Mystery Shopping: How Does This Customer Service Marketing Tool Work?

OK, you’ve come this far, you’re intrigued, but you’re still trying to piece together in your mind how mystery shopping works…let’s take a journey through the process:

1. After you sign up, your application is reviewed. Once you are accepted as a shopper, you will have access to our inventory of open shops which can be accepted (and committed by you to be completed on deadline). Everything you need to know about completing those shops is there for you, and we have a team of schedulers on call at the office to answer any other questions you may have. Not all shops can be self-scheduled; some will require advanced training over the phone and you will have to contact us for that training and subsequent assignment if you are interested in completing one of those shops.

2. You complete the shop as directed. Most shop forms are yes/no checkoffs, with some other details that need to be filled in (times, names and descriptions of people you interacted with, brief explanations of certain details).

3. You submit the shop details online, on time! It goes into the system and is reviewed by editors and several layers of management for consistency and detail. By the way, your report is also rated and scored internally, and added to your profile here. Protect your rating with us by always completing reports with all required information and submitting them on time!

4. Your shop is made available to one of our worldwide clients who commissioned the study. They then use the information you gathered and submitted, along with others that have also been reported, to gain a snapshot of their business. From that point forward, companies use their consumer intelligence in many different ways, from changing systems at the business to recognizing and rewarding top performing employees and locations.

5. You will be paid your shopper fee (and any reimbursements due) during our next accounts payable run, usually within the month or less. PAYPAL is the preferred method of payment, although we will send a hard check if you do not have an account.

Pretty simple? If you are ready to give it a shot, the next step is to sign up at the link below. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see a shop right away…we have many shoppers already in our database, as we have been in this business almost 2 decades. But thousands of shops are dispatched by us each month, and they are released at various times of the month. You will receive an automatic email, once you’ve signed up and been approved as a shopper, of all available shops in your area once they are released for scheduling. Shortly in 2010, we will also be releasing notice of shops dispatched here on Facebook and on Twitter to those who opt in for our Shops Alert Twitter account!

Finally, remember these rules when dealing with any purported mystery shopping company:

NEVER pay any monies up front to the company for anything!

NEVER cash an unsolicited check, no matter how real it looks!

https://www.shopperscritique.com/shoppers/questionnaire.aspx

Hope to see you shopping for us soon!!

What??! No Shops in My Area??!

Every so often we get a post or a question that goes something like “I live in Overland Park, KS and there are no shops in my area!” or “I used to do lots of shops for ____ in my area, I performed them well, and now I hardly get assigned them anymore…what gives?”

Fair questions…and a lot of times, you might be feeling that you have been slighted, but that’s not the case (if there has been an issue, you would know, as we would have called you to work through any past deficiencies).

So what is going on?

Well, there can be several reasons for shops drying up in a certain area…here are some of the most common:

1. The Client Has Cut Back on Shops.
Even though we appear to be sluggishly pulling out of the Great Recession, we are doing so…sluggishly! These poor economic times have caused some clients at all marketing firms to cut back on their marketing and PR dollars, including their mystery shopping programs. It could be the location you shopped was scheduled to be shopped 3 or 4 times a month in the past during better times; that has since been cut down to 1 time a month….now if there were 4 shoppers a month each taking an assignment, and now we are down to 1 hypothetically, then 3 shoppers are going to lose that assignment until better times when the client re-ups their shop volume again.

2. The Client Suspends or Ends Their Program.
Even worse than #1 above, tough times can cause one of our clients to suspend or end their program until better times, or for good. We have had clients who have filed bankruptcy or gone out of business, and so there goes their shopping program. Often, clients have personnel changes…and sometimes the decision maker who has brought their business to Shoppers’ Critique moves on, and a new person comes in and puts their stamp on the company by bringing in a new marketing firm.

3. The Client Requires Shopper Rotation.
Yes, it really is true, some clients demand unique impressions. It is not a frequent demand, but it does happen. So they may not want a shopper to shop the same location more than once a quarter or once a year! We are currently negotiating with a potential new client who will require no more than one visit per year from the same shopper…they want rotation and varied observations.

