The Different Types of Mystery Shopping Explained

mysteryshopping

The use of a mystery shopping program in your business is a fantastic way to evaluate how your company operates, from customer service to employee performance. Also known as secret shopping, mystery shopping is a market research tool used to identify problem areas in your business and improve customer loyalty. 

A professional shopper (usually an independent contractor from a mystery shopping agency) will pretend to be an average customer and evaluate the quality of service they receive. The entire process is done anonymously by trained professionals, so no one will know who the mystery shopper is. Therefore, businesses will be provided with professional, unbiased feedback on whether their strategies are working and any problem areas so they can be rectified. 

In-Person Mystery Shops

In-person mystery shopping is the most common type of mystery shopping service used by businesses. As a part of this service, a mystery shopper will anonymously visit a business pretending to be a regular customer and evaluate the business performance and customer journey following a predetermined set of guidelines. 

With in-person mystery shopping, the goal is to conduct the evaluation without raising suspicion from the staff in order to obtain the most accurate information possible. If the staff aren’t aware that someone is evaluating them, they are more likely to act how they would on a daily basis. The secret shopper will have an all-around experience of the customer journey in your store. The visit can vary in length depending on the type of indicators, mystery shopping purpose, or the type of evaluated sphere. 

In-person mystery shopping is most commonly used by retail stores, the hospitality industry, restaurants, and financial institutions. 

Phone Call Mystery Shops

Next on the list is Phone Call Mystery Shopping. Just as audits of performance and customer experience should be conducted in-store, monitoring the telephonic performance of your employees is just as important. Phone Call Mystery Shopping is especially useful for companies that utilise call centres or where customers can receive service telephonically. 

The mystery shopper will call your company to assess the level of service they receive. During the call, the secret shopper will determine the following points (among others) to determine the performance of your business telephonically: 

  • Is it easy or difficult to contact your business?
  • How long did it take for the phone to be answered?
  • The employee’s greeting.
  • The employee’s competence and product knowledge.
  • The employee’s telephone manner and professionalism.
  • The employee’s willingness to help.
  • Whether the customer’s problem was solved on the call or not. 

Typical telephone mystery shops include everything from completing remote transactions to simply asking for additional information. Phone-based mystery shopping is most commonly used by businesses in the following industries: Hospitality, travel, call centres, communication, consulting, insurance, sales, financial services, communication, and healthcare. 

Website Mystery Shops

A strong online presence is crucial to the success of your business in the digital age. Most people carry their phones everywhere, search for businesses nearby, and look at online reviews that can either make or break your business image. In addition, the evolution of e-commerce and e-business has made mystery shopping just as important for online retailers as it is for on-site establishments. 

Website Mystery Shops, also known as virtual mystery shops or internet mystery shopping, see the secret shopper engage with your business online. The secret shopper will assess how responsive your business is online, whether your website is easy to navigate, your employee’s competencies and product knowledge, and how your employees interact with customers on social media and through the website. 

This type of mystery shopping is most commonly used by businesses in the following sectors: e-commerce, travel, insurance, automotive, real estate, and telecommunications. 

Hybrid Mystery Shops

Also referred to as multiple touchpoints or mixed-type mystery shopping, the hybrid service is typically used by larger businesses that need several mystery shopping evaluations. Using in-person, telephonic, and online mystery shoppers ensures you have accurate information and actionable insights into all aspects of your business. 

Hybrid mystery shopping is a fantastic way to assess the entire customer journey across all spheres of your business to better understand the customer’s overall experience from start to finish. 

The type of mystery shopping that best suits your business is dependent on your industry and business model, but if you need help choosing a mystery shopping service that offers the most benefit for your specific needs, contact Customer Perceptions today.

How Mystery Shopping Can Benefit Your Business

How mystery shopping can benefit your business

From the outside looking in, one may think that the more customers a company has, the higher its profits. However, this is not necessarily the case. Anyone with retail experience will tell you that building a network of loyal, repeat customers is the cornerstone to the success of your business. 

Suppose your customer service, staff performance, or customer experience is not up to par. In that case, customers won’t return to your business, word of mouth will spread, and you will eventually lose income. As a business owner or executive, rectifying any problem areas in how your business is run can only be done after the problems have been identified. This is where mystery shopping programs come in. 

