Guest experience evaluations · Wilmington, NC
The quietest way to lose a guest is to be fine.
Nobody writes a bad review about fine. They just don't come back, and they don't say why. I come through your business as an ordinary guest and write down what's working and where the visit slips. Then we walk it together, so you know what to keep, what to fix and what to add.
4:09Lot full out front. Six open spaces around the side. Nothing says the side is an option.
4:12Counter. Two people behind it, both on the screen. Ninety seconds before anyone looked up.Not rude. Nobody’s job is the door.
4:31Order came out right, and hot. Runner didn't know which table. Asked the room.
4:58Walking out past the counter. Same two people, same screen.Same feeling walking out as walking in.
An example. The real notes are about your place.
What I do
I find out how your place feels to visit, and what would make it feel better.
I come in as a guest. No announcement, no special treatment. I pay attention to the things you stopped seeing once you'd walked past them a thousand times: the lot, the first ten seconds inside the door, the handoff from one person to the next, the walk back to the car. Some of it works better than you realize. I'll tell you that too, so you don't fix it by accident. Then you get a detailed report covering what to protect, what to fix, what to add, and what each one is worth to you. And we go through it together, standing in your space.
Why it works
Most evaluations happen in one mode or the other.
Send in a mystery shopper with a rubric and you get a checklist that misses how the place felt. Ask a regular guest and you get a feeling with no diagnosis attached. I do both passes in the same visit. I learned sleight of hand as a kid, and the lasting thing it teaches you is how to feel the effect and track the method at the same time. So the report can tell you where the visit stopped feeling good, and the specific thing that caused it.
The rest comes from years of studying how themed entertainment designs a guest's whole day, one moment at a time. You don't need a theme park for any of it. The walk from your parking lot to your counter deserves the same care.
The walk
You see your business from behind the counter. Your guests see it in order.
Most places run the middle of the visit well. The before and the after are where the cheap wins are, and almost nobody is looking there.
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Before the door
The lot, the sign, the window. Whether someone who's never been here knows where to park and which door is the door.
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The first ten seconds
Whether somebody says hello before you’ve had time to wonder, and whether a first-timer can tell where to go next without asking. Most lobbies make new people stop and look around. That pause is the first thing I write down.
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The thing they came for
The meal, the game, the appointment, the haircut. And every small friction around it: the wait, the explanation, the moment one person hands you to the next.
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When something goes wrong
Something always does. What counts is whether anyone notices before the guest has decided how they feel about it. A problem caught and fixed earns more loyalty than a smooth visit. I learned that behind the counter at a game store: the people whose order we'd botched and made right were the ones who kept coming back.
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The last thirty seconds
Paying, the goodbye, the walk back to the car. It's the part people remember, and the part almost nobody designs.
Running under all of that is the mood of the place: the music, the light, what the front door looks like from the lot, what there is to look at while you wait. I spent years running lighting and sound for live shows, and the first thing you learn is that a room a little too bright puts everyone on edge without anyone knowing why. Entertainment venues know this layer matters. Most other businesses skip it because they don't think of themselves as an experience, and it's usually the cheapest upgrade in the building.
The evaluation
One evaluation, one price, and the price is on the page.
No tiers, no “starting at,” no quote to request. Here’s what’s in it.
- The visit
- Unannounced. I book like anyone else and go through the whole thing as a guest, on an ordinary day.
- The report
- Thorough and specific. What’s working and why, what’s slipping and what it costs you, and what you could add that guests would notice. Every finding comes with the fix, in the order I’d do them.
- The walkthrough
- I come back and we go through it in your space, standing where your guests stand.
Who it's for
Any place where the visit is the product.
If people come to you in person and leave with a feeling, that feeling is worth a look. Here's who tends to get the most from it. The list isn't a fence.
Entertainment and attractions
Escape rooms, family entertainment centers, laser tag, arcades, mini golf, axe throwing, trampoline parks, museums, local tours. The whole product is a good time, and one rough edge undoes it.
Restaurants and hospitality
Themed and experience-driven restaurants, breweries and tasting rooms, coffee shops, inns. The food can be great and the visit still fall apart around it.
Dentists, doctors and personal care
Dental and orthodontic offices, med spas, wellness clinics, optometry, veterinary. People walk in already a little nervous, so the small comforts count for more here than almost anywhere.
Retail and fitness
Boutiques and showrooms, salons and barbershops, fitness, yoga and cycling studios. You pay a lot to get someone through the door once. The visit decides whether they become a regular.
Somewhere else people show up in person? Ask anyway. The question is the same everywhere: whether the visit was put together on purpose, or just happens to people.
Who's behind it
Kevin Stauss
Wilmington, NC
Kevin Stauss
I film weddings with my wife Haley under Heartline Films. That's meant years of standing quietly in the corner of other people's biggest day, watching guest experiences succeed and fail in real time alongside the venues and planners running them. Before that and alongside it: live production, running lighting, sound and video for shows where a mistake is public. A stretch behind the counter at a game store here in Wilmington. And a day job managing ad accounts, which is where I learned to turn “the exit felt bad” into what it costs.
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How an evaluation runs
The visit, the report, and the walkthrough, in the order they happen. Plus the test I apply to every room.
Read the method