Video Mystery Shopping: Capturing your customer’s experience

“The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5 – 20%.” – Marketing Metrics

You’ve got a prime store location, great product at a fair price, and plenty of staff members on board. But for some reason, sales aren’t where they should be. What could the problem be? With Video Mystery Shopping (VMS), you can find out in a matter of frames. Let’s look at this customer experience initiative in more detail. 

What you need to know about Video Mystery Shopping:

What it is and how it works

Despite its name, there is nothing mysterious about Video Mystery Shopping. It is not a secret undercover operation or private investigation. (Sorry, Sherlock!) It is actually a professional service used by many leading businesses. Simply put, a trained team wearing hidden cameras is sent into your store to shop, gathering valuable intel about your in-store processes. (Discover our VMS initiative.)

The mystery shoppers navigate your store as any other shopper would, except while they do this, their interactions and experiences get recorded. The footage collected gives an objective, reliable, and accurate account of the shoppers’ experiences as they engage with your in-store touchpoints. If your touchpoints are detracting customers from your brand – there’s nowhere to hide! We’ll capture it all, and use this data to develop a bespoke plan for improved customer satisfaction. You’re welcome! Click here to find out if your touchpoints are attractors or detractors.

What it reveals about your customers’ experience

Essentially, Video Mystery Shopping reports on five key aspects of your customers’ experience in-store:

1. The site

The store’s appearance and overall condition leave an impression. If your store has dirty floors, dusty shelves and clutter lying about, the mystery shoppers will pick this up on camera. And if the aisles are difficult to navigate, this will be evident in the footage too.

2. Greetings

If there is a store rep at the entrance greeting customers as they walk in, this tends to make them feel welcome and more at ease. The rapport your employee builds with the shopper indicates how successful your brand is in connecting with the customer and building a bond.

3. Sales ability

Your employees play a vital role in your company’s sales process. VMS footage reveals if they are capitalising on opportunities to upsell. For example, by asking “would you like a drink with your order?” employees are encouraging customers to spend that little bit extra. 

4. Knowledge

It is important to build customer trust so that they become loyal to your brand. And employee knowledge is crucial in building this trust. When your employees have the answers to customers’ questions, they reassure customers that they have picked the right brand to do business with. And if they respond with “I don’t know” – well, you can consider that a customer lost. Our mystery shoppers are trained to ask the right questions so you can witness just how well versed your employees are.

5. Closing remarks

When it comes to building brand loyalty, a friendly “goodbye, and thank you for shopping with us” can be the gesture that seals the deal. Bidding the customer farewell makes them feel appreciated and eager to return to your store in the future. VMS will display your brand’s closing remarks to customers, and capture whether or not they were successful.

Improve your customer experience with mystery shopping

If your in-store experience needs improvement, consult our Video Mystery Shopping services to identify what’s working and what’s not. When you have the data to back up your customer experience solutions, trust us – you are guaranteed results! Contact SaluteCX for a quote.

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