Many businesses, especially in the retail and hospitality industries, aim to identify problem areas in their business performance by using mystery shopping agencies. Mystery shopping is a process whereby an independent person is hired, through an agency, to masquerade as a customer and perform an evaluation of your business to determine customer satisfaction and service quality. The hired mystery shopper will be an anonymous consumer and have no connection to you or any of your staff. This is to ensure that all reports remain unbiased. 

The mystery shoppers will visit your business and rate their experience in an unbiased, professional, and thorough manner. They will complete a detailed report of the entire customer journey to their superiors, who will share the information with you so you will be aware of how customers perceive your company’s service and their experience as a whole. 

Here are some of the benefits of hiring a mystery shopper to evaluate your business: 

Get Valuable Feedback from a Customer’s Perspective

Mystery shoppers are trained professionals, so when they visit your business as a customer, they will take note of every aspect of the customer journey from start to finish. No matter how big or small an issue may be, it will be noted. This is a lot more effective than waiting for reports from your management or waiting until an actual customer brings forward a complaint. 

This attention to detail and knowledge of the retail sector will help your business pinpoint specific areas for improvement that may have been flying under the radar. When you know how your customer experience, satisfaction, and brand perception are seen from a customer’s point of view, you can make the necessary changes to improve customer retention. Not only can this improve your customer loyalty, but the improvement in your business image can attract new customers.  

Gives You Insight Into Staff Performance and Internal Procedures

Even if your employees are fully proficient in the business’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), sometimes the top-down approach to company standards and procedures still doesn’t have the desired effect at a store level. Even if your management department provides reports on business operations and staff behaviour, personal biases may hinder their ability to see problem areas (whether intentional or not).

The unbiased perspective of a professional shopper can provide you with actionable insights into your employee integrity and whether your operational procedures are working. Not only will this show you areas where further training or action may be needed, but the mystery shopper can also give you the following valuable insights: 

  • Are your current operational procedures working at a store level?
  • How do your employees handle customer complaints?
  • Are your sales representatives selling actively or passively?
  • Does your staff have relevant product knowledge?
  • Did your team acknowledge the customer when they walked in? (Smiling, greeting, or offering help; Or was the customer ignored?) 
  • Are employees presentable and abiding by the company dress code, if there is one?
  • How do employees act when there isn’t a manager around? 
  • Are legal requirements and professional standards being met?
  • Are your staff members on their cellphones in front of customers? 
  • Suggestions and recommendations for improvement. 

Valuable Research into Your Competitors 

Competitiveness is rife in the retail industry. If you know how your competition performs, what they’re doing, their business values, how they treat their customers, or how their layout works, you can see where you rank in comparison and how to improve. This will provide you with the competitive advantage your store may need to provide better customer service and put your store steps above your competitors. 

Mystery shopping combines qualitative and quantitative market research, using professionals trained to evaluate an experience in a storefront environment. This doesn’t just help businesses like retail stores, but any company that offers some level of customer service. Contact Customer Perceptions today if you are located in Ireland or the UK and want to know more about mystery shopping or other ways you can improve your business performance.

Top 10 CX Secrets

CX Secrets

The customer experience is a crucial aspect of your business. Having a positive customer experience will greatly improve your chances of retaining customers. The cost for a returning customer is a fraction of the cost to get a new customer. Optimising your customer experience will increase your overall revenue and reduce your dependence on attracting new customers. Our list of CX secrets will give you the information required to find out how to improve your customer experience.

Reducing your reliance on new customers will mean you can focus your time on other aspects of your business while it grows naturally as opposed to putting all your energy in trying to constantly attract new customers that don’t return. Eventually, the new customer pool will begin to run dry without the possibility of upselling or cross-selling.

So the big question is how do I keep getting my customers to come back? Well, there is no simple solution that guarantees a return customer. However, we can offer you ten tried and tested customer experience tips that will help you optimise your customer experience.

1. Know Your Customer

Everybody thinks that they know their customer. You probably know your customer better than most. The main issues stem from not actually understanding your customer or their needs. Don’t be afraid to talk to your customers and ask their opinion when you have them in store. You can survey your own database or purchase a database to complete surveys for you. Lest not forget you can have someone interview your customers as they leave your store.

