What Mystery Shoppers Really Do

Mystery shopping is fast becoming popular as effective evaluation tool for the shop owners and business managers to improve the service delivery and product quality at their establishments. 

Different companies employ mystery shoppers to evaluate the quality of the products, the setup and environment of the establishment and efficiency and performance of the frontline staff.

Generally, the mystery shoppers need to evaluate the customer service of a particular business establishment. These business establishments can be department stores, a retail chains, restaurants, hotels, health clubs, movie theatres, recreational or gaming facilitates or resorts; virtually any establishment that has a retail customer interaction.

In this process, the mystery shoppers visit the client's business establishment. They need to behave like normal customers while keeping an eagle eye on all the happenings at the establishment.

Mystery shoppers are remote eyes and ears of the business owners. They observe maintenance, display, quality of merchandize or services offered and the staff's response and behavior at the establishment.

The primary role of the mystery shoppers is to evaluate the quality of customer service and customer care at the business establishment. However, they also need to evaluate any specific parameter like performance of the key frontline personnel, cash handling skills and efficiency of the cashier, knowledge and behavior of the salesperson and to assess whether employees are making appropriate and effective use of suggestive selling techniques. 

In some cases, the mystery shoppers involve in evaluating and observing the similar aspects at the competitors' establishments and find out the features that give them the competitive edge.

In addition, the "shoppers" also need to observe how the employees greet a customer at the establishment and how they behave while interacting with clients. They need to notice whether the staff is making use of phrases such as welcome to xyz store or thank you for dining at our restaurant.

Once the mystery shopper has completed his shopping assignment, he should fill up a detailed questionnaire about the customer service and overall atmosphere of the business establishment and submit the report to the owner of establishment. 

The management of the establishment uses this data for a number of purposes like, improving appearance and looks of the establishment, improving customer service, deciding on employees' rewards, motivation and training. Overall, the findings are utilized for making improvements that help in better customer retention, enhanced client loyalty and improving the bottom line of the company.

The questionnaire filled at the end of a shopping assignment varies from one company to the other depending on the type of business or establishment. The type and scope of observation also depend upon the objective of the study. Therefore, the parameters of study and questionnaire are very vital for the mystery shopping.

Generally, the questionnaires to be filled at the end of mystery shopping exercise contain objective or close-ended questions with answers in yes or no or the answers have to be checked in particular boxes. However, some questions may require descriptive or narrative answers.

At the time of handing over the shop assignments, mystery shoppers receive background information about the company. The mystery shoppers need to evaluate the customer service and overall atmosphere at the establishment in relation to the information provided and make comparative evaluation.

The general parameters on which the mystery shoppers need to evaluate and report are:

• Customer care and customer service at the establishment
• Cleanliness and arrangement of the establishment
• Visibility of the product on display
• Product Quality
• Product related knowledge of the employees
• Adherence to rules and procedures
• Waiting time for shopping or service delivery at the establishment
• Honesty and integrity of employees
• Efficiency of the employees
• Dressing, appearance and grooming of the employees

As mentioned earlier, the observations and evaluation vary from one organization to other. However, some common points observed by mystery shoppers visiting a store or a restaurant are:

• How employees greeted them at the entrance of establishment?
• How was the general atmosphere and upkeep of the establishment?
• Are the signage and window display attractive?
• Are they maintaining the establishment properly? Is it neat and clean?
• Have they stocked the racks adequately? Is the arrangement convenient and accessible to the customers?
• How is the table arrangement?
• Is the menu self explanatory and tempting?
• Have they stocked the salad with fresh vegetables and fruits?
• What is the service time of the restaurant?
• Are the rest rooms clean and hygienic and have timely refills of soap and tissues?
• Does the salesman/steward have adequate knowledge about the merchandise/cuisine?
• What is the quality of products/service/food?
• Are they handling customer queries properly?
• What is the turn around time for delivery of goods and services?
• Did the cashier greet you and how do you rate the cashiers' service?
• Did they explain you about the customer loyalty program or the promotional schemes?
• Did they greet you when you left the establishment?