Mystery Shopper

Mystery Shopper Face to Face (In Person) Interaction

A mystery shopper could be used by a variety of business types but they are most commonly used by retail shops. In retail shops the mystery shopper will visit a shop belonging to the firm and buy something. They may pretend that they need help and ask the staff questions to establish how well staff help customers and answer customer queries. They will rate their overall shopping experience from the window display through to after sales service. Examples of things that may be assessed include:

• Levels of customer service.
• Waiting times.
• Whether staff followed company procedures.
• Staff presentation i.e. name tags, uniform Store layout and presentation
• Staff communication skills
• Whether staff members were polite, courteous.
• Did staff sell the product or service well? i.e. sales manner and ability.

Modern Example:
A global retail chain like Sephora often uses mystery shoppers to evaluate how well staff assist customers in finding the right beauty products and offering personalized recommendations. They also assess in-store cleanliness and adherence to brand guidelines, such as ensuring testers are sanitized and displays are organized.

Mystery Shopper Remote Interaction (Telephone and Internet)

Some businesses engage with their clients (customers) remotely. This means that the business and clients are in a different place. For example they may deal with customers over the telephone or through the internet. This is challenging as the firm and the customer can not see each other.

Modern Example:
Telecom providers like Verizon or T-Mobile often deploy mystery shoppers to test their customer service hotline. The evaluation focuses on problem resolution speed, communication clarity, and whether staff followed up as promised.

Mystery Shopper Telephone Interaction

Many businesses deal with customers over the phone; for example to sell things or to provide advice. Effective telephone calls require articulate employees with good communication skills. The firm’s processes will also have to be efficient as customers do not like to be kept waiting on the phone. A mystery shopper survey is a good way to test staff communication skills and the processes used to deal with telephone calls from clients.

Mystery Shopper Online Business Interactions

Due to its popularity it makes sense to include online and digital interaction/communication in your mystery shopper assessment. Businesses rely heavily on social media and the internet to make sales.

For example Dell provides laptop purchase advice through a live web chat with dedicated advisors. The internet has created a lot of competition, the challenge is to keep the client interested as through one simple click the consumer can leave your website and visit competitors.

A digital mystery shopper assessment will help to reveal useful information about:

• The visual appeal of the website and social media page
• How easy the website is to use, navigate, search
• Speed of the website, time taken to load up
• How long did the mystery shopper spend on the website and why
• The online purchase and customer advice process
• Post sales service

Modern Example:
E-commerce platforms like Amazon and ASOS use mystery shoppers to assess website navigation, product descriptions, and checkout ease. Additionally, brands like Nike evaluate their chatbot or live chat customer support on both their app and website, testing response times and relevance of assistance provided

Mystery Shopper Conclusion

The results from the mystery shopper assessment will be analysed and used to improve future performance. The mystery shopper survey may have highlighted things that need to be rectified immediately areas e.g. company procedure not followed, health and safety breach or legal rules and regulations broken. Conversely if the department surveyed did something very well e.g. customer service, sales process, their method may be promoted as a “best practice” for everybody in the company to implement.

Modern Example:
A mystery shopper survey at Starbucks may reveal stellar customer service at a particular branch, which the company could highlight as a case study for training other stores. Conversely, feedback on slow mobile order pick-ups might prompt changes in workflow to prioritize app orders.