Do You Have Secret Shopping Companies In Mind

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Including secret shopping companies in your business strategy can really work wonders. Anonymous shoppers can give you an insight into what is happening with your business from the viewpoint of the most important person – the customer. Too many businesses today end up making the same mistakes, over and over again. This is because they do not have their finger on the pulse of what the customer really wants. While ordinary strategies can only take you so far, hiring a shopper can actually show what is working and what is not.

Why That Survey Wont Work

Those businesses that are unsure of including secret shopping companies in their strategy usually say the same thing – we prefer to conduct customer surveys. These surveys cover a wide range of topics and get the information right from the person that counts – the consumer. But the truth is that these surveys are rather weak when compared to other ways of getting consumer feedback. For one thing, most customers would not even bother with surveys – they have come to your store for shopping, not for filling out forms. The customer needs to be willing to spend the time to answer these questions – even if an employee asks and notes the answers down, many consumers simply would not have the time to spare. Those that do will probably want to get through with the survey quickly so they can get on with their shopping.

This means that the information that you get from consumer surveys will be sketchy and pretty unreliable. Those who do take the time to answer these surveys truthfully will probably do so only after they have had a very good or very bad experience in your shop. An undercover shopper has the edge in that they behave just as a regular shopper would. They will be able to watch your employees while they are on the job and give an accurate assessment of how they really perform on the job.

The Extra Edge

So having secret shopping companies in your business strategy can certainly give you an edge. But how much edge? This depends on the services that the undercover shopping service provides you. It is always important to research and compare a few services before committing to anything. Ensure that the company does not blindly hire freelance evaluators to do the job – an easy way to spot this is to check if they offer any payment for covert shopping services. If they only offer reimbursement charges, then look for another service. Any good anonymous shopping company should use only trained shoppers who are paid a fee above the reimbursement amount.

Using secret shopping companies in your business plan means you need to sit down with your company on a one-to-one basis. You will need to discuss your strategy, what you are looking for from the undercover shopping assignment and whether you have any special requests, like a particular customer profile. Look for a service that can offer evaluation for your businesses telephone services, web site and physical store locations. They should be able to take pictures of things if necessary, like product displays and promotional items. Your data should be treated in a completely confidential manner – ideally it should also be available to you online via secure remote access. It is important to do the right research before you include secret shopping companies in your business strategy.

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.