Who is a mystery shopper? What benefits can a mystery shopper bring to us?
A mystery shopper (also known as a “shadow shopper”) is a friend of entrepreneurs and a secret player that employees often dislike. He or she enters a facility under the guise of a client with your pre-given tasks, analyzes what is required of him or her, and reports it to management. In my experience, I have done this both covertly and overtly. That is, even if they do not know when or how the person will arrive, employees have assumed that one of the customers who comes in on a certain day might be a mystery shopper. Which is correct? Both. It depends on your employees and your goals.
I share with you 5 rules for mystery shopping research
1. Set a goal in advance
First, you need to know your goal clearly. Why do you need a mystery shopper? Are you checking the level of service or the behavior of employees? Or the implementation of any instructions given to them? You should determine your goal in advance and explain it to Mr. Shopper in order to get both a result-oriented report and make the mystery shopper feel comfortable.
2. Prepare questions for the mystery shopper.
If you are using this method for the first time, or if the mystery shopper you have chosen is someone close to you and has no experience, you can ask them questions prepared in advance. What are your expectations from them? (For example: How did the employee greet you? Was a check given at the end? Did they provide information about the campaign? etc.) More experienced people prepare questions based on the brief and direction you give. In the most commonly used surveys in our country, the customers prepare the questions.
I've written a few sample questions below to help you.
- Rate the welcome at the door on a scale of 5 (or 10)
- How long did it take, on average, for an employee to approach you to assist you?
- Was information provided about the current campaign (if any)?
- Were there any signs of unethical behavior in the employees that would irritate the customer?
- Evaluate the salesperson's sales skills
- How detailed was the salesperson's response to your questions?
- You can send a mystery shopper for a specific product and find out how much they were quoted.
- Evaluate the atmosphere in the store (music, aroma inside, air, lighting, etc.)
- How neat were the display cases?
- Was there an outsider in the store, other than the employees, who disrupted the corporate atmosphere inside?
- Were you given a receipt after shopping?
- The behavior of your employees when leaving the store (saying goodbye, wishing you a good day, etc.)
- In addition to the questions, were there any positive or negative things that caught your attention? etc.
3. Evaluation
Although it is possible to rate yourself on a 5 or 10-point scale, the most effective way is to send that customer to competitor stores. This way, you can also evaluate yourself against your competitors. After this analysis, you will know in which aspect your competitor surpasses you and in which aspect you can improve.
4. What day? What time?
The answer to this question varies by business, but my general answer is peak hours. Whether it's a physical store, online, or a call to a call center. In any case, sending a mystery shopper during peak hours will give you more accurate information. It's often more convenient to have fewer customers. These are the critical times that are most important to you.
5. Special note
Using the secret service only once, for a certain period of time, may not give you the right result. It may be that at that time the employee is very tired, or randomly enthusiastic, or some force majeure situation occurs. Therefore, it is more advisable to make this visit 3-4 times on different days (with different people) to get accurate answers.
Additionally, having someone from management around your employees during your mystery shopping visit can still give you different results. You should check on them during their free time.
“By the way, our goal is not to find fault with your employees, but to improve their service level. Any problem that comes to light cannot be attributed directly to the employee. The root of that problem may also lie in management. I have come across this situation more often :)”
Baylar Alizade
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📩 info@360marketinginq.az