Competitor Investigations

Investigate your competitors to discover your biggest competitive edge

You understand that customers’ experiences is everything. But you’re not sure which parts to focus on to make more sales and earn more loyalty. Our Undercover Customers investigate your competitors to discover your biggest competitive advantage and help you increase your bottom line.

Book a Mission Brief to begin

“With utmost sincerity I can recommend their services”

— John Hughes, John Hughes Group

“An enormously valuable service that our sales team will use to perfect our sales process”

— Nikki Green, Trevors Carpets

When it comes to their competitors, most businesses are operating in the dark

Sure, your customers might give you a pass for decent customer service. But their overall experience — from their very first interaction to their 100th visit to your store — is what will have them raving about your business, promoting it better than any paid advertisement could.

The thing is, very few business owners use their competitive advantage to enhance their customers’ experiences and position their business in a category of one.

To discover your true competitive edge, you need to know exactly what your competitors are up to. That, or your customers’ experiences will remain passable at best. And “passable” can cost you big in the long run.

Little to no loyalty

If the overall experience you offer isn’t impressing your customers, it’s unlikely they’ll spend much money and even less likely they’ll come back — especially in a saturated market. In industries where repeat customers are the lifeblood of business, this can spell disaster.

Judged by your stars

These days, people want to choose between 4.9 and 5-star solutions. If you aren’t using your competitive edge to position yourself in a category of one, your business will be up for comparison. And winning or losing a customer might come down to that one-tenth of a star.

Ineffective training

If you aren’t clued in on your competitive advantage and how it can enhance your customers’ experiences, your customer service training might target the wrong skills. This isn’t just a waste of time and money; it also impacts staff performance and sales.

The bottom line

Ultimately though, without the inside scoop on your competitors and your unique advantage, it’s hard to realign or improve your customers’ experiences. And that’s a one-way street to a damaged reputation, reduced sales, and a diminished bottom line.

The first step is to crack the case on your competitors

Engage our covert team of Undercover Customers and we’ll sleuth out your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, ensuring you have all the evidence you need to identify and leverage your competitive edge.

Combined with an undercover investigation of your own business, this will empower you to:

Improve your customer service training and staff performance

Leverage the individual skillsets of your valued employees

Add attractive touchpoints that enrich your customers’ experiences

Convert browsers into buyers who become lifelong loyal customers

Earn more 5-star reviews and strengthen your brand image

Hear the voices of your silent customers who don’t leave reviews

Increase brand awareness organically and save on marketing

Seize growth opportunities and improve your bottom line

Book a Mission Brief to begin

Our 3-stage Competitor Investigation

Stage 1

Mission Brief

Book a free 30-minute Mission Brief to clue us in on your business and competitors. We’ll then formulate a tailored mission plan that factors in your processes, challenges, and goals.

Stage 2

The Mission

With the mission approved, we’ll deploy our Undercover Customers to look at your competitors and then your own business, gathering both objective and subjective data. (You’ll never even know we’re there.)

Stage 3

Intelligence Report

When our Undercover Customers get back to HQ, we’ll combine their findings in an easy-to-read Intelligence Report, showing you exactly where you stand relative to your competitors. We’ll then reinforce the report with powerful visuals and actionable insights, before delivering it securely to you.

Tailored, easy-to-read report

Powerful charts and graphs

Practical, actionable insights

Mission outcomes: Real results from undercover operations

View all case studies

Schedule your free 30-minute Mission Brief

Knowing your customers’ experiences inside and out, you can fine-tune your business, transform your customers into a potent (and cost-free) sales force,
and improve your bottom line.

All successful undercover operations begin with a Mission Brief. Book yours now.

Top Secret

Hiring our Undercover Customers to investigate your own business gives you the insights you need to improve your customers’ experiences and bottom line.

But if you want to understand your competitive advantage so you can leverage it for growth, it might require a covert operation “behind enemy lines.”

