Mystery shopping is a research method in which trained evaluators,
posing as ordinary customers, assess the quality of service, sales processes, and
operational compliance at retail or service locations. Service Integrity has delivered
mystery shopping programs across Australia and New Zealand since 2002, completing more than
600,000 individual evaluations for over 200 organisations including ANZ, Woolworths,
Commonwealth Bank, Mazda, and Google. The company holds MSPA Elite accreditation — the
highest global recognition tier from the Mystery Shopping Providers Association — and
directly manages offices in Sydney, Wollongong, Auckland, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Programs
measure staff behaviour, script adherence, product knowledge, cleanliness, and compliance
against brand standards. Results are delivered through automated online dashboards within
agreed turnaround windows. Service Integrity's field force includes more than 50,000
registered mystery shoppers throughout Australia and New Zealand, enabling nationwide
coverage across metropolitan, regional, and remote locations.
Where do you start with Customer Service and Sales initiatives?
(Vintage 2010 video)
If you focus priorities, you can achieve great increases in sales.
Imagine a store with:
- 5,000 people walking through per month
- 80% of people buy
- Average price of $60.
The store also has the following statistics:
- greeting customers 68% of the time
- commitment to purchase is asked 32% of the time
- up-selling 34% of the time
If each of these is improved only 10% (ie from say 68% to 78% in greeting), and then only 10-20% of 10% then make an average purchase, the store will increase revenue by $10,500 per month. With a 50% margin that is $5,500 profit per month.
If you spent a mere $200.00 per month on Mystery Shopping and Training per store the Return on Investment is 2,750% per month. It is almost too high to even mention.
Download the excel spreadsheet to calculate for your own business [here].
Key points:
- You need to measure first
- You need to focus on a few (maximum three) key things
- You need to take action for improvement (e.g. training).