Tips for a Successful Mystery Shopping Program

by Karen Gomes Moore

Here at Customer Perspectives™, we know a successful mystery shopping program doesn’t just “happen”. They require more than someone just deciding to do it, then finding a provider. After over two decades in the business, we’ve got some ideas about what can make a program work best for you.

Consider the following:
» Know what your objectives are. It’s important that goals be defined in specific and measurable terms. Do you want to reinforce the lessons of a recently completed training program or do you want to establish a baseline before a training program is implemented? Do you have standards or behaviors that you want to make sure are adhered to at all times? Has one store/branch been the target of consistent complaints – or praise – and you want to get an objective picture of what’s going on there?

» How will you use the information? Will the shopping reports be used as part of an incentive program for managers, employees, or both? Will they be used as part of a contest – the store/branch with the highest score wins a reward of some sort? Will a member of management review the evaluation with individual employees or will they be part of an overall store/branch score? Will the shopping reports be part of a performance review? (They should never be the sole criteria for such a review, but they are often one of many factors taken into account.)

» Keep it simple. It’s tempting to develop lengthy questionnaires in an attempt to cover all possible behaviors, but experience shows the simpler, the better. Confusion and frustration are avoided and the information obtained is more reliable.

» Test it: Allow your mystery shopping provider adequate time to pre-test the questionnaire before rolling out the full program. Weak spots will be detected early so that modifications can be made more easily and less expensively.

» Identify the  mystery shopping company that best suits your company’s needs. Some companies specialize in particular industries; others limit themselves to defined geographic areas. Some companies offer mystery shopping as an adjunct to other services such as customer surveys, concept and design testing, brand image research, and focus group moderation. Others specialize in mystery shopping only.

» Get your front line on board. It’s vital that the people responsible for the results of the mystery shopping program – front line employees, supervisors, store managers and regional managers – understand and are supportive of the program. This is especially true if incentives are tied to the results. Before the program is finalized, management MUST make sure key players are fully informed about how the program will work and how the results will be used. If this critical step is omitted, the person in charge of the program can expect a deluge of phone calls and emails, complaining about the program, explaining away every negative comment, and demanding the evaluation be done over for any one of numerous reasons.

» Introduce it positively. Advise your employees that the purpose of the program is to “catch them doing things right”. Mystery shopping should be used as an employee development tool – a carrot rather than a stick. Employees, as well as the management team, should know how the results will affect them.

» Assign adequate supervision on your end. A well run mystery shopping program will require administrative time on your end. Make sure the person assigned to handle the program has the authority to make decisions and the time to act on the results (e.g. coach, provide recognition, etc.).

» Review periodically. This is important to keep the program fresh and relevant. Make sure the evaluation form always reflects current standards. If the goals of the program change, or the ways in which the reports will be used are modified, work with your shopping company to revise and update the program.

A successful mystery shopping program is a collaboration between client and provider. Each partner has a role to play. If both partners perform their roles well, they will find mystery shopping an invaluable tool in their quest to maintain and improve customer service, product knowledge, and sales ability.

If you’d like to talk about ideas for your mystery shopping program, contact Customer Perspectives at 1-800-277-4677 or email marketing@customerperspectives.com.

Visit us online at www.customerperspectives.com.

Service Creates Loyal Customers

In the current economic environment, it is more important than ever to keep customers happy and coming back. An article in News and Food Report recommends these seven ways to keep your customers happy.

1. Solicit complaints. For every person who complains, 26 who feel they have been mistreated do not. Make it convenient for customers to complain and treat them with respect when they do. You can win back most of them by resolving their complaints and, in some cases, make them more loyal.

2. Indoctrinate all service employees, not just managers. Supervisors need training but so do the lower-level employees who provide customer service face to face.

3. Hire people who don’t feel that service is servile and whose values and personalities make them want to provide friendly, helpful service.

4. Commit the company to customer service by word and deed. Regularly remind employees of the value of good customer relations — and reward them when they carry through. Evaluate managers on their ability to achieve customer service objectives that are part of their overall job objectives.

5. Educate employees to provide customer service. Employees aren’t born with the required skills and attitudes. If left alone, chances are they will be oblivious, overbearing and unwilling to give good service.

