Digital Age Mystery Shopping: How does mystery shopping help avoid digital pitfalls?
I think we’ve established by now that communication is at the core of great customer service. When a customer service representative doesn’t engage – or worse, does it badly – with a customer, the world holds its breath. Why? The digital landscape is the perfect place for public declarations of customer service disappointment – and those types of things go viral very quickly, smearing your company’s reputation before you’ve even had a chance to respond. Luckily, digital age mystery shopping is up to the challenge and can help business navigate these pitfalls.
Many companies often get stuck on the idea that mystery shopping is an ‘old fashioned’ tool that hasn’t adapted to the new world. Nothing could be further from the truth; in fact, digital age mystery shopping has evolved to incorporate new technologies, globalization, and shifting demographics and economics. In a lot of ways, mystery shopping is far more versatile than some other forms of market research as it can be adapted for use across any channel of approach.
In this modern world, the need for digital age mystery shopping programs is growing as fast as it is changing. New social media platforms, new integrated e-commerce websites, as well as brick-and-mortar stores, have raised a need for a flexible and agile mystery shopping company with a diverse understanding of analogue and digital circumstances.
The beauty of digital age mystery shopping is that it can be used for any aspect of customer’s journey – whether it’s specifically the brick-and-mortar experience or the online one. Want to test your user-interface? Mystery shopping can help tackle that. Need to check how the new cashier training program went? Send in a mystery shopper! It’s versatile, easy to adapt provided the company you’re working with has the experience you need.
In addition, because it’s integrated modern technology, digital age mystery shopping allows for immediate access and interpretation to data reports and diagnostics. This means that companies are able to react quickly to information and get ahead of the problem.
Mystery shopping can also highlight any inconsistencies – be it branding, promotion, or training – across all channels.
Finally, with the increase of scrutiny and security under Europe’s GDPR laws, it’s important that all forms of market research help companies better understand their position in regards to compliances. Mystery shopping can help assess those compliances, testing new systems and securities.
With all the fast-paced changes in technologies, mystery shopping is a great way to stay on top and ahead of developments and compliances while making sure that customers are experiencing brands the way they are intended to be experienced.