2. Think Outside the Box

Don’t be afraid to take some risks. Is there anything that you can offer your customers that will make you stand out and feel different. A focus group can be an excellent sounding board for innovative ideas. Gather in-depth insights from an elite group of your typical customer profile and flesh out tons of ideas as well as their positives and drawbacks.

3. Measure Your CX

Are you sure that you are delivering an amazing customer experience? Your business might be a lot more relaxed when you are not around. You may even provide a good customer experience, but don’t know what is it missing to make it excellent. Use some family members or friends to visit your store and breakdown their experience. You can also outsource to mystery shoppers who are experienced in evaluating stores.

4. Look at your Direct Competitors

What are your competitors doing? Do any of your customers shop with your competitors? If so then find out what they are doing better. Doing competitor research will help you figure out which pain points you should improve in your business. You can also see where you are doing better than competitors and what you should keep doing.

5. Analyse and Benchmark

Find out the industry average in relation to your business. You can research CX benchmark figures and use these as a benchmark for your own company. You can set the industry average as your low target not to drop below or the goal to reach. Use all of the information you gather to identify your strengths and weaknesses.

6. Train Your Staff

If there are gaps based on your research that you need to address, then communication is key. Communicate with staff members and teach them the importance of the customer experience. Use training courses to upskill your staff in any areas they are lacking and if getting your staff together is a logistical nightmare, avail of some online courses instead.

7. Measure the Effectiveness of the Training

Sounds a bit repetitive, but the key really lies in measuring and tracking your CX. Otherwise, you are just throwing paint at a wall and praying it sticks. Measuring progress gives you actionable information. Re-assess your staff on the criteria which led you to identify those training gaps. Evaluate performance again and if necessary revisit training.

8. Be Consistent

Whether it is just one location or multiple, consistency is key. If you have multiple locations standardise your CX across all outlets. Ensure all store standards, POS, customer service and wait times are all the same across your stores. Conduct mandatory checks to ensure these standards are being met.

9. Ask for Feedback

Even if you have done all the hard work, don’t assume that customers are happy. It is a fact that you can’t please everyone. However, you should still provide customers with a place to give their feedback, including happy customers. Having a feedback system allows customers to give instant feedback which you can rectify quickly before it becomes a consistent problem.

10. Always Remain Customer Focused

Being customer-focused should be ingrained in your company culture. It will help you implement any changes that come around from measuring your CX. The best method to implement this is with a top-down approach with your key personnel and management being role models.

Hello Hospitality: Trends for 2021

Hospitality Trends 2021

As restrictions continue to ease for the hospitality sector, we at Customer Perceptions felt it was an opportune time to conduct a survey across our nationwide base of consumers. We wanted to determine consumers’ opinion on ‘Staycations’ (Yes, we also don’t like that word) and what their intentions were in utilising the Hospitality sector. We have discovered some interesting hospitality trends for 2021.


The data and results uncovered were engrossingly insightful. Overall, the survey affirmed that the past 18 months have had an impact on consumers’ intentions of holidaying in the future and when they intend in returning to the Hospitality sector.

Where are people holidaying?

Unsurprisingly, the majority of respondents were keen to holiday this year. Not exactly breaking news that people enjoy holidays. The surprise was the willingness to trade in sun holidays and travel agents for staycations this year. In fact, 87.2% of respondents are hoping to holiday in Ireland. Of the 12.8% of respondents that are not holidaying in Ireland this year, the main reason was the price of staying in Ireland, or that they were planning on travelling abroad.

Would you consider holidaying abroad in 2021?

With the updates on Covid Certs, Green Lists and a slow opening of foreign travel, we examined how respondents would feel about holidaying further abroad this year to a foreign destination. Almost 40% of respondents said “No” that they would not be travelling abroad this year. The remainder were more open to this, with some citing Yes, but only if certain criteria was filled. 35% were happy to travel abroad if the restrictions were eased, travel was permitted and they were vaccinated. 9% of respondents were happy to travel if restrictions were eased and travel was permitted. However, only 4% of respondents were happy to travel abroad regardless of vaccine status or restrictions.

Uncertainty is a big part in the reason people are wary of travelling outside of Ireland. It is important to realise that restrictions could change on a whim if your holiday destination has a spike that moves it from the Green list to the Red list. Evidently the global vaccine rollout reduces the possibility of rapid circumstance changes. This will potentially alleviate some peoples fear of travelling. This could lead to a shift in the hospitality trends coming into 2022.

