What does your business look through the eyes of potential clients and customers?
Is it a welcoming place?
Is it confusing?
Where do you lose sales?
Be Your Own Secret Shopper
A friend asked me to tag along as a secret shopper for a Tragically Hip concert. He did not drink, so I sampled the beer, burgers, and other things on his list and gave him feedback to record on his list.
Things like service, quality, wait to get service, friendliness of the server, overall experience, …
You can do the same with your online business.
Put on your ‘Visitor’ hat and walk through your entire operation.
Social Media
- Do you have a social media presence?
- How do you come across?
- Is the messaging consistent?
- Are people engaging?
Website
- Is your website engaging?
- Is it up to date?
- Is it obvious what you are offering?
- Is it easy for people to take actions like subscribing or buying?
- Are your questions answered on the site?
- Is there enough information to make a decision?
Ordering Experience
- Was the process easy?
- Did you receive what you were expecting?
- Where there clear descriptions of the next steps?
Onboarding Experience
- Did your receive what you expected?
For example, you bought an online course. Did you get the access you need? - Where their clear introductions and guidance about how to use your purchase.
Communications
- Did you receive a welcome email?
- Did you receive nurturing emails to make sure you are getting the most from your purchase?
Support
- Is there a place to find help to your questions?
- Can you submit questions or call customer support?
- What is the speed of response?
- What is the quality of the response?
Overall Impression
Be honest now, how would you rate your experience?
- Fabulous! We are doing a great job.
- Wow, that was bad. Now I see why we have trouble attracting and retaining customers. Hell, I wouldn’t even buy from me!
- Decent with rough edges. We can make improvements that will improve the customer experience and increase sales and retention.
Review and Recommendation Report
I can be your secret shopper.
I usually start a connection with a client with a free discovery session.
The next thing could be a paid review and report of the customer experience from the beginning to the end.
From there, you can take action on the recommendations in-house or hire freelancers like me to do it with you or for you.
