Mystery Shopping Airports

Through Customer Eyes

Don Eames

The driver made first announcement, but the microphone was not on,

resulting in the confusion about the stop.

After the tumbling about, the driver did not make sure all riders were okay. His name was not posted.

I exited at Air Tran.

The curb position was a full three feet away from the sidewalk, and I was let out right into a puddle.

During the entire ride, the driver held a bunch of papers in his right hand. He never had two hands on the steering wheel.

Right before leaving the terminal area, Russell welcomed riders and indicated

there would be three stops and then he named each. He added that he would make sure we arrived safe and sound and

the ride would take 7-10 minutes.

He announced each time as we approached it and wished departing riders a good trip.

He was professional, polite and did a great job.

What is Mystery Shopping?

• Human subjective or objective observations

• Designed to answer questions

• Shoppers are normal consumers

• Shoppers are trained observers

• Cost relates to complexity and frequency

• Reports can be simple or complex

What are observations?

• Something you can see, feel, smell, count etc.

• Subjective: an opinion i.e. was customer service good?

• Objective: factual i.e. how many minutes between stops

What questions to test?

• YOU determine the question i.e. security, customer service, facility appearance etc

• Together We reduce the question to observations

• We design the shopper’s report

• You determine the report type i.e. simple list to statistical analysis

Sample #1• CD WAREHOUSE – TESTSHOPPER SURVEY• Date ____________________ Time of Visit _______________

Shopper # _________________• Staff

Present___________________________________________________________________

• Location: Laurel_____________________ or Glen Burnie_______________________________

• Shoppers – Answer Y or N. Please make brief comments, particularly on N answers. Ignore the “points” notes.

• How was the overall appearance of the store? Windows clean, front counter clear, front wall full, racks neat, dress code followed? (3 pts.) Y/N

• ___________________________________________________________________________

Sample #2

• A more complex report and results presentation

• An Excel Spreadsheet

Sample #2

Ride Quality (Weight = 1) Good (2) Fair (1) Poor (0)

16 Comfortable Temperature        

17 Bus Clean Inside and Outside        

18 Door Operates Properly        

19 Ride Smooth and Minimal Noise        

      0 0 0

    Score = Rating x Weight     0

Sample #2

Scoring:     Weighted

 Max. Score = 82   Score

    Driver Performance 0

    Customer Service 0

    Ride Quality 0

      0

Mystery Rider Score (Weighted Score / Max. Score)     0%

Thoughts

• Written comments make it real

• All electronic reporting

• Sophisticated industry-beware of fakes