Biggest Hospitality Trends for Travelling In Ireland

The number one factor when deciding where to travel to in Ireland is the price. Followed by the location and journey time. Only 22 respondents determined destination popularity to impact their decision on where to travel in Ireland. The majority of people in Ireland would usually stay in a hotel with 196 respondents typically staying in a hotel. Compared to the second highest (101 respondents) choice of Self-Catering. Bed & Breakfasts were third most popular but with another large drop in popularity with only 43 people opting to stay if given a choice.

Even though destination popularity isn’t likely to influence destination choice, the location of the hotel is the most important factor for when choosing where to stay for the desired destination. However, when asked about why they stay in a particular hotel or B&B comfort was the number one option.

Hotel Statistics In Covid-19

48% of our respondents have stayed in a Hotel since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Customers had an even split on whether Covid-19 restrictions had impacted their stay. 31.5% felt that the restrictions had a positive impact on their stay opposed to 34.3% of respondents found it negative. The remaining 34.3% felt the restrictions had no impact on their hotel stay. A surprising 48.7% of respondents said they would regularly write an online review for accommodation, restaurants and pubs after a visit.

21.6% of the respondents said they would visit a pub monthly this year while 15% would visit weekly. Another 12.5% intended to visit the pub at least once every two weeks. One of the main factors impacting dining habits of our respondents is that they did not want to eat outdoors. 63.4% of people were satisfied with the restrictions of 6 people per table. Although the respondents were far more likely to go to a restaurant than a pub. 19% intended to visit a restaurant weekly while another 19% intended to go every two weeks. However, 38.1% planned on visiting a restaurant monthly.

Impacts on the Hospitality Sector in Ireland

The tourism in Ireland has plummeted with travel restrictions and quarantines putting international tourists off travelling. However, in the same vein Irish tourists have decided to explore the beauties of Ireland opposed to jetting off to Lanzarote to get a tan. Inevitably international tourism will see a rapid rise in the near future as restrictions continue to ease. However, having a positive experience holidaying in Ireland may see an increase in Irish residents holidaying within the country. Hospitality trends for 2021 look positive for internal travel across Ireland.

Combine this with fact that destination popularity isn’t an important factor in the majority of respondents’ decision making process. This could see quiet areas of rural Ireland receiving a boost in the hospitality sector if the act of going on a “staycation” remains popular after all travel restrictions are lifted.

We specialise in enhancing the customer experience across multiple sectors. You can view our solutions to improve your business. If you have any questions or need advice on improving customer retention rates contact us and we will be happy to help. If you require any staff training or upskilling our training programmes are available both online and in person courses.

Supermarket Superheroes

Supermarket Superhero infographic

By Linda Martin, Client Account Manager

An Industry Excelling

Over the past year, Irish supermarkets have faced the demands of providing superior customer service, whilst operating as an essential business through a pandemic. They have dealt with and overcome the significant challenges of delivery restrictions, panic buying and purchase limits, along with implementing new processes to make their customers feel safe in stores. 

Now, as we see restrictions begin to ease, we asked consumers to tell us how they feel about their local supermarkets. During the month of May, we conducted a nationwide survey to gauge consumer attitudes towards the customer service in stores, shopping preferences, change in shopping habits over the last 12 months and their experience of online shopping solutions.

Where are Irish Consumers Shopping?

We asked our consumers where they complete their main grocery shopping and Aldi came back as a clear favourite, with 32% of the vote. This was closely followed by Lidl at 23% and Tesco at 20%. In fourth place were Dunnes Stores on 14% and Supervalu at 8%.

The majority of Irish consumers we surveyed reported that they are making frequent trips to their supermarket, with 51% going 2-3 times per week, while 32% go at least once per week… So what factors are important when choosing where to shop and why they should remain a loyal customer to the brand?

Price and value for money (92%) and product range (73%) were rated as the top factors that consumers consider when choosing a location. Consumers are also looking at the availability of special offers in store (57%) and the location of the premises (46%). 94% of Irish supermarkets are offering free parking to their customers, a factor which cannot be overlooked when consumers are considering where to shop. Loyalty cards also influence the decision on where to shop for some 24% of consumers.