4. The Client Requires Location Rotation.
A client may have 600 hundred locations, but they are only going to shop 200 a month. So hypothetically, assume we shop Macy’s, you live in Oviedo, FL and there is a Macy’s department store there, and you can’t find Macy’s in Oviedo on the assignment list. It could be because it is not included in the current dispatch of shops for the current month, as it would appear only once every 3 months in this type of rotation. It likely appeared the month before and was completed, or it would show up in the following month (but then not again for 3 months).

5. They Have a Demographic Profile That We Must Use.
Similar to #3 above, it doesn’t happen with the majority of clients, but we always have a handful of clients who only want observations from a certain demographic, i.e. only from a certain age pool, with (or without) young children, etc. Why? Usually because the bulk of their customers fit that demographic, and they want the shopper to blend in with the majority of their other customers. We don’t have the discretion to break this rule with clients, except in rare instances of emergency shops.

6. The Client Has No Shops or Few Shops in Your Area.
Some of our clients are regional in nature, and may only be in the northeast. Some are national (or international) BUT MAY CHOOSE to only shop locations in the northeast (or a particular area they perceive as a trouble area). Some national and international companies are de-centralized to the point where each regional division selects its own marketing firm and mystery shopping program…so you can have a global or national company using 5 different mystery shopping providers at the same time, each with a different region. Finally, sometimes the client is the national/international corporation and they only are committing to shop “company-owned” locations and not franchisees; sometimes it’s the other way around, and the client is a franchisee with many locations, and so we are only doing their stores.

7. Quick Triggers!
Getting mystery shopping assignments for certain areas can be very competitive. We have hundreds of thousands of shoppers in our database who have access to our assignments. There are some areas where we have such a high concentration of secret shoppers that assignments fly off the shelf. We have some other areas of the country or around the world where we wish that were the case! But if you are in a shopper-heavy area, you may need to stay on top of our dispatch notices of new shops to get a jump on the competition. We now notify our shoppers who are on Facebook and Twitter when a load of shops will be posted in advance so they can be reminded to check the website. So keep checking here, and if you tweet, then sign up at ShopsAlert on Twitter!

So you can see, these are challenges presented today in consumer intelligence. There could be a number of reasons why a certain shop doesn’t pop up in your area, and none of them are really personal to you at all…just the way the business flows during these crazy times. If you are having trouble booking assignments in your area, please be patient and keep trying. Business is generally picking up again; companies are adding back shops and growing their programs, and new business is coming on board all the time…but, like with everything else in the economy, it is all happening at a pace slower than we would all like.

Bottom line is that we appreciate all the efforts of our mystery shoppers, and we are pleased to have you as a valuable part of our Shoppers’ Critique family!

Secret Shopping Companies aren’t so Secret Anymore

If you work in the retail industry you know that at any point in time you might be dealing with a mystery shopper and not just a regular consumer. These “secret shoppers” are everywhere now, in retail stores, restaurants, on the phone, even shopping on your website. Secret shopping companies do much more than just send customers into your retail location now. They offer a variety of services for businesses in any industry that has points of contact with customers or clients.

The practice of secret shopping is so widespread that some companies are having new employees sign letters of acknowledgment stating that they may be subject to evaluation that comes as a result of secret shopper reports. Other companies choose not to inform their employees when they hire a secret shopping company, choosing instead to rely on the fact that they don’t know anyone is watching and therefore act naturally.

In spite of the choice by some business owners to not inform their employees when secret shoppers will be coming in most folks who work in the retail industry expect to be under surveillance at some point. It’s the same in the restaurant industry. If you’re a host, hostess, waiter or waitress you would be foolish to think that your boss won’t send an anonymous patron in to evaluate your performance from time to time.

Secret shopping is not a secret anymore. There are ads on the internet seeking consumers with an interest in becoming secret shoppers and everyone sees them, including those who work in the industries where they are being utilized. This general knowledge of the existence of the industry makes secret shoppers a secret only to the retail or restaurant employees that they are evaluating.

