The Love Bedford BedfordBID new customer service survey has issued its first results, with detailed reports given to nearly 30 participating businesses and an overall interim report prepared for the town centre board.
Mystery shopping specialist Shopper Anonymous undertook the survey on behalf of the BedfordBID board, which is made up of volunteer business men and women from the town centre.
The team also assessed the car park experience for shoppers, public toilets and the service delivered by Bluecap guides to visitors.
BedfordBID director Christina Rowe (pictured) said: “I am delighted with the results from businesses so far. The reports have revealed that businesses in Bedford are getting the essentials of customer service right and this is very encouraging.”
Participating businesses have also received feedback on the areas in which they can make further improvements, she added.
A second round of visits, to be held later in the year, will reveal the extent to which feedback is being taken on board.
Results from ‘mystery shopping’ the toilets and car parks revealed a mixed picture of results. Mystery shoppers to the town reported that finding their way around town was sometimes "challenging".
Toilets in the town were not always as clean as they could be, according to the visitors, and in some cases signage to the toilets was "of poor quality and confusing".
BedfordBID’s own Bluecap guides did not escape the eagle eye of they mystery visitors. The guides were found to be “going the extra mile to help visitors” and received high scores for smiling as they helped.
However the Bluecaps could have done more to help people log on to the BID’s own Love Bedford App.