During the Mission Brief, we can explore how our in-depth Competitor Investigations will reveal exactly what your competitors are up to and allow you to focus more intensely on the parts of your business that help you stand out in a crowd.

Who are we anyway?

If we told you, we’d have to kill you.
Just kidding. (Or are we?)

Through Customers Eyes was founded on one core tenet held by our Chief Undercover Officer, Mrs V:

That exceptional customers’ experiences isn’t just a nice thing to have; it’s the backbone of every successful business.

This is why we specialise in gathering the voices of the silent customers who can make or break your business.

Think of us as your eyes in the shadows, seeing what you don’t see — and providing the evidence and targeted insights you need to not only meet but exceed your customers’ expectations.

FAQs

  • Do you only work with Australian businesses?

    Out of our HQ in Perth, we work with businesses all throughout Australia. We do not operate overseas — at least not yet.

  • How much does it cost? And how long does it take?

    The price of our investigations is determined on a case-by-case basis. This is because our services are highly personalised. As for how long our investigations take, there are a range of factors to consider, but we have Undercover Customers everywhere, and we can handle complex jobs — Australia-wide — in surprisingly short timeframes.

  • What, exactly, is the difference between customer service and customers’ experiences?

    Customer service is how your employees treat your customers — how friendly and helpful they are. Customer service falls under the umbrella of customers’ experiences, which we define as the way in which your customers’ experience your business at every touch point: from their very first interaction to their 100th visit to your store. The quality of their experience depends on how they feel when they first walk in the door — the lighting, the scents, the volume of the music. It depends on the way in which your products are arranged and decorated on your shelves. The flowers on the hotel duvet. The thank-you package in the mail. The six-month check-in to make sure you’re still 100% satisfied. It comes down to all the seemingly minor things that combine, ideally, to create a one-of-a-kind experience your customers will rave about.

  • What types of businesses do you work with?

    We work with businesses of all shapes and sizes. Fitness centres, pharmacies, dealerships, carpet stores — the list goes on. The businesses that will get the most out of our services, however, are the ones with multiple touchpoints, as every touchpoint provides an opportunity to enhance their customers’ experiences.

  • Isn’t using Undercover Customers kind of deceptive?

    A simulated customer interaction will never be accurate to the reality of your customer experience. With Undercover Customers, it’s as real as it gets. You’ll learn exactly how your staff and customers behave when you’re not there. Without these insights, you might not notice the cracks that could eventually sink your business. On the other side of the coin, you might miss opportunities that could take your business to a whole new level. Speaking from experience, any discomfort you might have regarding the “deceptive nature” of Undercover Customers is ultimately negligible when you consider the benefits. Afterall, it is predominantly to gain insights and identifying the areas that are working and those that are not, so that improvements can be made and if necessary, targeted training conducted.

  • How is an Undercover Customer different from a mystery customer or mystery shopper?

    Mystery customers (or mystery shoppers) and Undercover Customers are, in many ways, the same. The difference is that we’re meticulous when it comes to recruiting Undercover Customers, ensuring they’re capable of gathering high-quality intel without blowing their cover. Overall, the quality of our reports depends on the quality of our Undercover Customers. This is not to be compromised!

  • What kinds of objective and subjective data do your Undercover Customers gather?

    The data we collect largely depends on the nature of your business. But to provide an example, if you owned a cafe, one objective data point our Undercover Customers would collect is the time they had to wait for a coffee. Conversely, one subjective data point they’d collect is the coffee’s taste.

  • Do you offer ongoing investigations to track progress?

    Suppose you want to reassess your customer experience after implementing our suggested improvements. In that case, we can absolutely do another investigation or even a series of them — until your business is firmly on track.

  • Do you offer customer service training?

    If we believe that customer service training would bring incredible value to your business, we’ll be sure to make that recommendation in the Intelligence Report. If we’re personally suited to delivering the training, we’ll present our services as an option.