6. Use simple, inexpensive, entertaining training media. Video is an effective communication tool for the TV generation. Written materials must be simple, clear and concise.

7. Treat employees like worthwhile, sensitive, deserving human beings — just as you expect them to treat your customers. People will behave as they are treated.

Unraveling the Mysteries of Mystery Shopping

from MysteryShoppingLive.com

While the perspective of the customer may not always be the most accurate, it certainly is the most important if you want to make your franchise a successful one. If customers experience poor service at one branch of a chain, it affects the chain as a whole, not just that particular outlet of it.

Customer Feedback: Limitations

Most franchisers consider a voluntary customer feedback program to be enough for judging the attitudes of customers. In reality, they only constitute a tiny section of the whole picture because of its voluntary nature, and the opinions, positive or negative, are rather extreme in nature.

Mystery Shopping: A Viable Choice?

The advantage of using a “mystery shopping” campaign is that is provides a real picture of a service-providing environment from an actual customer’s perspective. The mystery shoppers receive special training which hones their observation skills to the maximum, allowing them to fish out the information (in vivid detail) that you really need in order to determine the standards that you have set for your services. They behave in the exact same way as typical customers do, and can emulate any sort of customer behaviour necessary in order to evaluate individual details of your franchise.

Some companies are stricter about hiring capable mystery shoppers than others, and it can only be said that in order to obtain the best of them, you must be prepared to pay sufficiently. Good service does not come cheap.

Mystery shopping is the most effective when it is executed on a regular basis for a certain time. Reports are usually provided to the companies on a monthly basis, but other scheduling patterns are not unheard of. Employees who perform well are often rewarded based on the results of mystery shopping evaluation. In fact, the anticipation which employees develop regarding mystery shopping helps them to take various factors into account and prepare themselves for evaluation by heightening their efficiency.

Mystery shopping is useful for both large and small stores, as it helps them to not only bolster the strength of their brand, but also serves as a powerful selling point to potential franchisees by showing that they believe in maintaining quality through vigilant evaluation. Although it is still criticized by certain skeptics, mystery shopping is still highly valued because rather than providing statistical data, it is more oriented to portraying a realistic view of the treatment of customers, helping the company to improve upon their existing service-providing techniques. When a company faces severe competition from its rivals, it needs to gain a major competitive advantage over them in order to overcome the threat. How well a business understands and maintains its relationship with its customers can very well be the one single factor that may decide its success or failure. A well-executed mystery shopping campaign is the best way to understand things from the perspective of the customer and determine the strengths and shortcomings of the service being provided, giving the business a chance to iron out the kinks in its workings and prove its worth to the fullest?

Mystery shoppers help sales growth

Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
By Gretchen Metz

Customer perception is reality.

But what is a customer’s impression when he or she walks through the door of a store, a restaurant or bank? The answer is not in a crystal ball.

Busting the gap between the promise of good customer service and the actual service customers receive in store is the job of Market Viewpoint, a “mystery shopping” service founded in 1996 by Anglea Megasko, a marketing professional for 26 years.

Retailers want to know if customers had “to seek out a sales representative, what was the level of welcomeness, what was the product knowledge, the physical conditions of the store or spa or salon?” said Megasko, whose mystery shoppers report for such clients as Burlington Coat Factory, Longwood Gardens, Goddards Systems and Citadel Federal Credit Union.

The end goal is to ensure happy customers because dissatisfied customers broadcast their displeasure. And as retailers know, Megasko explains, keeping customers is cheaper than wooing them back, and far cheaper than luring new ones.

After 10 years, Market Viewpoint has a database of 100,000 mystery shoppers in the U.S. and Canada. Both men and women, retirees and stay-at-home moms work for the company, which Megasko runs out of her Glenmoore home.

“They are all independent contractors,” Megasko said. “I found from the minute we got an account with a nationwide presence, we needed to be nationwide, too.”

The first few years Megasko said she built her database by word of mouth, asking new shoppers to recommend friends and family. Now with her presence on the Internet, some 200 people a week approach her.

There is no hourly salary, no average take-home pay for mystery shoppers.

“You make as much as you want,” Megasko said. “It depends on how hard you work.”

To make a living at it, Megasko suggests mystery shoppers get on several company’s databases in addition to Market Viewpoint.

