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Mystery Check Examples:
Ambience of your POS (point of sale)
Shopping – fun...
... or frustration? Many customers buy only what they need very quickly
or even leave the premises without purchasing anything if the atmosphere
causes them stress. This could result from loud and hectic music, bad
illumination, confusing arrangement of products, lack in pricing, insufficient
consultation, etc. All these factors might diminish the customers’ mood
for shopping.
Mystery Check 1: Supermarket
A customer is shopping for the weekend.
Before:
The customer rushes through a discount store and buys only what is
listed on the shopping list. The ambience of the store is plain and
sterile: harsh lighting, product presentation in cartons and boxes,
only few products available on the shelves. No music.
Optimized service process:
The customer does the weekend shopping in a supermarket where all
products are presented in an appealing manner, there are alternatives
for each and every product, and there is quiet and pleasant music
playing in the background. This has a relaxing and soothing impact
on the customer.
The pleasant atmosphere contributes to the fact that the customer
strolls through the aisles of the supermarket and buys further products
in addition to the items listed on the shopping list, even product
which he had originally not intended to buy.
Mystery Check 2: Fast food chain restaurant
A family with three children enters a fast food restaurant in the
early evening, after an extensive shopping spree. The kids are nagging
and are tired – the parents quite exhausted from the shopping.
Before:
The quite busy fast food restaurant features loud and hammering techno
music, making the parents even more annoyed. The kids cannot decide
on what they want to order. The salesperson at the counter becomes
impatient and, disgruntled, turns to the next customer.
The parents are now ultimately on edge, and furiously leave the restaurant
with some of the kids crying.
Optimized service process:
The quite busy fast food restaurant features neutral, calm and relaxing
music. The parents are relieved after all the hectic rush and noise
on the street.
The kids cannot decide what to order. The salesperson greets the
children with a friendly “hello” and makes a menu suggestion. The
children agree enthusiastically, and the parents also figure out very
soon what they want to order.
At the end, dining at this fast food restaurant was a pleasant end
to a strenuous shopping tour for all of them. They all agree that
they would like to come back again.