Mystery Test B2B

IMPROVING THE BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE WITH MYSTERY SHOPPING

Mystery B2B comprises instruments for an objective evaluation of business transactions from a corporate customer perspective. Real test scenarios are used, in which the tester (B2B shopper) tests defined criteria and, if necessary, obtains a product or service.

In Mystery B2B, the objective of the projects is to collect information that can be used to improve the quality of customer contact and for the development of employees or trading partners.

The focus of the development measures is predominantly the optimization of topics such as:

Customer satisfaction
Customer centricity
Customer loyalty
Customer orientation
Customer service
Service quality
Customer contact quality
Consulting quality
Sales orientation
Closing behavior
etc.

Mystery B2B is also frequently used for business intelligence purposes, for example, to find out how competitors operate in sales and what prices and discounts are offered. Price investigations in the B2B area are a special form.

Synonymously used terms are test purchase B2B, test purchases B2B, test purchase-based B2B procedures, mystery B2B visit, corporate customer test, or corporate customer test consulting. In a narrower sense, these are classic mystery shopping tests in which the processes are geared to concerns of business transactions with commercial customers.

In contrast to customer surveys, Mystery B2B provides objective results on B2B issues that cannot be collected in a customer survey and thus represents a complementary addition to customer satisfaction surveys.

WHAT IS TESTED AND IN WHICH INDUSTRIES IS MYSTERY B2B USED?

For the objective of quality development in customer contact, the test criteria correspond to the classic test criteria in mystery shopping:

Approach / Signage
Impression outside / impression inside
Parking situation
Reception
Initial contact
Needs analysis
Product presentation
Inventory
Cleanliness
Order
Behavior of employees
Competence
Product demonstration
Closing orientation
Overall impression
Follow-up

For the Business Intelligence / Competitor Monitoring objective, the following criteria in particular are examined:

Offer behavior
Pricing
Price negotiation
Competitive argumentation
Similar criteria

Typical industries for mystery projects in the B2B area are, for example, car trade incl. fleet business, commercial vehicles, LCV, trucks, buses, car rental, mechanical engineering, machine rental, bank, DIY stores, call centers, computers, financial services, specialized trade, gastronomy, trade, hotel business, industry, pharmaceuticals, service centers, telecommunications, tourism.

Feedback tests are often used in projects aimed at developing quality in customer contact. Immediately after the test, the tested employee receives personal feedback on his results from a specially trained tester. The tester communicates the criteria that were met as well as those that were not met in a factual manner, so that this feedback provides the recipient with very valuable control information on how he or she can improve.

This approach offers a number of advantages: High attention and perception on the part of the tested employee, high acceptance, and readiness to immediately change a recognized, suboptimal behavior.

CONCERTARE'S SERVICES IN THE B2B SECTOR

concertare has a large pool of testers with a commercial background, as well as a network of companies from many industries that can be recruited for B2B tests. This is especially important because without a suitable background (company identity, homepage,...), no authentic B2B tests can be conducted.

REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCCESSFUL MYSTERY B2B TESTS

Business relationships differ significantly from those with private customers. Mystery research test projects in the area of business to business (BTB / B2B) take these special conditions into account. In the context of B2B, numerous special criteria must be met in order to benefit from the greatest possible success. In the course of an objective evaluation of the individual business cases, our competent mystery shoppers deal with a wide variety of test scenarios, taking the position of a classic corporate customer. Based on the results obtained, you will then receive comprehensive documentation and reporting, which will show you the respective actual situation and any need for optimization.

HOW DO EMPLOYEES IN THE CORPORATE CUSTOMER AND B2B PARTNER AREA REACT?

In personal interaction, employees in the B2B area are subject to similar requirements on the customer side as in the private customer area: speed of response, friendliness, advisory skills, solution orientation, customer focus, and rapid preparation of offers are just a few important points. Good employee behavior in customer contact and excellent customer service lead to a high level of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty and thus help to make optimum use of existing sales potential in the future. The test criteria used for B2B are also used to some extent for classic tests in the private customer sector. However, the focus here is on typical business transactions, such as those that occur between two cooperation partners. For this reason, an adaptation of the test design is necessary in almost all cases.

WHICH AREAS ARE TESTED IN THE MYSTERY TEST B2B?

The subject of most tests in the B2B area is the typical contact channels and touchpoints of the customer journey for the respective company under investigation: email, telephone, personal consultation. In some projects, the primary objective is to obtain offers from the competition in order to better understand their sales strategy and pricing structure. That is why it is very important to define the goals of the project precisely in advance.

Get in contact with us to be advised in this regard!