Whilst the first lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19 feels like a lifetime ago, thankfully, lots of businesses in the retail sector are now able to welcome customers into their stores though and many consumers are happy to be swapping online shopping for in-person shopping again.
You may recall seeing a blog we wrote last year about how businesses in the UK are keeping their customers safe and whilst a lot has changed since this time in terms of law and restrictions, it is still important that as a business owner you are doing all you can to protect your customers. Customers value safety measures, such as; wearing masks, encouraging hand sanitising and regular cleaning, and a Mystery Shopping Covid-19 Recovery Audit can help you ensure you’re not hindering your own success by not actively keeping your customers safe.
What is a Covid-19 Recovery Audit?
Here at Proinsight, we worked hard during the midst of the pandemic to create our Covid-19 Recovery Audits. These special mystery shops are designed to measure how safe your customers perceive your retail store to be and how they feel when visiting your store at this moment in time. Our audits can be customised to suit your unique requirements and we will work closely with you to ensure they’re as beneficial as possible for your business.
Why is it important to ensure your customers feel safe?
It goes without saying that it is essential that your customers feel safe when visiting your store, even now when the worst of the pandemic is predicted to be behind us. Lots of people are still very cautious about venturing out and getting back to a pre-pandemic ‘normal’, and they will be worried about the increased risk of transmission in places like retail stores. By going above and beyond to ensure your store is perceived to be a safe place, you can prevent the pandemic from having a negative impact on your sales and your success in 2022.
When you work closely with retail mystery shoppers, you can get a useful insight into your new customer journey. The feedback you receive about the coronavirus precautions you have in place will enable you to make any required changes, ensuring your customers feel comfortable shopping with you at this time. Ultimately, the safer customers feel when they’re in your store, the more likely they will be to return and this can prevent you from losing out on all-important sales as you recover from lengthy closures over the past couple of years.
Of course, how you handle coronavirus safety precautions will also have a huge impact on your business’s reputation. You can almost guarantee that customers will discuss their experience in-store with family and friends, especially if it was a negative experience, and this can be really damaging. Implementing any changes suggested by a retail mystery shopper and using their feedback to better your customer experience in-store will be incredibly beneficial.
Safety remains to be the top priority for consumers as they begin shopping in brick and mortar stores again, and it is likely that this will be the case for the foreseeable future. Starting to work with a retail mystery shopper as soon as possible will prevent any lasting damage from being caused to your business, helping to ensure you come out the other side of the pandemic in a strong market position.
Working with Proinsight in 2022
If you’d like to speak to a member of the Proinsight team about how our mystery shopping services can assist you in more detail, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today. We will gladly take the time to discuss our Covid-19 Recovery Audit with you and answer any initial questions that you may have. Of course, we provide a wide range of other retail mystery shopping services too and we can help you improve your customer experience in a number of different ways, so there is no better way to kick start the new year. We have seen first-hand just how much of a difference the insight gained through mystery shopping can make and we look forward to assisting you further in this regard.
