Use the Right Research Tool: Avoid NPS with Mystery Shopping
Net Promoter Score (NPS) burst on the customer experience scene 15 years ago in a Harvard Business Review article with the confident (some might say over confident) title “The One Number You Need to Grow.” NPS was introduced as the one survey question you need to ask in a customer survey.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen many customer experience managers include NPS in their mystery shopping programs, which is frankly a poor research practice.
The NPS methodology is relatively simple. Ask customers a “would recommend” question, “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend, relative or colleague?” on an 11-point scale from 0-10.
Next, segment respondents according to their responses to this would recommend question. Respondents who answered “9” or “10” are labeled “promoters”, those who answered “7” or “8” are identified as “passive referrers”, and finally, those who answered 0-6 are labeled “detractors”. Once this segmentation is complete, the Net Promoter Score (NPS) is calculated by subtracting the proportion of “detractors” from the proportion of “promoters.” This yields the net promoters, the proportion of promoters after the detractors have been subtracted out.
The theory behind NPS is simple. It is used as a proxy for customer loyalty. Loyalty is a behavior, surveys best measure attitudes, not behaviors. Therefore customer experience researchers need a proxy measurement for loyalty. NPS is considered an excellent proxy for loyalty under the theory that if one is likely to put their reputation at risk by referring a brand to others, they are more likely to be loyal to the brand. In contrast, to those who are not willing to put their reputation at risk are less likely to be loyal.
Fads in customer experience measurement come and go. The NPS fad has been particularly stubborn. Mostly because the theory behind it is intuitive, it is a solution to the problem of measuring loyalty within a survey, and it is simple. I personally think it was oversold as the “one number you need to grow.” Overselling it as the one number you need to grow doesn’t do justice to the complexities of managing the customer experience, nor does one NPS number give any direction in terms of how to improve your NPS score. An NPS score alone is just not very actionable.
While NPS is an excellent loyalty proxy and has a lot of utility is a customer experience survey, it is not an appropriate tool to use in a mystery shopping context. Mystery shopping is a snapshot of one experience in time, where a mystery shopper interacts with the representative of the brand. NPS is a measure of one’s likelihood to refer the brand to others. The problem is the likelihood to refer the brand to others is almost never the result of a snapshot in time. Rather, it is a holistic measure of the health of the entire relationship with the brand, and as such does not work well in a mystery shop context where the measurement is of a single interaction. As such, NPS is a measure of things unrelated to the specific experience measured in the mystery shop; things like: past-experiences, overall branding, alignment of the brand to customer expectations, etc.
Now, I understand the intent of inserting NPS in the mystery shop. It is to identify a dependent variable from which to evaluate the efficacy of the experience. NPS is just the wrong solution for this objective.
There is a better way.
Instead of blindly using NPS in the wrong research context, focus on your business objectives. Ask yourself:
- What are our business objectives with respect to the experience mystery shopped?
- What do we want to accomplish?
- How do we want the customer to feel as a result of the experience?
- What do we want the customer to do as a result of the experience shopped?
Once you have determined what business objectives you want to achieve as a result of the customer experience, design a specific question to measure the influence of the customer experience on this business objective.
For example, assume your objective of the customer experience is purchase intent. You want the customer to be more motivated to purchase after the experience than before. Ask a purchase intent question, designed to capture the shopper’s change in purchase intent as a result of the shop.
Now, you have a true dependent variable from which to evaluate the behaviors measured in the mystery shop. This is what we call Key Driver Analysis – identifying the behaviors which are key drivers of the desired business objective. In the example above we want to identify key drivers of purchase intent.
I like to think of different question types and analytical techniques as tools in a tool box. Each is important for its specific purpose, but few are universal tools which work in every context. NPS may be a useful tool for customer experience surveys. It is not, however, an appropriate tool for mystery shopping.
Best Practices in Mystery Shop Program Launch: Post-Shop Communication
In a previous post we introduced the importance of proper program launch.
Self-Help Resources
Self-help resources typically take the form of a webpage housed on the mystery shop provider’s website or on an internal resource page. These resources provide a tutorial in the form of either a PowerPoint or video, reinforcing to stakeholders many of the subjects already discussed: definition of the brand, behavioral service expectations, and a copy of the questionnaire.
These self-help resources are also an excellent opportunity to introduce the mystery shop reports and how to read them (both on an individual shop basis and on an analytical level), and introduce concepts designed to identify the relative importance of specific sales and service behaviors which drive desired outcomes like purchase intent and customer loyalty.
Shop Results E-Mail
Upon distribution of the first shop, it is a best practice in launching a mystery shop program to send an e-mail to the supervisor of the employee shopped advising them of a completed shop, and containing either a PDF shop report or access to the shop via an online reporting tool.
