Automobile industry has several big players, all trying to get the better of one another. For them, customer service has become a differentiating factor. In an age when the concept of luxury showrooms is surfacing, the need for players in the automobile industry to keep their services sound is critical.

Automotive mystery shopping is a great way of creating a unique shopping experience for customers. Owing to immense competition, the attrition rate of customers is increasing every day. It is therefore extremely important for automobile stores to scrutinize their service from time to time. And there begins the role of a mystery shopper.

Mystery shopping has become a huge business now. The evaluation is structured and personalised to the client. This kind of a structured approach enhances the accuracy of the feedback interpretation and the final results. Hence, the internal functioning of the showroom can be monitored more accurately.

A mystery shopper is trained to understand the quality of customer service provided by the auto-dealer or service centre, thereby identifying areas of improvement. The process starts with customer service audits where the mystery shopper visits those centres. The auditor takes a good look at the infrastructure, interacts with the employees and takes note of the quality of products or services. He might also scrutinise the technical aspects as per the requirements of the client. Another prevalent practice in customer service auditing is to get in touch with the centres on call as a customer. Post that, the mystery shopper in view of his experience at the dealership or service-centre, outlines a roadmap for improvement in certain areas.

Another facet of mystery shopping is competitive benchmarking. It means that the mystery shopper for a client will audit its competitors to know what they are doing. This is helpful in analysing the competitors’ areas of strength and weakness. Competitive analysis helps in keeping up with the competition and plan the next move accordingly. It is crucial for service providers to have complete understanding of the competition before building the strategy for customer loyalty.