What is Mystery Shopping?
Mystery shopping is a rigorous approach to assessing service quality. Mystery shopping is a process to consistently improve service performance by measuring conformity to service standard benchmarks.
Typically mystery shopping is conducted by means of:
A researcher visiting a retail establishment and making inquiries or a purchase as a 'typical customer'; or
A researcher calling a service provider and making inquiries or a purchase as a 'typical customer'.

 
The researchers that conduct Mystery Shopping are highly trained to behave like normal customers, being neither more troublesome nor particularly easier than a 'normal customer'. Sometimes special Mystery Shopping surveys require specific scenarios to be used to test out the response to difficult situations. Mystery Shoppers are careful not to 'give the game away' and are 'rotated' so that the same Mystery Shopper does not conduct the same assessment with such frequency that they might be recognised in their role.
 
Examples of Typical Measurements
  • Speed of service - both time in queue and speed once serving has commenced;
  • Presentation of staff, eg uniforms, display of name tags etc (Name tags are also noted as part of the quality control of the Mystery Shopper process);
  • Smile, attitude, helpfullness and adherence to script;
  • Availability of product; and
  • Service quality.
Customer Expectations
It is recommended that Mystery Shopping is conducted in conjunction wiht Customer Satisfaction research in order to understand the benchmark expectations that customers have. Customer Satisfaction enables the business to understand the relative importance of various attributes in keeping customers satisfied. While Mystery Shopping can monitor performance on an attribute, it is only going to improve the business if that attribute is significant for customers.
 
Food Assessments
At convenience food outlets it is also possible to appraise certain aspects of the food - such as size of serving, presentation, temperature etc. Strict controls are put in place, for instance, that the temperature is measured within two minutes of serving.
 
Good Practice

When implementing a Mystery Shopping program it is essential to explain the purpose to staff, as well as how the results will be reported and used to improve service quality. It is also an opportunity to remind staff of expectations in terms of service quality. At a minimum, McNair Ingenuity Research require that our clients advise any staff that may be directly or indirectly effected by Mystery Shopping assessments that the program has been implemented. It is not necessary to tell staff when or how it will be conducted. Customer service staff can feel uncomfortable or threatened by Mystery Shopping even when they consistently perform to a very high standard. McNair Ingenuity Research take the view that a single measure is not sufficient basis to judge staff and we advise our clients that they should only act and counsel staff:

  • When there is a consistent pattern of poor performance emerging; or
  • If there was an unacceptable performance issue - such as staff being rude to a customer.

The implementation of findings of Mystery Shopping must be collaborative between management, staff and ourselves as the research supplier. McNair Ingenuity Research provide the results in confidential comparative formats, and work with client management and staff to bring about improvements in standards. We can even help develop training programs and moderate staff workshops.
 
For more information contact McNair Ingenuity Research on
02 9966 9133