Mystery shopping is a rather vague term covering a wide range of assignments. Shoppers in the industry may also be called secret shoppers, performance evaluators, service checkers, frontline evaluators, or even merchandisers or survey takers. Most jobs involve posing as a typical customer and making observations which are later reported; however, other jobs may involve more high profile work like handing out surveys or putting up displays in stores.

Mystery Shoppers Provide Important Services

Competition for business today is keen, and savvy business executives know that it’s critical to provide good service. Though random customer surveys and feedback forms may provide some valuable data, a trained professional with an eye for both what is good and what can improve service can quickly and accurately provide information that would often be overlooked (though remembered) or never addressed by the average consumer.

Good service is critical in today’s competitive marketplace, and what owners don’t know or don’t hear about can mean the difference being making it and going under.

Recent research from the International Customer Service Institute has revealed that:

1. An attitude of indifference by an employee is the reason cited by almost 80% of customers who stop buying from a particular establishment.

2. Most unhappy customers (about 95%) do not complain when dissatisfied, but do damage in the long run by telling others about problems experienced.

3. On average an unhappy customer will tell 9-10 other people of their bad experience with a company. These people will, in turn, tell more than 20 others about this experience. That means almost 30 people will be aware of a problem with poor service at a business based on one single bad experience.

4. The cost of bringing in a new customer is 5 times higher than the cost of keeping an old (and hopefully) happy customer.   

5. The single most credible and respected advertising is word-of-mouth, so customer perceptions and what they think and say about a business goes a long way.

6. When shoppers think about a particularly great (or awful) experience with a business, the most common determining denominator in terms of perception of the experience is the service or how the shopper was treated during the trip by the employees.   

Given the importance of customer service and the impact on those shelling out the bucks, almost every service industry dabbles in mystery-shopping research. Some may contract through mystery-shopping companies over a long period of time while others subscribe to such services periodically or only very occasionally. A very few companies even hire directly with ads online and contacts through a national home office.

Many restaurants and department stores are visited by mystery shoppers. Financial institutions, gas stations, apartment complexes, banks, movie theaters, motels, and entertainment parks are also common on the list of businesses visited by secret shoppers. If a company serves the public, then they probably are evaluated at some point by an outside contractor with a mission to find out what a typical experience would be for a shopper off the street.

Employees are aware that they can and often will be mystery shopped, so don’t feel that you’re being super sneaky or doing something under the table. Employers overview the program and let workers know that all customers deserve quality service, and that quality checks help ensure that the company is performing well. The overall emphasis is not on trashing those hired to do jobs but rather in helping individuals learn how to perform well. Quality feedback can be quite valuable and can be used not only to help out those learning to or having difficulties in providing good service but also to reward those doing a great job.