When it comes to monitoring employee behaviors: service and sales behaviors that drive customer experience success, no tool is better suited for that objective than mystery shopping. Mystery shopping programs, when administered in accordance with certain mystery shopping best practices, not only test for the presence of service behaviors, but identify which sales and service behaviors matter most. This post describes best practices in mystery shopping.

1. Kinesis CEM, LLC
Mystery Shopping Best Practices
http://www.kinesis-cem.com/Mystery_Shopping_Best_Practices.shtml
Eric Larse is co-founder of Seattle-based Kinesis, which helps companies plan and execute their customer experience strategies.
Mr. Larse can be reached at elarse@kinesis-cem.com.
http://www.kinesis-cem.com
http://www.kinesis-cem.com/mystery_shopping.shtml
kinesis-cem.com 206.285.2900 info@kinesis-cem.com
Mystery Shopping
Best Practices

2. Several Tools are Available to
Inspect or Monitor the
Customer Experience
However,
No Tool Better than Mystery
Shopping to Monitor Service
and Sales Behaviors that Drive
Customer Experience Success
“You can expect
what you
inspect.”
W. Edwards Deming

3. Best In Practice Mystery
Shopping
Identifies and Motivates
Sales and Service Behaviors
Which Matter Most
Those Which Drive
Purchase Intent
Behaviors
Which Matter
the Most

4. Brand
Customer
Interface
Brand Customer
Defines Brand More than
External Messaging

5. Behavioral
Approach
Brand Customer
Mystery Shopping Measures
Customer Experience from the
Brand Side of the Interface
Identify & Motivate Sales and
Service Behaviors Which Drive
Purchase Intent

6. Types of
Mystery
Shopping
In Person
Contact Center
Internal
Web Mobile
Life Cycle
Competitive

7. What Sales and
Service Behaviors
do You Expect from
Employees?
Define
Objectives

8. Some of the questions you might ask yourself look like this:
What specific service behaviors do we expect?
When greeting a customer, what specific behaviors do we expect
from staff?
When meeting with customers after the greeting, what specific
behaviors do we expect?
If a phone interaction, what specific hold/transfer procedures do
we expect (for example asking to be placed on hold, informing
customer of the destination of the transfer)?
Are there specific profiling questions we expect to be asked? – If
so, what are they?
What closing behaviors do you expect? How do you want
employees to ask for the business?
At the conclusion of the interaction, how do you want the
employee to conclude the conversation or say goodbye?
Are there specific follow-up behaviors that you expect, such as
getting contact information, suggesting another appointment, or
offering to call the customer?
What other specific behaviors do we expect?
Define
Objectives

9. Map Expectations
to
Questionnaire
Define
Objectives

10. Keep it Simple
Anticipate the Analysis
What, How & Why
Questionnaire
Design

11. Objective Behaviors:
Backbone of Best in Class
Programs
Measure & Motivate Expected
Behaviors
Key Driver Analysis Linked
Behaviors to Purchase Intent
Questionnaire
Design

12. Subjective Impressions
Rating Scales
Qualitative & Quantitative
Perspective
Provide Means of Linking Sales
and Service Behaviors to Desired
Outcome (Purchase Intent)
Questionnaire
Design

13. Subjective Comments
Why Shoppers Felt the Way They Did
Qualitative Understanding of What
the Shopper Felt as a Result of
Customer Experience
Content Analysis Determine
Qualitative Drivers of Desired
Outcome (Purchase Intent)
Questionnaire
Design

14. Anticipate The
Analysis
Questionnaire
Design

15. Score = Pts Earned/Pts Possible
Weight Behaviors Based On
Importance – Importance
Determined by Relationship to
Purchase Intent
Don’t Average Averages –
Calculate Each Hierarchy’s Score
Independently
Scoring

16. What is a good mystery shop
score?
Consider Distribution of Shops a
Whole
Determine Percentile Rank of
Each Shop
Determine Which Percentile
Rank is the Appropriate Standard
Scoring

17. Maximum Possible Shop
Distortion – A Measure of
Shop Reliability
Sample Plan
100%
50%
33%
25%
20% 17% 14%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Number of Shops/ Business Unit
3 Shops / Business Unit = Max
ROI in Terms of Reliability

18. Obtain Buy-in From the
Front-Line
Provide Adequate
Administration
Provide a Fair Dispute
Process
Program
Launch &
Fielding

19. Build in Call to Action Elements
Designed to Identify Key Sales
& Service Behaviors
Which Correlate to a Desired
Customer Experience Outcome
(Purchase Intent)
Call to
Action
Analysis

20. Shoppers are Asked, How the
Experience Influenced Their
Purchase Intent
Cross-Tabulating Positive and
Negative Purchase Intent to
Identify Experience Differences
Between Positive and Negative
Purchase Intent
Yields a Ranking of the
Importance of Each Behavior
Call to
Action
Analysis

21. Follow-up Question Asking, Why
the Shopper Rated Their
Purchase Intent as They Did
Responses Grouped & Classified
into Similar Themes, and Cross-
Tabulated by the Purchase Intent
Produces a Qualitative
Determination of What Sales &
Service Practices Drive Purchase
Intent
Call to
Action
Analysis

22. Identify Which Behaviors Have the
Highest Potential for ROI in Terms
of Driving Purchase Intent
Compare the Importance of Each
Behavior to its Performance
Importance Determined By
Relationship to Purchase Intent
Call to
Action
Analysis

23. Map Importance and
Performance in a Quadrant Chart
Identify Behaviors with Highest
ROI Potential (Low Performance
High Importance)
Call to
Action
Analysis

24. Part of Balanced
Score Card
Coaching
Taking
Action

25. Maintain a Feedback Loop
to Customer Expectations
Ensure Behaviors Measured
are Aligned with Customer
Expectations
Periodic Reviews to Keep
Program Relevant and
Useful
Plan for
Change

26. Data Collection is a
Commodity
Value Comes from a
Partner Who Can Help
Take Action on the
Results
Provider
Selection