Mystery Shopping India

Bridging gap in service industry Who doesn’t want customers making repetitive purchases and thereby increasing their brands’ revenues? Well, a loyal customer-base is what every business, brand or company wants. And, in order to get there, companies bring into play 5 major service quality (Servqual – dimensions) on the basis of which most of the customers determine the quality of services offered to them. Let’s take a quick look at what those service quality dimensions are all about –   Assurance – Are your employees courteous and knowledgeable? Are they skilled enough to convey trust and instill confidence about your brand in your customers? Remember, a customer gets to interact with your employees in the first place. And, if the former is not comfortable with the latter, recurring purchases might not take place.   Tangibility - Services are very much tangible and most customers get their perception on the quality of services provided by you by comparing th...

Why physical check is needed in the world of digitalization? With the advent and incessant evolution of internet, accessibility to various forms of data has increased like never before. Most importantly, it’s not that one can access the data just superficially. Data that are available can be accessed at an intense level. In simple words, the shift of ‘accessibility to data’ from ‘limited’ to ‘overabundant’ has radically changed and impacted the way we work. A reality check will always make sense Although there is an ocean of open source customer data waiting for you and artificial intelligence software like IBM Watson to boost retail performance, physical checks are still important and haven’t lost its sheen even in the digital era. As far as physical checks are concerned, especially when it comes to customers and their experiences, to get more objective feedback tailored to your needs, mystery shopping services designed by HS Brands is your best resort. After all, humans ...

Mystery Shopper Insights Vs Customer Insights Are you a brand trying hard to fathom out how good you’re doing? In order to comprehend it, you have to understand what your customers think about you in the first place. Yes, understanding how your ‘Customers’ see your business is more important than how ‘You’ see your business.  Once you get to see through the ‘eyes’ of your ‘customers’, mystery customers, to be precise, you can translate those insights into developing solid business ideas and grip in the market, thus attracting profitable growth.  As far as customer insights are concerned, there are a number of ways you can collect them, like, feedback machines and forms at point of sales, FGD (Focus Group Discussion) and exit interviews. However, are these effective all the time? This is why, banking upon mystery shopping makes a lot of sense here. Let’s take an example -  When a customer visits a restaurant, he or she is more likely to judge the serv...

Stake holders of Business What is the main goal of marketers? It’s to reach out their target customers at the moments that generally and mostly influence their buying decisions. Therefore, majority of television ads these days target women and kids. The idea is to capture their minds so as to influence their brand(s) and product(s) preferences. Understand ‘Who buys what?’ As far as the main influencing factor of buying decisions is concerned, one cannot deny the role of family members. Different members of the same family might have different thought processes and buying tendencies. And, that generally depends on their gender, age, requirements, income levels, willingness to buy, geographical location, living standards, changing preferences, joint or nuclear family, etc. As a marketer, you need to understand the mindsets of stakeholders of buying decision (who buys what) in the first place and then tailor and offer customer experience, accordingly.  In a family, you ca...

Process and People of Business What makes a business successful? Whether it’s process or people? Actually, both are important as both are interdependent. Read on to understand the connection between process and people and how can you protect both using mystery shopping solutions. Picture this – there are two businesses, A & B. A is a consistent performer, whereas B is an occasional one. Can you figure out what’s different between these two? The main difference between A and B is well-defined, well-executed and constantly upgraded ‘Business Processes’. How can you define process? It can be described as a set of pre-defined tasks or duties that are needed to be performed in a given business setup. It includes the people who are responsible for doing a certain task at a definite time and stage and how they do the same. Simply put, it is the way in which a business runs systematically and its importance cannot be overlooked in any case. So, what benefits do busi...

Mystery Shopping in Retail store What are the possible loses controlled through Mystery shopping? In order to find out where your brand is lacking, you have to find out what your competitor(s) is having. How can you do that? You cannot steal into their business strategies, after all. Jokes apart! Why steal, when you can shop, ‘Mystery Shop’ and experience them real-time? You spend X and get 3X in return – A profitable deal indeed! Many business owners don’t consider mystery shopping at all as they think it would be expensive. They fail to understand that a properly executed mystery shopping program pays out for itself by providing good ROI (Return on Investments). If spending an X amount on something helps you get 3X in return, you should not let such offers go. Moreover, mystery shopping also helps you keep a check on the possible losses your business might come across. Take a look - Manpower loss – Employee theft, improper stock keeping, under counting ...

How do I plan a Mystery Shopping activity ? What happens when…?  People, who come from chemistry background, know this above mentioned expression very well. However, here in this blog no chemical reaction is going to be discussed. So, you don’t need to scratch your heads. Jokes apart, a good understanding of ‘what happens when’ can actually help you save your business and fetch desirable results. The agenda of this blog is how to plan a mystery shopping activity? In order to make a foolproof and actionable plan, first of all you need to know this ‘what happens when’ a customer arrives at your store or gives you a call. If you aren’t aware of the answer(s), it’s high time you should take your business seriously. First impression is the last impression, after all! Dear reader, the experience a customer encounters at your retail outlet or while he or she calls your company decides whether or not he or she will come again. Mystery shopping – a gateway to good ROI Bus...

Mystery Shopping on staff Can you find out the analogy between mystery shopping and a microscope? A microscope magnifies the objects or particles that can’t be seen with naked eye. Mystery shopping magnifies various strata of customer experience. It has the capability of capturing even the smallest details that are more likely to escape the eyes of an average shopper. The fundamental aspects An ideal mystery shopping program has three basic parts - Hindsight – It includes finding the existing problem areas or the loopholes in a business. Insight – is based on the key findings, it includes the critical aspect to the business. Foresight – It comprises the approaches through which the problem areas can be tackled or eliminated. Waste! Waste!! Waste!!! For some businesses mystery shopping is no less than ‘a wastage of resources’ . Of course, conducting mystery shopping programs is wastage of resources, if your mystery shopping services provider does not worth i...

Staff of company Is mystery shopping to penalize people? Are you planning to hire a mystery shopping service provider? While searching for one of the best and most reliable company, you are more likely to come across a world of information about the concept. And, it is quite obvious that when something is being discussed, it comprises both the pros and cons of that particular thing or idea. Isn’t it? What is the idea of mystery shopping? Although the concept of mystery shopping is not new to the world of business, for some businesses it is still a new concept. So, are you considering mystery shopping as an effective business tool for the first time? Or are you new to the business domain? If so, then there are a number of misconceptions regarding mystery shopping that you need to say goodbye in the first place to begin with it. One such myth is - mystery shopping is intended to penalize people. Actually, the sole intention of conducting a mystery shopping program is not...