Mystery Shopping vs Net Promoter Score (NPS): Which Should You Use?

There are numerous methods which are used for measuring the service quality in the businesses today. The most popular of these are mystery shopping and the Net Promoter Score. Both measure customer experience metrics, but in different ways. Each of the methods will be explained, compared, and you'll be able to see which one is right for your business. It's not a matter of who wins the battle of the mystery shopping vs net promoter score; it's a matter of how much each one adds to the puzzle. It's a matter of knowing how to apply each tool appropriately.

What Is NPS Score?

So, if you're wondering, “What is an NPS score,” it's a measure of loyalty that is based on one question: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?” The customers respond on a scale of 0 to 10. The NPS score full form is Net Promoter Score, which was developed by Fred Reichheld of Bain & Company, and introduced in Harvard Business Review.

There are three types of responses:

• Promoters (9-10): Customers who are willing to say positive things about you.
• Passives (7-8): Happy but not enthusiastic and open to competition.
• Detractors (0 – 6): Dissatisfied customers who could damage your reputation.

NPS =promoters % − detractors %. The result ranges from −100 to +100.

What Is a Good NPS Score?

A score is greater than 0 if you have more promoters than detractors. As CIO points out, many practitioners consider 20 and above to be favourable and 50 and above to be excellent. The ranges are only guidelines. The benchmark for a good NPS score varies by industry so check your score against your competitors. Bain's study of the economics of loyalty helps to shed light on why relative benchmarking is important.

What Is Mystery Shopping?

Mystery shopping involves having trained shoppers go to or contact a company as a typical consumer and rate the service. They take part in a rehearsed scenario, view the service and provide facts in reference to a pre-determined checklist. Mystery shopping assesses additional areas that a survey cannot verify, like greeting time, product knowledge, cleanliness, policy compliance and sales process.

Mystery Shopping vs Net Promoter Score: Key Differences

In short, NPS speaks about how customers feel. Mystery shopping reveals what really took place at the point of service. Low NPS is a problem, but not necessarily a diagnosis of the cause. Mystery shopping typically does.

CSAT vs NPS: How Do They Differ?

Many teams also do CSAT to NPS comparisons. Customer satisfaction score (CSAT): Satisfaction with a particular interaction, like a purchase, customer service call, or store visit. The ratings given are typically a 1-5 scale on a customer-by-customer basis. CSAT is calculated as:

CSAT = (Number of "Satisfied" responses / Total number of responses) x 100

With respect to NPS vs CSAT, keep this in mind:

• CSAT is a short-term, transactional measurement. It poses the question, "Were you pleased with this experience?
• NPS is a long-term and relational metric. It asks you "Would you recommend us?

Both rely on the customer's opinion, which can be affected by mood, expectations or response bias. Mystery shopping provides the objective perspective, which is not possible from opinion-based measurements. See also mystery shopping vs customer feedback surveys.

When Should You Use NPS?

NPS is appropriate if you would like to:

• Monitor brand loyalty over time
• Benchmark against competitors
• Identify positive and negative supporters and opponents in a timely fashion.
• Fast, low cost feedback on scale!

It's easy to repeat and simple, so it's something that many companies pick up on their regular customer experience measuring.

When Should You Use Mystery Shopping?

When you need to: Mystery shopping is the better alternative:

• Check if staff follow service and sales standards
• Make objective comparisons of outlets/franchises
• Locate the precise moment of failure in the service.
• Ensure adherence to brand policies.
• Compare against the competition with competitor benchmarking

It's particularly beneficial for multi-location businesses like retail, banking, hotel, restaurant and car dealership. It also enables staff to make improvements as feedback is based on specific observed behaviour.

Why the Best Programs Use Both

The best method is to use both. A practical example:

• NPS shows that satisfaction is falling in a particular city.
• The outlets are visited by mystery shoppers, and they report slow greeting times and poor product explanations.
• Training is a remedy for the deficiencies.
• Returning to the site, NPS is measured again to ensure improvement.

This cycle connects customers' perceptions with operational data. Also, it helps to establish more robust data-driven mystery shopping initiatives and more transparent KPI tracking. Both sets of results can be viewed on a mystery shopping dashboard. They also get you the justification to spend when you mix them together.

How to Choose the Right Approach

Ask these questions:

• Is it important to you to know what customers are thinking? Use NPS or CSAT.
• Is it necessary to grasp the reasons behind service quality? Use mystery shopping.
• Do you have a lot of outlets or franchises? Use both, mystery shopping is a control measure.
• Do you have budget constraints? Begin with NPS (sentiment) and then incorporate mystery shopping at your most critical and/or weakest locations.

Frequency matters too. Make use of this plan to visit as per the frequency of mystery audits india.

Read Also: How to Ensure Mystery Shopping Data Is Accurate and Reliable

Conclusion

It is easy to see that the question of mystery shopping vs net promoter score should be answered with a simple answer: NPS for measuring customer loyalty, mystery shopping for measuring service delivery. Perception is indicated by the NPS and CSAT scores. Mystery shopping is the answer to this question. They provide a fuller picture and a clear way of moving forward together.

Looking for some third-party service data to enrich your customer experience metrics? Contact Ctrl Service for your business's mystery shopping program or look for mystery shoppers in india today.