The term itself may quickly be obsolete as the position has been expanded to other industries that are not oriented towards customer face to face contact. Internet businesses are using them to test the usability and effectiveness of their websites. Call centers are using them to test telemarketers and customer service representatives. These are “secret” to the employees but not quite the same as a non-descript couple doing some shopping for the family.

Mystery Shopping Providers Can Send Anyone, Even a Voice Over the Phone

Are you a business owner or manager who is expecting a mystery shopper to show up today? What do you think that person will look like? Will it be a man or a woman, a couple, or a family? Maybe it will be all of the above, or perhaps something in between. That’s the great thing about mystery shopping. Even you don’t know whose coming. As a matter of fact, they might not even be coming today, so stop looking at everyone who walks through the door like they might be the one.

Mystery shopping providers hire shoppers in all shapes, sizes, colors, and combinations. You might think that senior citizen couple meandering slowly through the isles and buying just an item or two couldn’t possibly be the mystery shoppers, but they just might be. Can you think of a better part time job for two retired people? Not only are they experienced consumers but they are also going to take their time and do the job right, ensuring that you will get an accurate picture of how your business is working.

Look at another possibility. How about that young kid that you’ve been watching suspiciously as he roams through the store looking at everything but not buying? He could be a potential shoplifter or he could be someone who’ll report back on all of the actions and attitudes of your employees. You just don’t know and neither do they. That’s why your staff should be trained to be polite and helpful to everyone.

A mystery shopping provider will evaluate your store’s traffic patterns and the demographics of your customers before sending a shopper in. That shopper will be selected because of their ability to blend in and could be anyone. They might even show up as a voice on the other end of the phone. The next call that you get could be a new customer looking for information, an old customer with a complaint, or a mystery shopper writing a report about your customer service people and system.

When you as a business owner hire a mystery shopper service you’re giving yourself a chance to find out how your company runs when your employees think no one is watching. Once you get the reports back, let them know what you did. The possibility that someone might be watching will force them to treat every customer the way they should be treated, something they ought to be doing already.

How does a Mystery Shopping Provider find their Shoppers?

How do you get a job as a mystery shopper? Business owners who hire mystery shopping providers want to know where those shoppers come from. What exactly makes them qualified to determine whether or not an employee is performing up to standards? Their report may put someone’s job on the line. How do you know that they will be fair and unbiased? These are important questions that deserve answers.

A mystery shopping provider will never send a shopper who is connected to you or your employees in a personal way, eliminating the possibility of bias. They will also never give you recommendations of termination on any employee. That is up to you after evaluating all of the data that is compiled by mystery shoppers who have visited your place of business. Most of the time, this will come from multiple visits that are done on different days of the week, both busy and slow.

The purpose of hiring a mystery shopping provider is to find out how efficiently your business runs and improve on it, not to test employees you’re looking to get rid of. Internal problems such as theft and skimming hours should be handled internally. Mystery shoppers are just trained to shop and report back on how that experience was. The availability of items, the check-out line wait, and the politeness and level of assistance given by employees are all elements of the report that will be put together by the company owners to make decisions with.

How does someone get to be a mystery shopper? The process is the same as it is with any other job. A mystery shopper applies for the job, goes through training so they know what the service is looking for, and then does their job to the best of their ability. Their performance is evaluated on a regular basis and negative reports are generally double checked by other mystery shoppers, particularly in the case of problem employees who might lose their jobs.

If you are interested in becoming a mystery shopper there is a phone number and link to a contact form at the top of this page. This mystery shopper service offers diverse opportunities for consumers from all different backgrounds and levels of education. You can actually get paid for shopping for those items that you use the most at all of your favorite stores and online locations.

The Industries that can Benefit from Mystery Shopper Services

Mystery shopping began as a retail concept, but it is now used by other industries as well. The advantage gained by having an unbiased analysis of your company done by a mystery shopper service is something that has attracted the attention of business owners in a vast variety of industries who have never monitored check-out line times or stocked shelves to make sure inventory was available to their customers.

