When we tell people that mystery shopping is less expensive than actuall call recording, they generally don’t believe it. They simply can’t accept that gathering data from actual call recordings is less expensive than gathering data from fake calls (i.e. mystery shopping).
The data gathered from real call recordings is infinitely better than data from mystery shopping, thus, call recording must be more expensive, they surmise.
It isn’t.
Call recording from LogMyCalls is MUCH less expensive than mystery shopping.
Mystery shopping companies charge anywhere from $13 to $35 (or more), per call. This likely includes some sort of scoring or auditing for the calls.
On the other hand, call recording will only cost you between $4 and $12 for a recorded and scored call. And perhaps WAY less than this if you buy in volume.
And if you just want call recordings WITHOUT scoring, you can record for 2 to 3 cents per call (or less).
Call recording is, any way you slice it, just cheaper.
Why?
1) No paid labor
Mystery shopping is fake. The interaction is fake. The scenario is fake. The outcome is fake. The data is therefore fake.
And yet all this fakeness is more expensive than call recording.
Why?
Well, because an actual person has to make mystery shopping calls. The mystery shopping company has to pay this ‘actor’ to make these calls. Labor is expensive. And even if this mystery shopping company is only paying a few bucks to the employee per hour, that adds up.
Call recording, on the other hand, requires no actor to make a fake call. There are no labor costs. The calls are real. Thus, they are less expensive.
2) No wasted time on a ‘fake’ mystery shopping calls
When a mystery shopper calls your hotel, they take 8-15 minutes of your employee’s time with every single mystery shopping call.
That’s a problem betcause the interaction is staged. Therefore, the call is wasted time for your employee.
The caller isn’t going to book a room. The call is not going to produce any revenue. And the mystery shopper is occupying a phone line that could be used to make actual money by talking to actual customers.
Thus, call recording is cheaper because it doesn’t waste time your employees’ time.
3) Real data (that pays for itself)
Data gathered from real call recordings and call scoring is INFINITELY more valuable than fake data from fake mystery shopping calls. For example, no close rate data can be gathered from mystery shopping calls. No data about overcoming objections or asking for the business can be gathered. No causal data can be mined from fake interactions.
Trying to get real data from mystery shopping calls would be like trying to figure out how often cops solve crimes by watching episodes of CSI.
Staged interactions CANNOT produce real data, it is a logical impossibility.
Real data, on the other hand, can help your business make better decisions. Data saves you money. For this reason alone, call recording is less expensive than myster shopping.
4) No hardware to install
Some people assume that call recording is expensive because they’ll have to get a new phone system or install some hardware on-site.
This just isn’t true. No such devices are needed today. And you certainly don’t need to get a new phone system.
LogMyCalls can gather call recordings by using call tracking numbers, routing numbers through LogMyCalls, or even porting your existing numbers into our system. It is simple.
Call recording is inexpensive because the days of expensive recording devices are over.
Call Recording is Better
We try to keep an open mind on this blog. We really do. We try to be understanding when someone doesn’t think they need call tracking or call recording. We try to understand when they don’t value the marketing or sales analytics that LogMyCalls can provide. We try.
But in some cases we can’t restrain ourselves. We are compelled to speak! This is one of those cases.
If a hotel, or another business, is already using mystery shopping, is there any conceivable reason situation in which a transition to call recording wouldn’t make sense?
Call recording vs. Mystey Shopping isn’t even a fair fight.
