Civicom Marketing Research Services has launched Civicom ShopTalk™ – the latest tool for Mystery Shopping. It is a form of self-administered mobile ethnographic research that lets researchers collect user-generated content through mobile diaries.
Mystery Shoppers: Consumers on a Mission
Getting into the mind of the consumer to extract and interpret useful insights is the job of every market researcher. Their goal is to generate a report that marketing teams can use as guides for developing the most effective business strategies. One of the more recognized research techniques that has shown great value is mystery shopping.
As a research tool mystery shopping helps pinpoint areas of concern in actual operations so that changes can be applied to help improve performance. The practice was initially developed and used in retail operations to secretly observe a company’s employees as they went about attending to their customers. It is now widely used as a tool to measure performance against pre-determined standards as well as to measure compliance with regulations. By having shoppers walk through the process of service delivery, companies can effectively identify points of failure and bring standards up to their targets and improve their performance relative to their competition.
Civicom ShopTalk™ – Next Generation Mystery Shopping
Using Civicom’s mobile communications tools, ShopTalk™ lets mystery shoppers make audio recordings of their observations and insights as events happen in real time, while everything is fresh in their minds. Information can be available to clients in a matter of moments. This is the most significant advantage of doing research using the Civicom mobile telecommunications platform.
Compared to having mystery shoppers sit down and filling out a questionnaire for “debriefing” at the end of their “mission”, speaking directly into a mobile device while everything is taking place affords the researcher more than just readable text. Aside from the fact that it is a paperless solution, ShopTalk™ provides an emotional dimension to every response, thereby increasing the value of each study participant’s answer as well as their expressed opinions.
Ease of Use with Any Device
ShopTalk™ can be used with any cell phone or mobile device, and even with land lines. Mystery shoppers need to press only one number on their mobile device to start recording their thoughts or impressions as they go about their activities. Plus, with ShopTalk™ the shoppers can easily upload text, photos, videos and documents.
Rich Data and Richer Reports
Shopper recordings go into our data base where they are sorted by shopper, event, time and date. You can listen to these at any time. Civicom takes those recordings and produces an end product which delivers text and sentiment analysis translated into a report. Data can be additionally enhanced with infographic images that get the findings across visually, instead of just in spreadsheets.
About Civicom Marketing Research
Civicom Marketing Research is a global innovator in qualitative research tools using the latest technology solutions for marketing research. The company works hand in hand with market research firms, facilitating telephone and web-based IDIs and Focus Groups that enable projects to have extensive, global reach. Civicom also offers recruiting through CiviSelect™, as well as a full range of online bulletin boards plus mobile qualitative and quantitative services. Learn more about Civicom ShopTalk™ for Mystery Shopping, visit this link or call +1-203-413-2403.