E-Commerce businesses use mystery shopper services to test their websites’ loading time and usability. Conversion rates can tell you where you are in comparison to others in your industry, but actual shoppers can tell you what’s broken and potentially how to fix it. How long does it take for your visitors to go from the landing page to the purchase or sign up page and what part of that journey can be improved on to speed up the pace?

Retail is, of course, the category where mystery shoppers are most effective. A retail operation is complex and involves multiple points where customer contact is necessary. Not only do your salespeople have to perform for you to be successful, but your store has to be set up and run properly, well stocked with the latest items that consumers want to buy. Those items need to be where your customers can find them and your personnel needs to know how to direct those shoppers to them. Mystery shopper services can help you evaluate whether or not that is happening.

Restaurants are prime recipients of mystery shopper benefits. You can have a friend or relative eat in your restaurant, but there’s a good chance that one of your employees might recognize them. You may not get an accurate evaluation from family either because they tend to be biased in one way or another. A mystery shopper service will provide you with a patron who has no stake in your business or a personal relationship with you that could distort their perception.

If you run a call center or any type of customer service operation your livelihood depends on the efficiency of those who have direct contact with consumers. Mystery shoppers can pose as these callers and find out if your system is working the way it should. That’s what mystery shopping is, finding your points of contact and testing them to their limits. Doing that regularly will help you understand your business better and make sure it runs properly.

Where, When and How the Mystery Shopper Service Will Visit Your Company

Once you have contacted the mystery shopper service how will you know when, where and how their people will be showing up or calling your place of business? It is best that you don’t know. The element of surprise is so important for a mystery shopper that no one, not even the owners or managers, should know when they are going to show up. This confidentiality will allow the mystery shoppers to do their job properly and ensure that you will get an accurate report of what goes on under normal circumstances.

A quality mystery shopper service will analyze your customers’ shopping patterns and behaviors and visit or call during your peak hours. The busiest times are when your points of contact are most strained. Your retail salespeople are under the most pressure, your callers or CSR’s are most likely to crack, and your systems and processes are most likely to break down. A mystery shopper can reveal where the weak spots are.

As far as where the mystery shoppers will show up, that is up to you as the company that hires them. If you have multiple locations you may want to have just one checked where sales numbers are low or you could leave it up to the mystery shopper company and let them decide where analysis is most useful. The service itself is about more than just doing the shopping. Every element of the experience will be recorded and put into a report that you can use to make changes if you need to.

The “how” of mystery shopping might seem pretty obvious but the exact details of who will be showing up and how they will present themselves is always kept confidential from those who work for you. Your mystery shopper might be a single person quietly picking out one item or a family doing some major shopping. For best results you might want to try both or a combination of shoppers somewhere in between.

The location, time, and dynamics of mystery shoppers are what make them a mystery, even to the people who hire them. These elements make them more effective and give you a better picture of what your employees are doing when they think no one is watching. This same erratic pattern of hitting points of contact at different times can also help you even if your company is automated, like an e-commerce company that does business using a website.

What exactly are Mystery Shopping Services?

Mystery Shopping Services are exactly what they sound like. A person or group of people who are unknown to you or your employees come to your place of business and shop. On the surface, they appear to be just regular paying customers. The truth is that they are actually paid professionals who are looking for flaws in your operation. Retail stores have been using mystery shoppers for years, as have restaurants. Recently they have also been employed by call centers and even internet, or e-commerce businesses.

The mystery factor is what makes mystery shoppers such an effective tool in evaluating employees and company procedures. Since the identities and purpose of the mystery shoppers is not known to anyone except the mystery shopping service itself your employees will act naturally around them. This is the only way to gather accurate information about employee performance.

Your system or website doesn’t know whether or not those who are checking them are known or unknown, but it still makes sense to have an outside entity look them over and give you unbiased input. Another set of eyes and ears that are not connected to the company can be a valuable resource when you’re considering changes or modifications. They can also reveal weak spots that you may not be aware of.

