Shopper Anonymous Research Finds Staff Name Badges Raise Customer Satisfaction By 12%
New research carried out by Shopper Anonymous in three countries has found that in both retail and hospitality, something as simple as wearing a name badge can make a huge difference to customer satisfaction levels.
The study found that when a range of businesses introduced name badges for all staff, customer satisfaction ratings rose by a remarkable 12% in comparison to those that didn’t require staff to wear badges.
The figure came out of the study of 116,000 mystery shopper reports we’ve carried out over the last few years in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Mystery shoppers also wanted staff to be wearing badges so they could distinguish between staff and other shoppers, if uniforms weren’t being worn, and said they trusted staff wearing name badges more and were likely to build up a relationship conducive to making a sale with someone who wasn’t anonymous.
Founder and Managing Director of Shopper Anonymous, Jonathan Winchester, says the findings carry a stark message for both retailers and those running hospitality businesses:
“Who wouldn’t want to see an almost immediate rise in satisfaction from their customers? It’s a no brainer, isn’t it? It may seem like a minor thing but customers like to know who they’re being served by and it makes it easier for the staff member to build rapport, thus making it easier to sell on. Badges also make staff more accountable for their action and attitude as customers know who to complain about.”
“I often hear business owners saying ‘my staff don’t want to wear name badges’ but it should be part of conditions of employment, and management need to lead by example; after all, the manager is the first person customers want to be able to identify!”
“A lot of businesses really don’t know what customers think of staff or service or whether they come away with a positive or negative impression as they’ve never been mystery-shopped. It’s only by regular checking through a programme of mystery shopping that you discover the valuable insights and small changes such as introducing name badges that can make a huge difference.”
Jonathan’s top tips for introducing name badges into your business are:
- First names only: this helps allay security fears
- Don’t make the badges too shiny: they need to be readable under bright over-head lighting
- Make sure staff understand the benefit of wearing badges and make their importance part of staff training.
- Senior staff need to lead by example by always wearing one.
- Ask your mystery shoppers to specifically look for name badges when dealing with staff, and reward those identified and successfully mystery shopped.
- Also reward those who remember to wear their badge with spot prizes and team awards.
