If you've followed our blog you’ll know that quality auditing is one of the main channels we recommend for customer experience measurement. But who exactly are remote operators? This is a topic that can still cause some confusion.
Quality auditing, also referred to as secret shopping or covert inspections, can take on a variety of forms. This is because an effective quality auditing program should mirror how your customers interact with your brand.
Here we’ll look at the three most common types of quality auditing and which industries tend to benefit most from them:
1. In-Person Quality Auditing
Arguably the most common type, and likely what you imagine when you think of quality auditing, is when a secret shopper visits a location armed with pre-determined criteria which they use to measure the staff and businesses performance. This kind of shop can take anywhere from minutes to hours depending on the nature of what is being measured, the purpose of the shop, and the businesses specific type of industry.
In-person mystery shops are great for businesses where a shopper can present themselves as a potential customer without causing any suspicion.
2. Telephone Quality Auditing
An alternative to physically visiting a location is for secret shoppers to call in to a business. This kind of quality auditing is heavily used to assess call centres, but shouldn’t be overlooked by any business who can be reached by phone as it’s important that your customers have the same level of experience regardless how they interact with your brand.
Telephone mystery shops can mimic anything from completing a remote purchase to simply calling for additional information.
3. Virtual Quality Auditing
Virtual mystery shops, sometimes called internet mystery shops, are when a secret shopper engages with a brand online. As we’ve seen in our Changes in Consumer Habits Reports, online shopping has been on a steady rise and is showing no signs of receding – making this type of program increasingly important.
These virtual shops are conducted by a secret shopper who assesses how responsive a company is online, how easy their website is to navigate, or how they interact with customers on social media. Similar to telephone quality auditing, virtual quality auditing should not be overlooked by any brand with a digital presence.
So who are remote operators? Remote operators are any covert inspectors measuring your operations or customer experience. Which style is right for you will simply depend on your industry and unique business model.