How did your retail store perform over the holidays? Did you get a lot of complaints? Are you getting a lot of returns? The answers to these questions can be instrumental in the improvements you need to make before next holiday season. How were your sales numbers compared to last year? You can blame low numbers on the economy but how did your competitors do? You can usually find those numbers someplace.

Mystery Shopping Services are a tool. You can use them to evaluate and improve the operation and efficiency of your company. The concept was born in the retail industry but can be adapted to almost any type of business that has points of contact with consumers or clients. Used effectively they can vastly improve on what you are already doing and increase that all-important bottom line.

Finding Your Company’s Weak Links with a Mystery Shopping Service

There’s always room for improvement. No matter how well your company runs there is always something that can be done to make it better. Looking at it from the inside may not provide you with any answers. The true beneficiaries of an efficiently run company are the customers. Only they can tell you if what you’re doing is working. The fact that they’re buying your products or services is one indication of success but how do you know whether or not making a few changes will increase those numbers?

A mystery shopping service can give you the answers you need to find your company’s weak links and improve on them. The best way to find out whether your customers are getting all that they can get from you is to hire someone to be your customers. These paid consumers are known as mystery shoppers and they can do what your own employees cannot do, tell you how well you are doing from a customer’s perspective.

What areas are there where you can improve on your company performance? The first thing that comes to mind is employee dedication and efficiency, something that a mystery shopper can evaluate for you. Because the person who is doing the shopping will be unknown to your salespeople, they will act and perform as they normally do, not rolling out the “red carpet” treatment like they would with a known company spotter.

The weak links don’t always have to be caused by the people who work for you. The system itself may be broken. This is particularly true with online businesses. An internet based business relies on its websites to be successful. The conversion rate of those websites can be improved by making usability easier. Once again, a mystery shopper can help you with this. By using the system and making a purchase they can evaluate what can be improved on and report that back to you.

Another weak link for your company could be your inbound or outbound call center. Inbound and outbound calls, like physical customers and web hits, are known as “points of contact”. Mystery shopping companies help you to seal up your weak links at these points of contact. Customer service and telemarketing almost always have flaws that can be corrected. A mystery shopping company has personnel who can evaluate either and help you to make those changes that will make your call center more efficient.

Can a Mystery Shopper Company Really Improve Your Bottom Line?

Your bottom line is the amount of money you actually make after all of your expenses have been covered. That’s a simple definition but one that is accurate and applicable to this example. The answer to the question in the title is yes, a mystery shopper company can improve your bottom line. They can do this by evaluating how your company works and providing you the information you need to make it more efficient.

Go back to the simple definition again. How much do you, or more specifically does the company make “after expenses”? It’s those last two words that are the most important part of this question. Regular expenses are your overhead, manufacturing, taxes, salaries, and incidentals. Other items you can put in the expense column are human error and inefficiency. These can be eliminated by hiring a mystery shopper company.

A mystery shopper’s job is to go in to a place of business and shop, taking note of how the employees work and what consumers have to go through to make a purchase. If this process is difficult, they file a report explaining why and you as the company owner or manager can make changes to make it easier, saving you in the long run as your customers will be happier.

Streamlining the process may allow you to cut personnel, work less hours yourself, and free up your customer service personnel who currently spend all their time fielding calls and complaints. Eliminating mistakes and cutting back on unnecessary paperwork and waiting time can vastly improve productivity and therefore profit margin.

Here’s another example. Let’s say you run a call center for inbound calls. Your customers call in and have to go through a waiting period and then a series of transfers before they get to where they need to be. Some of these can be eliminated but you need to know what the process is before you can make the changes. A mystery shopper, or caller, can go through the system and report on its inefficiencies.

Regardless of what type of business you own, a mystery shopping company can help you improve your bottom line. The initial expense is well worth what you will save in the long run. Think of it as checking for leaks so you can patch the holes. Your company efficiency, no matter how good it is now, can be improved.