And there are a lot of databases to chose from.

According to the 2005 Mystery Shopping Market Size Report commissioned by the Dallas-based Mystery Shopping Providers Association, the industry had an estimated value of $600 million in 2004.

“Almost everyone involved in the mystery shopping industry has experienced tremendous growth in recent years,” said John Swinburn, executive director at the trade association.

Companies that participated in the report experienced an average growth of 11.1 percent from 2003 to 2004 and the average growth in the number of shops during that period was 12.2 percent. The report estimates more than 8.1 million mystery shops were conducted in 2004.

By industry, retail was the strongest at 16.8 percent of total mystery shopping revenue, followed by banking/financial at 14.2 percent, fast food at 14 percent and gas station/convenience store at 11 percent.

The double-digit industry growth between 2003 and 2004 identified in the report is expected to continue, according to a recent survey of mystery shopping executives, the 200-member association said.

But mystery shopping is not for everyone.

The 49-year old Megasko said the job requires, in some instances, that the mystery shopper fill out forms with their name, address and phone number. If the mystery shopper, for example, was on assignment at an apartment complex, bank or day-care center, they might have to fill out legitimate contact information so they will be able to report if the employee did their job and made a follow-up call.

A lot of people are not comfortable giving out that type of information, Megasko said.

Mystery shopping assignments are retrieved on Market Viewpoint’s Web site. Reports are typed in online.

While it is quicker and less expensive than mailing packets of information to workers, running a company via the Internet is not a warm and fuzzy way to do business. Megasko said she misses the personal contact with her shoppers, she misses training by telephone, and answering questions by telephone.

“E-mail speeds up communications but I don’t know the personal things about our shoppers. Our relationships are still stong but it was nice knowing something personal, like a new baby or a death in the family.”

A decade in the mystery shopping business has been challenging for Megasko, who founded the company with her husband’s encouragement when she was between marketing jobs. Managing economic swings, not just for her company, but keeping connected to her clients who were also dealing with a volatile marketplace, kept Megasko on her toes. About five years ago, Megasko incorporated a training program for her clients’ staff, and sometimes, management.

Megasko saw a need. While clients had the mystery shoppers’ marketing reports and had figured out their weak areas, she said some were unclear how to get their staff reconnected to their customers. Now Megasko provides the missing link.

Over the years, the most complained about situation mystery shoppers have reported is when employees do not seem to care the customer is there.

“It is a sense of indifference,” Megasko said. “It is the number one reason that people look for a new place to shop.”

Close That Sale Retail industry uses ‘mystery shoppers’ to check on customer service

The Hamilton Spectator
By Lisa Grace Marr

At the first stop on a “mystery shopping” tour where we’re keeping tabs on customer service, we almost have to beg for attention.

We’re in a Burlington store shopping for a digital camera. The sales person seems to know a lot about digital cameras, but never asks what we want to use it for. He gives us a spin on Hewlett Packard cameras and leaves when we fall silent.

“He just committed the cardinal sin of retail sales,” said my companion, Andrij Brygidyr.

“He didn’t close the sale.” Brygidyr and I are posing as customers on a mystery shopping exercise.

Brygidyr is a University of Toronto business professor and president of A&A Merchandising, a merchandising and marketing firm which uses mystery shoppers as a research techniques.

Mystery shopping is a growing industry where hired “shoppers” pretending to be customers check out merchandising, customer service, employee integrity and product quality. It’s worth about $20 million in Canada, according to the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, and about $500 million in the U.S.

There are mystery shopping companies in Hamilton, and mystery shoppers in local stores. “If the program is well-designed, a mystery shopper will measure against the company’s expectations, not against the customer’s expectations,” said Tracey Conners, senior vice-president of the mystery shopping division of the Corporate Research Group (CRG), a national market research firm based in Nepean.

In other words, whether I’m satisfied as a customer really doesn’t matter. What does matter is whether or not the sales associate behaves in the way he or she was trained. CRG has 25,000 mystery shoppers on staff across the country.

Mystery shopping is mostly linked to the retail industry, but it is also used in travel and tourism, hospitals, government services, banks and housing. For Canada’s $30-billion dollar retail industry, meeting company objectives, especially around customer service, is critical to success.

