have different needs, so make sure your mystery shop program reflects that. In a real estate mystery shop, have one shopper pose as a first-time homebuyer while another pretends to be an investor. In a restaurant, send a shopper with dietary restrictions. This helps measure how well staff handle different situations.
4. Use Technology for Better Insights
Technology is changing how mystery shopping works. Video and audio recordings can provide real-time proof of service quality. Digital surveys allow instant feedback. For example, in airlines, mystery shoppers can use apps to record their experience from check-in to landing, making reports more detailed and accurate.
5. Check Out the Competition
Mystery shopping isn’t just about improving your own business—it’s also about knowing how you compare to others. Visit competitors in the same industry and see what they do better. If a competing hotel offers quicker check-in service, you can learn from it and improve your own process.
6. Get Employee Feedback
Mystery shopping should not just be about catching mistakes—it should help businesses grow. After sharing mystery shopping reports, ask employees for their input. Their insights can help refine the program, making it more helpful for improving customer service.
7. Keep Up with Industry Trends
Customer expectations change over time. What was great service five years ago may not be enough today. Stay updated with trends in airlines, real estate, hospitals, restaurants, and hotels. For example, many travelers now expect digital check-ins at hotels and self-service kiosks at airports. Your mystery shop program should reflect these changes.
Why Incognito Mystery Shopping?
At Incognito Mystery Shopping, we help businesses stay ahead by providing detailed, unbiased customer insights. We design flexible mystery shop programs tailored to airlines, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and real estate agencies. With our expert evaluations, businesses can improve customer experience, boost loyalty, and stay competitive.
Final Thoughts
Mystery shopping is a powerful tool, but only if it stays fresh and up to date. By changing evaluation criteria, rotating shoppers, using technology, and checking out the competition, businesses can ensure they keep providing top-quality service. With Incognito Mystery Shopping, you can take your mystery shop program to the next level and deliver amazing customer experiences every time.
“Keep Your Mystery Shop Program Fresh: Easy Tips for Success!”
