Michelle Daines, research manager, customised insights at BMi Research
Mystery shopping is a market research solution that provides an effective means of measuring, monitoring and gaining insight into a business’s customer service and post-sales aftercare from a customer perspective. It’s a research solution that relies on observation and recall and which can be carried out on both small and large businesses across a multitude of sectors including restaurants, banks, insurance companies, retail outlets, automotive dealerships, colleges, airlines, travel agencies, hotels and other hospitality establishments – essentially any business that deals with customers directly whether in-store or online.
Mystery shopping has been one of BMi Research’s offerings for many years, providing clients with an effective way of understanding customer experiences through objective customer feedback. In 2020, the company introduced CX Online, a mystery shopping product that surveys online e-commerce stores to help them improve their customers’ online shopping experience.
“Now In-Cart-Nito provides the same evaluations, but for brick-and-mortar stores with the added benefit of an exceptionally fast turnaround, explains Michelle Daines, research manager, customised insights at BMi Research.
BMi Research understands that clients require mystery shopping feedback in as short a time as possible. The new mystery shopping platform has the ability deliver results between 24 and 48 hours, which includes time for skilled moderators to review the data, ensuring that brand owners can quickly implement improvements and changes
Its biggest benefit is the ability to apply the insight gained from the mystery shopping to improve the customer experience, encourage customer loyalty and retention, build brand loyalty and ultimately, maximise customer lifetime value.
Mystery shopping is an effective way of identifying service gaps and levels and assessing how employees interact with customers, something which can be harder to do through other research techniques. Typically conducted by individuals trained to measure the customer service process, the mystery shopping process is ideally positioned to provide feedback on how consistent service levels are at all customer touchpoints.
BMi’s mystery shoppers can assess many different factors including the store’s exterior appearance, customer service and staff appearance and demeanour, the cleanliness of a store, stock availability, teller engagement, store security, the payment experience and point of sale execution, product quality, expiry dates of fresh produce and value-added services.
As a smaller and more agile research house, BMi Research is able to quickly pivot to the unique needs of each client, delivering insights to help businesses and brands grow to the next level.
The 2023 Future Shopper Report, produced by Wunderman Thompson, says retailers and brands must continue to improve their customer experiences which means they need to understand the full journey consumers take to purchase including what works, what doesn’t and where the weaknesses are that competitors can exploit. Mystery shopping research offers all this, and more, and with BMi Research’s faster result turnaround time, issues can be addressed in real time.
From 1 February until 30 June 2024, a 10% discount will be given for each mystery shopping contract signed.
Equip your business with real-time customer experience research and contact Michelle Daines at BMi Research: az.oc.imb@ellehcim or (011) 615-7000.
For more information, please visit: https://www.bmi.co.za/consumer-behaviour-and-business-insights/
