National Shopping Service - Capabilities : Quality Control

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Details are everything...
At National Shopping Service, we understand how critically important it is that the feedback you get from a research program be actionable and verifiable. Over the years, we have developed a system that ensures that every step of your program is managed to provide you with data you can depend upon. The following sections outline the mechanisms NSS has in place to provide you with quality and integrity.

A dedicated account manager will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to handle your routine and emergency needs. Drawing on years of experience, our account managers make it their daily goal to provide valuable insight and constantly exceed program expectations in an effort to improve the ability to answer client questions and needs. Our managers become intimately involved in the specific goals and subtleties of your account, seamlessly adjusting to the dynamic nature of business while maintaining a consistent performance barometer.

From finding the right study participants to meeting the requirements of your project, our creative perfectionists will insist that every detail is executed properly.

Refines research tools, audience, and tactics
Highlighting opportunities in program
Immediate problem resolution and anomaly tracking
Guarantees research integrity
Offers consistent perspective across personnel changes in program's management
Educate decision-makers cost/benefits of particular solutions and ideas
Adding tangible value (work less, get more) and exceeding deadlines
Forecasting potential pitfalls
Guarantees thoroughness and integrity of reporting
Capable of advanced ad-hoc reporting with all account data and account history at fingertips

Researcher/Shopper Screening and Hiring
A key component in developing a quality market research field force is the application process. All contractor applications are carefully screened for conflicts of interest, thoroughness in completing the application form, work experience, and quality of the applicant's narrative.

Ability to handle the unique nature of the work
Ability to read and record verbatim responses
Ability to communicate effectively
Ability to listen carefully
Ability to follow detailed instructions
Willingness to work flexible hours
Ability to accept rejection

Researcher/Shopper Training
Mystery shoppers (and other researchers) receive extensive training, not only in NSS's standards, but also in the exact specifications and parameters of each unique scenario before it is assigned. In addition, researchers receive extensive feedback on every shop they perform.

Basic Training of our researchers and shoppers includes:

Overview of marketing research
Confidentiality of the work
Importance of a pleasant/professional attitude
Covert Persona/Interviewing Techniques

Additionally, all interviewers are briefed on a project-by-project basis. Their work is monitored and validated to ensure compliance with NSS, your company, and other industry quality standards.

Auditing the Researcher's Performance
National Shopping Service has several checks and balances in place to make sure that researchers provide you with fair, accurate, and dependable feedback. At NSS we audit our researchers' scoring habits, rotation and frequency habits, and even utilize a rating system to ensure that scoring is not biased.

Mystery Shop Scheduling

Schedulers are trained in your company's exact operating standards.
Schedulers use a sophisticated, customized computer system that prompts them through each instruction they need to share with the mystery shopper before the visit is performed
Scheduling program strictly enforces all of the rotation and filtering rules in place for your account such as shopper age requirements, income, days apart, etc.

Selecting Shoppers/Researchers that are right for you
One of the features that sets National Shopping Service apart from other mystery guest companies is its mystery shopper "Profiling" methodology. We maintain an in-depth database on all of our field representatives and mystery shoppers. Each field researcher is profiled to determine his or her own natural purchasing, dining, and consuming habits. This allows us to ensure that we are matching the profiles of our shoppers up with the profiles of your normal, targeted customer. We will work with you to determine a shopper profile that meets your unique target market.

From designing a meaningful form to resolving client requested adjustments, our proofing pipeline is built from the ground up to transform raw bits of experience into sound and actionable business feedback.

Our standardized applications and refined methodologies are specifically designed with these checks and balances to verify constant adherence to our high statistical and editing standards.

Programmatic validation
Staff of Quality Editors trained in your company's exact standards
All evaluations proofread multiple times by in-house proofreaders
Verification, spelling, and grammar checks
Site Identification and Resolution Guarantees

Privacy Matters! When you ask customers or employees for information, you raise concerns regarding how that information will be stored and used. It is very important to assure participants that the data you collect will not be sold or used in any way that might violate their privacy or be harmful to them.

It is important that we let employees and customers know that our purpose in obtaining this knowledge is to offer products and services they are more likely to want, and to improve other aspects of your relationship with them. The information you collect is a valuable company asset and you must protect it as such.

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