Gas Station and Convenience Store Mystery Shopping

How can mystery shopping for convenience stres and gas stations improve business?

Improve Customer Experience using Marketing Research Solutions

Gas stations and convenience stores (C-Stores) are competitive and the customer service experience is becoming vitally important to maintain an advantage.

How do you ensure the best customer experience to stay competitive? Do you have actionable goals and the data to achieve them?

Use Reality Based Group’s decades of expertise in mystery shopping to get the data, coaching, and support to meet your goals.

Customers are spending and they are looking for an experience that is: fast, safe, clean, and efficient. Ensuring the customer experience is as easy and positive as possible helps you drive revenue, improve customer loyalty and increase profit.

According to IBIS World, the largest opportunity for growth lies with increased spending on convenience store items, such as food and drinks. Carrying what consumers want is half the picture.

Customer’s experience studies at Convenience Stores and Gas Stations

Do your customers have an experience that keeps them coming back? Do you know how your customers think and more importantly feel about your store? Do you have actionable goals that bring tangible results?

At Reality Based Group, we give you the experience, coaching, data analysis and expertise to guarantee that the customer experience is the best possible for your business. 

Our individually tailored convenience store mystery shopping programs are designed to fit your culture and meet your needs. 

Measurable and Actionable Goals for Mystery Shopping | The Game Plan for Convenience Stores and Gas Stations

First, we work with you to design a game plan. This is fully customizable to your store, culture, and needs. We really want to understand your goals. What do you want to accomplish? What goals will actually get you there?

We then use your knowledge of customer service to guide you and craft a mystery shop that will really work for you and your brand. 

We help you decide which type of solution will serve you best. Then, we narrow the data points that measure what matters most to you and supports your goals. 

Score Card & Data Analysis

We design a scorecard to collect the data that supports your goals. Each scorecard can be individually adjusted for different locations. For example if one location sells craft beer and another does not. Or one location provides fuel and another does not. 

We help you analyze the data to use for training and coaching. We use our customized reports to easily identify areas for improvement and to set progressive measurable objectives to support your goals. 

Our online dashboard provides 24/7 access, real-time notification, and a suite of other tools.

What sets RBG apart? Let’s start with the coaching guide.

We provide guided employee training and coaching to your management, which sets our gas station and convenience store mystery shops apart. We focus on actionable, revenue-driving behaviors through every step of our process. 

We keep the focus on what your employees are doing well and where they can improve. Our decades of experience and research support keeping the training experience positive.

The coaching guide really helps the management create a positive coaching environment to use the data and analysis to improve the team, store, culture, and customer experience. 

For example: 

“When leading your GamePlan coaching meetings, employee engagement is key to bringing the results you want. Always let your employees come up with answers before sharing your own … Remember, it is essential that you are professional, firm, and fair in your coaching meetings.”

Using one of our tailored solutions like GameFilm® (video mystery shopping), written mystery shopping, phone mystery shopping, customer satisfaction surveys and more we will help you set yourself apart from the competition.

Gas Stations and Convenience Stores Insights & Solutions

A gas station mystery shopping company like RBG can collect actionable data, capable of improving your bottom line and giving you the ROI you want.

You know all too well that competition is fiercer than ever. You need a partner you can count on to attain your objectives.

You need a customer experience partner like RBG.

Customer Experience Solutions / Products:

Can Mystery Shopping Mitigate Labor Turnover at Convenience Stores and Gas Stations?

Most convenience store operators are aware of increasing labor turnover, but some may not be clear on exactly what it’s costing them. The convenience store industry faces challenges in the form of declining in-store traffic and labor turnover rates. These challenges can be solved with mystery shopping in convenience stores, for a number of reasons. This provides valuable information to companies about how customers feel about their products and services. This feedback can help companies make changes to improve customer(….?  Improve customer what?)

What is the cost of labor turnover?

According to the study by Convenience.org, even back in 2019 the average cost to hire a full-time clerk was $1,716. When you factor in the consistent turnover rate of 100% and a growing cost to hire full-time associates, this represents a very real liability for many operators. One of the ways RBG can benefit our clients is by identifying key factors in the onboarding process and turnover trends of your business, to mitigate these issues. 

How do we deal with in-store traffic decline?

Similar to understanding the reasons behind employee turnover, the “why” as it relates to in-store traffic declines is crucial. By utilizing technology available to us currently, a lot more can be known about a customer’s behavior at a location. This can have a fundamental impact on the retention of the customer and ultimately the success of the location. From store placement to mobile payments, there are unique factors at each location that may be impacting your customers’ decisions while on-site. Having another set of unbiased eyes, in the form of a mystery shopper at your convenience store, can significantly impact your bottom line.

Does Mystery Shopping Prevent Labor Turnover or In-Store Traffic from Declining?

Although labor turnover will always be a “part of the beast”, understanding the issue can dramatically affect your business. What if you could reduce turnover by even 10-20%? There are many benefits of using mystery shopping for convenience stores, including the ability to identify in-store traffic problems or labor turnover issues. We identify store layout flaws that if corrected, will lead to increased sales. The “why” is the key to first understanding the issue and then working with our clients to improve performance.

 

 

Let’s start a project, get in touch, or just say, "Hello!"