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.”