Mystery Shopping For Airlines: Get Them Soaring

Mystery shopping is essential for any business. It can give company owners and managers the inside scoop regarding their customer service, brand image and reputation, marketing and advertising collateral and positioning, or internal operations and protocol.

Companies will turn to mystery shopping to assess one or all of the above categories, depending on what they believe they are struggling with, or when they are curious to know if procedures are being followed within the four walls of their stores and facilities. Many larger companies are in need of an overall look at operations and positioning. Mystery shopping can help cover all the bases in these situations, leading to an uptick in customer satisfaction and profits.

Think about an airline: Southwest, American, Jet Blue, Delta, United, Alaska - all must have a strong coalition of every category mentioned above in order to maintain their image and their success. Many airlines rely heavily on frequent fliers and want to build a base of strong, loyal customers. But, repeat business is built on good experiences, so airlines must provide quality service to their customers each and every time they fly.

So how can they do that? They hire a mystery shopping agency to go into their headquarters, their facilities across the United States (or across the nations), and even purchase a ticket and take a flight with them. The mystery shoppers will evaluate how the operations and protocol are functioning; are they working logically, easily, smoothly and properly? They will see how customer service on the ground is working; do representatives answer questions from clients with a kind tone of voice or do they answer abruptly? And, do they know the correct answers? Shoppers will look at all marketing and advertising materials to be sure the airline is portrayed consistently, in a manner that will ensure that people will view them as trustworthy. What could be more important than portraying trust, when it comes to an airline? People need to feel secure, and consistency and truthful, verifiable information must be available, whether online, from fliers and brochures or over the phone.

Many airlines who want a complete picture of the entire experience with their corporation will ask mystery shoppers to take a flight with them and report back on their experiences. While on the plane they will evaluate the cleanliness and functions of the airplane, flight processes and flight crew. Finally, the shopper will assess, through personal experience, whether or not the customer service on board created a comforting experience for the passengers. The interactions between flight attendants and passengers are a very important aspect of getting customers to become frequent fliers. As you can see, for an airline, the combination of every aspect evaluated by mystery shopping holds great significance in ensuring its business continues to enjoy success.