Google reviews are nice. An email from a guest at your establishment is nice, too. Someone sharing their feedback about your product or service in the moment is fantastic.
All happen infrequently and while they sometimes provide useful data, it’s not nearly as helpful as what Mystery Shoppers can provide.
Mystery Shoppers–the good ones–do two things for a business. They not only review their experience as a customer or guest, but they also provide the ears to hear what others are really thinking and feeling.
The fact is that people are more willing to share their thoughts with a stranger than they are an employee or owner.
One of my favorite parts about owning a beer bar is when I’m in casual clothing and enjoying a beer at a table when all the sudden I hear folks from an adjacent table share what they really think about the place or the beer or the board game selection or the bathrooms.
It’s usually feedback I can act on: by either improving the thing they are complaining about or elevating the thing they are raving about.
Let me be clear about one thing: I’m all for creating a business that encourages and rewards proactive candor, immediate feedback loops, easy anonymous feedback opportunities, surveys and people that will be honest about what is and isn’t working in your business.
The reality is that it’s a numbers game and there are far more people keeping their thoughts or whispering their thoughts than openly sharing them.
To that point, if you don’t have any mystery shoppers enrolled in your business, it’s time to.
The cool thing is that it can be a friend or family member or a loyal customer.
(There are some businesses out there you can pay to do this, but they more so excel at providing feedback of their own experience rather than listening and gathering notes from the experience of others.)
And if you reallllly can’t think of someone to be the mystery shopper for you, then take a page out of the Undercover Boss playbook and be it yourself.
Stay Positive & Don’t Let What People Hate Or Love About Your Brand Be A Mystery
Photo credit
- Established Goals - November 22, 2024
- Lessons From The Presentation - November 21, 2024
- Tightropes - November 20, 2024
