Oi! Bagel

Linking mystery shopping results to incentives administered through the payroll meant that Oi! Bagel needed a written mystery shopping programme that was robust and reliable.

The Situation

Oi! Bagel operate a chain of catering outlets in and around London making up bagels to order for busy workers, shoppers and commuters. They operate in a highly competitive market and need to ensure that every customer is dealt with politely, swiftly and is offered the correct options to go with their main order. Customer service is absolutely paramount to this dynamic growing company.

A mystery shopping programme was in place with another provider and this involved fortnightly visits to contribute to incentives and coincide with payroll dates. Unfortunately, the mystery shopping provider habitually missed deadline dates thereby disrupting the incentive programme. In addition to this, very little was written by the shoppers leading staff to mistrust the results. All in all, it was a programme with good intentions but it just wasn't delivering.

The Solution

Firstly Tern reviewed the measurement criteria and placed more emphasis on the softer side of service thus rewarding staff who engaged with the customer more rather than just hitting procedure targets.

We built trust and respect into the programme simply by providing Oi! Bagel staff with more information written by the shopper to explain how and why the scoring decisions had been made.

Lastly, we simply adhered to the schedule that was agreed. No missed deadlines and no lame excuses. The result is a programme with good intentions that is delivering.