Various sources have stated that customer experience is a top objective for companies. However according to our recent Customer Experience Survey, there seems to be a disconnect between prioritizing customer experience improvements and budget priorities.
Most clients plan to keep their budget the same for customer experience management in 2019, with 62% reporting funding will be status quo. However, only roughly a quarter state they will be somewhat or significantly increase budget. In this rapidly changing environment where everything is commoditized, owners and operators must put themselves in their customers’ shoes to ensure their value proposition is strong enough to compete.
Here’s how you can ensure proper funding for monitoring and managing your customer experience programs, like mystery shopping, throughout 2019.
Analyze the data
Individual mystery shop reports are invaluable. Our clients ranked the individual shop report as the most valuable deliverable from their programs. Reading shop reports and pinpointing an issue at a point-in-time is key in implementing corrective action quickly, but don’t forget to see the forest through the trees. Look at your mystery shop report data in your dashboard and analyze the trending data between locations and over time. Dig into why particular questions or sections of the survey are receiving low scores – sometimes the bigger issue isn’t the most evident one. And if you find yourself strapped for time or just not sure how to analyze your data, contact your CRM or Client Help Desk and we’ll help you out.
Get top-level visibility
A recent Forbes article stated, “The companies that have better customer experiences all have CEOs that care about customer experience and sew it into the fabric of the company.” By integrating your customer experience metrics into the overall corporate KPI dashboard, you not only gain executive-level visibility of your mystery shopper program, but also establish its credibility as a driving component to the organization’s overall success. Regardless of their level in an organization, people cannot always draw conclusions or understand the impact of singular programs on overall performance. Be sure you draw the lines for them.
Be statistically relevant
Often clients will want to start “small” with their mystery shopper programs, and just shop a single location once a month or quarter. While this is a great way to get your feet wet and understand the process and the deliverable, we encourage clients to be sure they are capturing enough data to be statistically relevant. When suggesting to change corporate structure or procedure, if it’s backed up with only a single point-in-time data point, it’s easily argued that the issue is not systemic and that it was an anomaly to the normal course of business. By having data that substantially proves a theory or suggestion, the argument against it disappears. Ensuring you are shopping all locations multiple times a month at various times will provide the most relevant data and paint the clearest picture of what’s going well – and what needs improvement.
Getting proper funding in place for your mystery shopper program doesn’t have to be a battle. With a little analysis and visibility, aligning your customer experience programs with overall corporate objectives becomes easier. Be sure to contact us if you need support in analyzing your data or taking your program to the next level.