What is Mystery Shopping?

Companies use mystery shopping to improve the customer service their employees deliver. By looking at the experience through a customer’s eyes, businesses can more easily identify specific areas of below-standard service and, in turn, recommend clear paths for improvement. In addition, mystery shopping evaluates key criteria such as employee attitude, skills, sales ability, and the company’s overall image.

Originally, organizations adopted mystery shopping in the early 1940s to evaluate employee integrity. Over time, the practice evolved significantly. Today, companies rely on tools that range from simple questionnaires to comprehensive audio and video recordings. As a result, nearly any industry that depends on customer service—including retail, hotels, financial institutions, movie theaters, and restaurants—can benefit from mystery shopping programs.

Furthermore, many companies use mystery shopping reports to motivate employees by offering bonuses, gift cards, or other incentives for strong performance. At the same time, businesses use the results to address serious service issues, apply corrective action when necessary, and provide targeted training. Ultimately, this approach helps employees meet or exceed established company standards.

In many cases, customer service becomes the deciding factor for consumers when choosing where to do business. When companies deliver positive experiences, customers make purchases, return regularly, and recommend the business to others. Conversely, poor service discourages repeat business and may even prompt customers to share negative experiences on social media.

With that in mind, do you know how much a lost customer costs your company? More importantly, do you know where your service needs improvement? Download our free Return on Service Calculator to measure the financial impact of lost customers—and, most importantly, understand the value of keeping customers loyal and satisfied.

There are many types of mystery shopping:

• Visits: A mystery shopper will visit a location and perform as a normal customer. While there, they will observe the customer service of the employee(s), making a purchase if required, inquiring about a product, etc. When performing the mystery shop, they will keep in mind the questions they will need to answer on their questionnaire.
• Phone Calls: A mystery shopper will call a location as any customer would, get information on a product service, and evaluate the employee’s overall service.
• Online/Internet/Chats: Shoppers will go to the company’s website to fill out a contact form asking a question, or email directly, if that information is provided. Then, they would wait to see what the turnaround time is to get a response. They could also click on a chat button and ask an everyday question a regular customer would ask. They can also look through the company’s website and answer questions based on how user-friendly it is, etc.
• Competitor Mystery Shops: A mystery shopper will go to the competitor of a specific business (Example: Our client is ABC Bank and they would like to know how their employee’s customer service and pricing compare to their competitors).  While there, the mystery shopper will be checking the customer service of the employee(s), making a purchase if required, inquiring about a product, etc.

Why do Competitor mystery shops?  Competitive shops should be done on a periodic basis for as long as you are in business, because it’s the most cost-effective and accurate way to evaluate how your prices and services stack up against the competition, regardless of industry.

There are many other types of mystery shopping that can be done; these are just a few ideas.  For more information, you can visit our mystery shopping page!

Shoppers, Inc.

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Mystery Shopping: mystery shoppers visit your location(s) as scheduled and perform as a normal customer. Shoppers can make purchases, inquire about your products/services, place orders, return items purchased previously, check facilities, audit procedures, etc. To learn how to set up your mystery shopping program today, click here.

Want to know more? Start by defining your customer service philosophy. Click Here to take the Free Quiz

Learn how to make your company a leader in customer service – contact Shoppers, Inc. for more information on Service Quality Institute programs.

For more information contact Amy at Amy@InsightYouCanUse.com or 800-259-8551 x220

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