Paste your Google Webmaster Tools verification code here

What’s Legal in Recorded Mystery Shops?

 

We’ve seen an increase in the number of clients choosing to conduct video shops and/or recorded telephone call shops across many industries. These types of shops are excellent tools for training purposes, and allows clients to see (or hear) the interaction for themselves.

 

When clients start either program, they need to be aware of the consent laws for each state they do business in. Some states are one-party consent, meaning that only one of the parties involved in the conversation – in this case, the shopper – needs to give consent for the interaction to be recorded. In two-party states, all parties need to give consent.

 

The list of states that are considered two-party states, where all involved need to have consent in order to be recorded, include:

 

* California
* Connecticut
* Florida
* Illinois
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* Michigan
* Montana
* Nevada
* New Hampshire
* Pennsylvania
* Washington

 

The remaining states are, at this time, one-party consent. How do you go about ensuring that you are following the laws of your state when moving forward with video and/or audio recorded shops?

 

1. Review your employee paperwork. Is there a disclosure in the handbook or other paperwork that employees sign stating that they are aware that they can be recorded at any time? If so, you should be okay.

 

2. Does your call center have a recorded disclaimer? You’ve likely heard the statement “This call may be recorded for quality assurance and training purposes” when calling on various businesses. If your company has this in place, it’s a good disclosure to customers and a reminder to employees that they can be recorded.

 

3. Decide how to incorporate the disclosure into your new hire paperwork for future employees. You may need to create a consent form for current employees and hold staff meetings to alert them of the new process; however, make sure if you are mentioning that one of things that may be happening includes recorded mystery shops that you are presenting it in a positive light, just as you would when rolling out a traditional program.

 

Recorded shops bring mystery shopping to an entirely new level; considering this type of shop on an as-needed basis can really help pinpoint issues, gain information that can help in training procedures, and reaffirm the importance of utilizing a mystery shopping program within your company.

 

Share

Mystery Shopping Programs: Read This Before Implementing Incentives

 

More often than not, the information gleaned from mystery shopping reports will be used for an incentive, or factored into performance reviews. This is a great use for the program, but one where companies should proceed with caution.

 

Before tying mystery shopping scores into performance reviews or bonuses, consider the following:

 

1. Have you had the program in place, or are you just starting a program? It’s an interesting thing when a company announces to its staff that they will be starting a mystery shopping program, even when it’s promoted in a positive light (as it always should be). Staff become nervous, thinking that it is a “big brother” approach to keeping tabs. Others, who may have had a negative experience in a past life, may want to buck the system and protest loudly to anyone who will listen.

 

It is recommended that a program be implemented and run for some time before placing incentives on it or incorporating it into your performance reviews. This will give staff time to see the value of the program and that it is truly intended to make the company better as a whole. It will also give staff time to work on areas where they need improvement before rolling out the incentive/reward program.

 

2. Set the bar now for employee kickback: it will happen, even in the best of programs. After all, we’re all human and it’s human nature to defend ourselves. Decide as a company how you’re going to handle employee disputes from mystery shopping reports beforehand and communicate that with your staff. If you allow employees to fight every report that is less than stellar, it will send a message that they can try to argue their way out of a lower score, which will devalue the program.

 

That’s not to say that there won’t be reports where clarification is needed; this can happen from time to time, but when employees try to dispute every less than perfect report, you need a plan in place for them to accept that it is what it is and the program is not going to change.

 

3. Make sure the report is measuring what staff are trained to do: sometimes programs need to be tweaked after the first run or two. Make sure that each question on the report measures what you train, otherwise it will not be an effective program. Don’t ask a question that records if a customer was greeted within 10 seconds of entering the store, for example, if your staff were not trained on this or it’s entirely impossible given the store layout or business model.

 

4. Prepare management for the initial fallout: even if you have program in place for a while and then raise the bar by implementing an incentive program, something interesting happens. Employees will become defensive, claim they “knew it was the shopper”, or otherwise try to fight reports from time to time. It’s a natural progression we’ve seen time and time again, and I always share this with clients who have had a program and are now raising the bar in this manner. It’s not an issue with the program itself, it’s just staff reacting to the change. By preparing your managers for this, it will make the transition process as smooth as possible.

 

Mystery shopping programs offer an excellent method of collecting objective data to measure operational standards; using it to its fullest potential will make it even more valuable to your company. By keeping the above tips in mind, it will make incorporation into an incentive program easier and help staff buy into its value as well.

 

 

Share

How Mystery Shopping Helps C-Stores

 

Below is an excerpt from a recent commentary discussing the benefits of using a mystery shopping program to determine what drives customer satisfaction in the C-store industry that I find interesting and applicable to most, if not all, industries…

 

“The client’s mystery shopping program scores its channel partners three times year and what’s been revealed is that locations attaining high marks on mystery shops and audits sell more gas, regardless of fuel prices. In the first year of the program alone, the client’s channel partners experienced a double-digit increase in average monthly volume.”

 

You can read the entire article by clicking here. It’s a good read and drives home the point that mystery shopping is not only used as an objective measurement for operational standards, but can help pinpoint factors that will make companies a success.

 

Share