The content of this e-mail should be dependent on the performance of the individuals shopped. If a shop is perfect, the e-mail should congratulate the employees on a perfect shop. If a shop is below expectations, it should inform the employees, in as positive way as possible, that their performance was below expectations and set the stage for coaching. It should remind employees that it is not the performance of this first shop that counts, but subsequent improvement as a result of the shops.
Depending on the timing of shop e-mails, some clients prefer the shop to be sent as soon as it clears the provider’s quality control process, while others prefer shops be held and released in mass at the end of a given shopping period (typically monthly). If the e-mail is sent at the end of a given period, this is an excellent opportunity to identify top performers who received perfect shops as a means of both recognizing superior performance, and motivating other employees to seek similar achievement.
Finally, this e-mail should reinforce superior shop performance by reminding front-line employees and managers of the rewards earned by successful shop performance.
This e-mail should be modified for all subsequent waves of shopping and be used as a cover letter for distribution of all future shops.
Additional e-mails may be sent to notify employees and their managers of specific events, such as: perfect shops, failed shops, shops within a specific score range, or shops which identify a specific behavior of an employee like a cross-sell effort.
Post Shop Call/ Presentation
Similar to the kickoff presentation, after the first wave of shopping, it is a best practice to conduct a post shop presentation, again by conference call or WebEx. The purpose of this presentation is to present the reports available, discuss how to read them, and – most importantly – take action on the results through coaching and interpreting call to action elements built into the program. Call to action elements designed to identify which behaviors are most important in terms of driving purchase intent or loyalty.
Best Practices in Mystery Shop Program Launch: Pre-Launch Communication
In a previous post we introduced the importance of proper program launch.
There should be no surprises in mystery shopping. A key to keeping all stakeholders informed of the mystery shop process is pre-shop communication.
Kickoff Letter/E-mail
The first communication tool is the kickoff letter. This letter is most often in the form of an e-mail. Sent prior to shopping, its purpose is to introduce employees to the program, explain its purpose in a positive way, make sure employees are aware of what is expected of them, and link shopping to their best interests, by reinforcing it is designed to make them more successful.
The kickoff e-mail should:
- Define the brand and emphasize that frontline employees are the personification of the brand. They are the physical embodiment of the brand.
- Explain that certain behaviors are expected from them in their role as the physical embodiment of the brand.
- List the specific sales and service behaviors that shoppers are asked to observe. Stress that management wants every representative to score well. Management has no interest in setting employees up for failure. If they perform these behaviors, they will receive a perfect shop score.
- Detail the incentive and reward structures in place as a result of the mystery shop program.
Kickoff Presentation
A presentation, conference call, or WebEx is an excellent tool to kick off a mystery shop program. All stakeholders in the process should understand their role and what is expected of them.
As with the kickoff letter or e-mail, the presentation should define the brand, stress that employees are the physical embodiment of the brand, and identify the specific sales and service behaviors expected from employees.
It should identify the internal administrator of the program, communicate the dispute process, discuss incentives and rewards earned through positive mystery shops, as well as introduce the concept of coaching as a result of the shop – making sure that managers and customer-facing personnel understand their role in the coaching process.
Finally, this presentation should introduce employees to self-help resources available for taking positive action as a result of the shop.
In a subsequent post we will discuss the importance of post-launch communication.
Best Practices in Mystery Shop Program Launch: Program Administration
In a previous post we introduced the importance of proper program launch.
Best in class mystery shop programs provide a central point of internal administration. A central administrator manages the relationship with the mystery shop provider and coordinates with other stakeholders (such as training and human resources).
This central point of administration requires a strong administrator to keep the brand focused and engaged, and to make sure that recalcitrant field managers are not able to undermine the program before it begins to realize its potential value.
A best practice in launching a mystery shop program is to identify, to all stakeholders, the main contact for internal administration, and how to communicate with them. Along with identifying the internal administrator, in most cases, it is a best practice to also identify the mystery shopping provider – just to keep employees comfortable with the measurement process. However, in some cases, such as instances where there has been a history of employees gaming the system, it may be more appropriate to keep the mystery shop provider anonymous.
Disputed shops are part of the mystery shop process. Mystery shops are just a snap shot in time, and measure complicated service encounters. As a result, there may be extenuating circumstances that need to be addressed, or questions about the quality of the shopper’s performance that require both a fair and firm process to resolve.
The specifics of the dispute process should be aligned with the brand’s values and culture. Broadly, there are two ways to design a dispute process: arbitration and fixed number of challenges.
Arbitration: Most brands have a program manager or group of program managers acting as an arbitrator of disputes and ordering reshops or adjusting points to an individual shop as they see fit. The arbiter of disputes must be both fair and firm, otherwise, employees and other managers will quickly start gaming the system, bogging the process down with frivolous disputes.