With the range of choice, service, and value on offer, are retailers doing enough to keep their customers returning as loyal shoppers with the brand? 33% of consumers in our survey confirmed that they have switched retailers in the last 12 months, but why are they switching? “Money offer vouchers”, “shorter queues” and “better product variety” are just some of the most commonly cited reasons that encourage consumers to move away from their regular supermarkets. In addition, “click & collect charges” and “special offers” also play a key role in the decision.

E-Commerce

With the rise in e-commerce services being offered by Irish retailers, why do 86% of Irish consumers still prefer to shop in store as opposed to availing of delivery? According to our research, only 10% of customers regularly use their local supermarkets online delivery service and similarly, only 7% of customers are using Click and Collect. Up to 93% of customers say that they find the online systems clear and easy to navigate, yet their preference still remains to travel to the supermarket and complete their shopping in person. When asked why consumers are being discouraged from using their stores delivery service, the main response is that they prefer to pick the freshest products themselves in store. Alternative product options or substitutions being placed in the delivery, is another factor that comes into consideration.

89% of customers are aware of an additional charge for the delivery service and 36% were happy with the availability of delivery dates and times. With the increase in the number of retailers now offering Click & Collect services, how do consumers rate the availability of products and the collection process? 45% say that their main grocery store offers a collection service and 44% of customers have previously availed of the service. Of the customers that regularly use the service, 75% have easily located the designated parking spot at the store. We were keen to find out how consumers feel about Click & Collect services and while some say they are “very happy with the service” and “all items received are of good quality and in date”, others have had a different experience, commenting that there were damaged goods in their orders, or replacement items and short-dated stock included.

Covid Regulations

Over the past 12 months, retailers have worked tirelessly to adapt their services to ensure a safe shopping environment for their customers. We asked shoppers to weigh in on the Covid-19 precautions put in place in their regular supermarkets and more importantly do they feel safe while shopping in store. All supermarkets we researched have protective measures in place, such as sanitiser (97%), floor markings (89%), covid-19 signage (88%), Perspex screens (93%) and sanitising stations for trolleys (84%). Customers are observant of social distancing measures in place, with 86% agreeing that staff are respectful of guidelines and 72% feel that numbers are being monitored sufficiently instore. However, all factors considered, 91% of consumers say that they feel safe in their main regular grocery store.

This report outlines current sentiment among Irish consumers regarding supermarkets, their products, services, and solutions.

A total of 270 consumers were surveyed across Ireland.

Report published: May 2021

Mystery Shopping the User Experience

Mystery Shopping the User Experience

By – Lynn Carr, Project Manager

The User Experience or UX as it is commonly known, is defined as the overall experience of a person using a website or app, especially in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use. In the ever-changing business landscape, the continued growth of e-commerce has transformed customer’s expectations of websites and apps. While most companies feel that their website looks the part, the question remains… does it act the part? Often, companies spend considerable time creating, designing, and maintaining their websites but not much time testing it from a user’s perspective.

Mystery Shopping the User Experience involves assessing and evaluating the experience of engaging with your website from your customer’s or user’s perspective. It evaluates everything from your website/app’s usability, effectiveness, customer service standards and general customer or user experience.

Online or User Experience Mystery Shops can be used in many ways to gain better insight into the effectiveness and usability of your website. The nature and objective of User Experience Mystery Shopping may vary. User Experience Mystery Shops can be conducted in a variety of different ways. The mystery shopper may simply explore and assess the website in detail, navigating its various features, pages, and functions. They may engage with contact forms, email addresses, live chats and associated social media accounts. Furthermore, they may purchase an item online, assessing the payment process, delivery timelines and even the returns procedure and experience. These elements of UX can be assessed individually or altogether, to provide a holistic view of the User Experience.

Online or UX Mystery Shopping can answer the following questions:

  • Is your website easily located via search engine?
  • Can customers easily find what they are looking for on your website?
  • Is the user experience negatively affected by the device customers use?
  • Does user experience vary drastically depending on whether they use a browser or your app?
  • Why might potential customers choose to shop online on your competitor’s sites over yours?
  • How responsive are your staff via live chat / email / social media?
  • What is the quality of customer service provided via your online platforms?
  • How easy is the process of making a purchase/order on your website?
  • How efficient is your order fulfilment and returns process?
  • How do customers rate your overall User Experience?