“(Retailers) know customer service is the only differentiator,” said Brygidyr. “Why would you go to Staples or Office Depot? All you have is service and price.”

Back on the tour, we head to an independent camera store where we think they might have better service. This time, the salesman asks us if we want help, but then only pushes Fuji cameras. Even when Brygidyr asks some leading questions about printers and accessories, we get only basic information. He clearly knows a lot about cameras but when we fall silent at the end of our conversation, he doesn’t try to close the sale.

Brygidyr wonders if suppliers have made recent visits to the two stores we’ve visited. “Fuji has been there,” he said, gesturing at the independent store. “Either the store got a large shipment so their profit margins are higher or the sales people are being offered incentives.”

Brygidyr engineers such strategies. Three quarters of A&A’s clients are suppliers or manufacturers of goods such as cameras. They use a company like A&A to train sales associates about a product, then A&A hires a mystery shopper to enter the store to see how the product is being pitched.

“That’s where the fight is. It’s in the store. Sixty per cent of purchase decisions are made at the point of sale,” he said.

At the last store, the store manager asks great questions about why we want a digital camera and then launches into an overview of what’s available and what would suit us. The closest he comes to closing the deal is to mention the store’s return policy.

“You can try it and see if you like it,” he said.

By the end of the day, no one has tried to close a sale, and that’s a no-no.

Special Report: customer service

by Janet Caggiano
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Katherine Haynes has learned to be sneaky on the job.

Her success as a mystery shopper depends on it.

“I have a lot of fun with it,” Haynes said. “I really get into it. It’s kind of a thrill to come out of a store and say, ‘Boy, I pulled that off!’”

The Chesterfield County resident visits shops, restaurants, banks, gas stations, grocery stores, hotels and other businesses in the Richmond area to evaluate how they serve customers.

She poses as a customer, asking questions that cover a variety of scenarios, and rates the company in customer service, operations, selling skills, employee integrity, merchandising and product quality, among other things.

“Mystery shoppers are there to simply measure what’s going on,” said John Swinburn, executive director of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, a trade association based in Dallas that works to improve service through the use of mystery shoppers. “It’s very useful for a company to know what’s happening in their store environment.”

The practice is growing in popularity. In 2004, businesses spent about $600 million nationwide on mystery-shopper programs, according to the association. That same year, mystery shoppers conducted more than 8 million evaluations. The organization is expecting those numbers to climb about 11 percent this year.

When visiting a bank, for example, a mystery shopper might ask about home-equity loans or CD rates, then report on the employee’s knowledge. While eating at a fast-food restaurant, the undercover shopper might record how long it takes for food to be served and the cleanliness of the establishment.

“A third-party provider gives us unbiased feedback that our managers can use to achieve . . . objectives and helps us ensure our customers enjoy the best banking experience possible,” said Jason A. Huffman, customer advocate at Richmond-based First Market Bank.

First Market has used mystery shoppers at its 33 Virginia branches since 1998, shortly after its formation in 1997. Locations are reviewed three times each quarter, which adds up to nearly 400 surveys per year.

Businesses typically use mystery shoppers monthly. Doing so helps them reward outstanding employees, create training opportunities in areas where employees fall short and locate dishonest employees.

“Mystery shopping is not about catching people doing something wrong,” said Mike Bare, president of Bare Associates. “It’s giving them the opportunity to be successful. It’s finding out who is doing a great job and who is not — so they can improve.”

While employers tell workers that mystery shoppers will visit, they don’t announce when. Rarely do mystery shoppers blow their cover.

“I try to dress differently each time, just in case,” said Wayne, a mystery shopper the past six years. He asked that only his first name be used. “Sometimes I’ll wear glasses or a hat backward. It’s a lot of fun.”

Wayne, a full-time manager who lives in Mechanicsville, became a mystery shopper to supplement his income. Others who sign up are stay-at-home moms, retirees and college students. They work part time and earn $10 to $20 an hour and are reimbursed for any purchases.

For the most part, Wayne said, workers he encounters while mystery shopping seem to like their jobs. But that’s not to say he hasn’t written a bad report. At a fast-food restaurant, he once received a burger that was only bun. At another company, one employee continually talked about “getting out of there.”

“You experience it all as a mystery shopper,” Wayne said.