Fixed Number of Challenges: Other brands give each business unit (or store) a fixed number of challenges in which they can ask for an additional shop. Managers responsible for that business unit can request a reshop for any reason. However, when the fixed number of disputes is exhausted they lose the ability to request a reshop. This approach is fair (each business unit has the same number of disputes), it reduces the administrative burden on a centralized arbiter, and reduces the potential for massive gaming of the system as there is a limited number of disputes.
Best Practices in Mystery Shop Program Launch: Communication of Expectations
In a previous post we introduced the importance of proper program launch.
Best in class mystery shop programs clearly communicate behavioral expectations to frontline employees. There should be no surprises in mystery shopping.
Brands have personality. Brand personality is a set of characteristics associated with the positioning, products, price and service mix offered by a company. Launch the program by communicating your desired brand personality. While branding is a complicated mix of product, price, positioning and place, it often falls on the frontline employees to make the brand real in the perception of the customers – to animate the brand. It is, therefore, critical that employees’ service behaviors be aligned with the brand personality. Start the mystery shop program launch with a clear description of your desired brand personality.
After communication of the brand personality, the next step is to define what specific sales and service behaviors you expect from employees as ambassadors of the brand. Create a list of behavioral expectations by asking yourself the following questions:
- 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 we expect? How do we want employees to ask for the business?
- At the conclusion of the interaction, how do we want the employee to conclude the conversation or say goodbye?
- Are there specific follow-up behaviors that we expect, such as getting contact information, suggesting another appointment, or offering to call the customer?
- What other specific behaviors do we expect?
Remember the goal is to ensure employees animate the brand. Each behavior expected should support this end.
Ultimately it is a best practice to give employees a copy of the actual questionnaire and shopper guidelines. Best in class mystery shop questionnaires are composed of a mixture of objective behavioral observations and subjective impressions and comments.
The objective observations of behaviors form the backbone of the program. They measure and motivate the specific sales and service behaviors expected from employees. These observations must be both objective and empirical, answering the question, was a specific behavior observed or not?
Rating scales are the most common means of collecting subjective impressions. Measures of how the shopper felt about the experience. They add both a qualitative and quantitative perspective to the objective behaviors, as well as provide a basis for interpreting their importance.
While empirical behaviors are the backbone of the shop, many of Kinēsis’ clients consider open-ended comments the heart of the shop. Subjective open-ended questions should reveal valuable insight into understanding exactly how the shopper felt about the experience.
There should be no surprises in mystery shopping. Customer-facing employees should understand exactly what behaviors are being measured, and how shoppers are to interpret these behaviors in terms of completing the questionnaire.
In a subsequent post we will discuss communication of program administration.
No Surprises in Mystery Shopping – The Importance of Proper Program Launch
There should be no surprises in mystery shopping. When investments in mystery shopping fail to achieve their potential, it is often because those who are accountable for the results, the front-line employees and their direct managers, were not properly introduced to the program.
Improper positioning and introduction of the program risks creating internal resistance. Front-line personnel may interpret mystery shopping as something akin to Orwell’s Big Brother – interpreting it as a distrustful management checking up on their employees. They may see the mystery shop program solely as a means of realizing financial rewards, rather than more intrinsic rewards such as being better at their profession, and as a result game the system by frivolously disputing shops. This internal resistance often manifests itself in the form of excessive disputes, questioning everything, wasting hours of time reviewing security films, and playing a game of indentifying the shopper – almost always phantom shoppers (actual customers who are not mystery shopping them). All this internal resistance creates an unnecessary distraction from realizing the brand’s customer experience goals.
Key to launching a successful mystery shopping program is communication, positive communication of: behavioral expectations of employees, guidance regarding internal program administration, and instruction on how to use the results to improve performance. There should be no surprises in mystery shopping, surprises create resistance and kills buy-in.
Position mystery shopping as a win-win. Position it that mystery shopping is designed to help the employee by making them better at their jobs. Employees want to succeed. They want to be good at their jobs. Leverage this desire to succeed in obtaining buy-in from the frontline.
It is, therefore, critical to ensure employees throughout the organization are fully informed and have bought into the program before it is launched. Pre-launch communication should include:
- definition of the brand
- description of the employees’ role as ambassadors of the brand
- list specific behaviors expected of employees (including a copy of the mystery shop questionnaire)
- answering procedural questions of how to communicate program related issues
- training employees how to read mystery shopping reports
- Finally, how to use the information effectively, including and how to set goals for improvement.
Proper launching of a mystery shop program is critical to its success. Starting on the right foot positions mystery shopping in the minds of customer-facing personnel as a positive tool to help them become better at their jobs – and offers real benefits to them both in terms of rewards as a result of the shop, but also intrinsically as it reinforces sales and service behaviors that will benefit them throughout their career.
Communication is key – again, there should be no surprises in a mystery shop program.
In a subsequent post we will discuss communication of expectations.
Kinesis CEM 