Whether User Experience Mystery Shopping is conducted its own or combined with a wider programme, such as analyzing the User Experience of your competitors and/or physical on-site Mystery Shopping, it has a multitude of benefits, including being a cost-effective method of monitoring and measuring website/online platform performance, identifying website improvements and sales opportunities, and providing insight and analysis into your competitors.

The above questions are tackled by Mystery Shopping the User Experience to give companies insight into what frustrations their online customers experience and also, where they are exceeding expectations and outperforming competitors. By Mystery Shopping the User Experience, you can ensure that your customers enjoy a professional, user-friendly, efficient, and welcoming online environment, as well as memorable online customer service.

One Million Mystery Shops

1,000,000 Mystery Shops

By – Susan Reilly, Head of Sales and Marketing

 

Customer Perceptions, having been in existence for almost a quarter of a century now, have completed over one million customer satisfaction/feedback assessments in this time.

What does having one million pieces of feedback mean? It means we can pull together some fairly robust statistics as to exactly what your customer wants.

One thing for sure is, times have changed, whilst 10 years ago, the primary focus for customers was a “good price”, this has dramatically changed since. Customers are now much more complex when it comes to the decisions they make. Below you will find the key drivers resulting in higher satisfaction levels and ultimately higher spend and likelihood for repeat business.

1.) Feelings.
It might be unusual that we talk about feelings when it comes to your customer, however feelings matter. Fact! Customers want to feel loved, to feel wanted, to feel important, to feel valued. Take a minute to make your customer “feel” special. The more feelings a customer can attach to a store, the more memorable the event, hence the more likely they are to return.

2.) Time.
Time is key to customers, and everybody has less and less each day. Nobody wants to “waste” time. Queues are the single most annoyance when it comes to shopping. A queue will deter a customer before they even fully step into your store. You have no chance if your stores have long queues. We need to be ahead of the game, ensuring we are utilising every tool in our reach to minimise the time spent queuing and waiting. Efficiency is key.

3.) Knowledge.
Customers hate bluffers. They can spot them a mile off. Don’t put staff in front of customers if you have not trained them in fully on the products. This does your reputation considerable damage. Staff need to be confident in what they are selling, and also need to be confident in saying “I don’t know, but let me get the answer for you”.

4.) Promises.
Empty promises are a pet peeve for customers. Don’t tell your customer that you will give them a call in 2 days time if you have no intention of doing so. If you commit to something, you must deliver. Have a robust system for recording when following up calls must be made and stick to it. The system should be transparent so any staff member can pick up the calls if needed.

5.) Answer Me!
How many times have you felt like screaming this down the phone, or to your laptop screen when you just want somebody to answer your question. Customers want to talk to you, and they want to talk to you through a variety of channels. Keep the lines of communication open at all times. If you have a phone number listed on your website, then answer the call when it comes through. If you have an email address listed on your website, then answer the email when it comes through. If you have a facebook page, then answer your messages….. see where I am going with this? If you list a channel for your customers to communicate with you, then you absolutely must have this channel manned in a timely manner, i.e. within a 24 hour period max.

Make sure to follow our Linked In page, and check out our blog section on our website regularly as we will be telling you exactly how to achieve each of these points in much more detail.

Our first tutorial on making the Customer FEEL good, is coming soon…………….

You name it, we can do it!

Family at the restaurant

By – Megan Clarke, Client Account Manager.

 

Mystery shopping can offer an endless range of unimaginable insights.  So, before you come to the conclusion that mystery shopping provides limited information, let’s take a look at some of the more unique projects we have carried out.

Aside from the more regular convenience store visits, hotel stays and finance calls, we have an array of past projects that we are sure will intrigue you.

We have sent the underaged demographic to shops to buy cigarettes to see if staff are checking for ID and we have sent people to funeral homes pretending they have had a bereavement to assess the empathy of staff.   Some have been sent to visit the cliffs, some have made video consultations with the doctor for the contraceptive pill, cold/flu and back pain.   We have assessed photo machines in shopping centres, assessed charity collectors on the street and even travelled on the ferry to price the products on the boat.   To make things even MORE exciting, we have challenged people to the adventure rooms and got them to break the rules, sent them on thrilling theme park rides and sightseeing adventures across land and sea.

Not only can the scenarios be wonderfully weird but the profile of the lucky individual undertaking the assessment can be requested and we will make it our mission to meet the specifics.  We have sent ladies with a bigger bust to lingerie stores to try on bras and to get seriously specific, we have used a shopper over 50 with a stigmatism in one eye, no history of heart disease and a prescription more than plus 5 on their lens to test an optician.

We are always willing to take on new challenges, things we have never done before in an aim to provide our clients with the essential information they need to grow and strive.

Need more information? Click HERE

2019 Irish Restaurant Awards

2019 Irish Restaurant Awards

By Lynn Carr and Jean Ragg, Senior Client Account Managers, Customer Perceptions

On Monday May 13th, we were delighted to be invited to attend the 2019 Irish Restaurant Awards. Now in its 11th year, the Irish Restaurant Awards are arguably the biggest night of the year in the Irish hospitality industry. This year’s event garnered over 90,000 nominations from the public.

This was our 4th year in attendance as the official mystery shop provider of the Irish Restaurant Awards and what a wonderful night it was.

Across a 5-week period in March and April, Customer perceptions conducted 450 Mystery Guest Inspections across Ireland. The results of these inspections held 40% of the weighting for the awards. It was no mean feat for the Customer Perceptions team, but as always, we were up to the task.

With 6 courses ahead, prepared by some of the best chefs in the country, we could not wait for the awards to begin. The starter, prepared by Ethna Reynolds of Nook Restaurant in Sligo, was a beautiful Tostada with Slow Roast Pork Belly, Beetroot Crema, Pickled Rhubarb, Salsa and Feta. This was followed by a Wild Garlic and Nettle Crumb Soup served with a selection of breads prepared by apprentice chefs.

The fish course was a beautiful Steamed Monkfish prepared by Paul Hynes of La Cote Seafood Restaurant in Wexford, while the main course prepared by Tom, Flavin of The Limerick Strand Hotel was Wild Boar with Free Range Pork Boudin and Mature Cheddar Colcannon.

To finish, dessert was a Velvet Cloud Set Cream with Valhrona Opalys, Strawberries and Highbank Balsamic prepared by Conor Mee of Courthouse Restaurant in Carrickmacross. This was literally heaven on a plate. The All-Ireland Cheeseboard followed this, and was divine, consisting of goat’s cheese, blue cheese and brie.

Loam Restaurant in Galway scooped the top prize of Best Restaurant in Ireland, while Graham Neville of Dax Restaurant was awarded Best Chef in Ireland. We were delighted for Eastern Seaboard Bar & Grill who won Best Restaurant in Leinster, a much-deserved prize for a local establishment.

It was a fantastic night. It was a true testament to the hard work of the Restaurant’s Association of Ireland and a great opportunity to celebrate the commitment, passion and skill of those in the industry. As we left, the Krispy Kreme doughnut wall caught our attention. A snack for the road, as if we hadn’t eaten enough already!

 

For more information on our Hospitality Services click HERE

Celebrating International Women’s Day

International Women's Day Walk

By Megan Clarke, Client Account Supervisor, Customer Perceptions.

At Customer Perceptions, we each set a quarterly goal that we want to achieve. For Q1 2019, my goal was to organise a team building activity for each quarter of the year. I knew great things would come from this as it would give us the opportunity to communicate with each other outside our normal day-to-day.

For Q1, I decided to incorporate fundraising into our team activity and increase our corporate social responsibility. Everyone on the team felt this was a great idea and jumped at the chance to do something for the community.

I came across an advertisement on the Women’s Aid Facebook page which gave me the idea of organising an event to help raise funds for this charity on International Women’s Day. The entire team donated, and we set out for our lunchtime walk on Friday, March 8th.  We walked the length of the Navy Bank in Dundalk and back to the office where we enjoyed an organised lunch together.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and at the end, we were so happy to send our donation off to Women’s Aid which is such a great cause. They have been working in Ireland since 1974 and channel their efforts into stopping domestic violence against women and children. This was a fitting charity to raise money for on International Women’s Day, a day when we celebrate gender equality and women’s achievements.

Happy International Women’s Day!

 

If you would like to know more about Customer Perceptions click HERE