mystery shopping Archives

Who Are Mystery Shoppers?

I first heard of mystery shopping back in the early 90’s. My grandma worked at a large retailer as a greeter, and called me one day to let me know that “secret shoppers” thought she was in her 50’s. Confused, I asked her what she was talking about, and she explained that secret shoppers came in posing as customers to evaluate the employees. I asked her how she did, and her only focus was that the shopper thought she was in her 50’s when in reality she was in her mid 70’s (she always looked younger than her true age).

I didn’t know then that a few years later I would be immersed in the world of mystery shopping. It has evolved significantly over the last decade and broken through some of the stereotypes.

The one stereotype that still exists on some level is that the mystery shopper is a stay at home mom type looking for some extra income. I will hear that from some prospective clients, especially those that are interested in B2B mystery shopping, as they believe we may not be able to utilize shoppers who mirror their typical customer.

Our company alone has over 300,000 mystery shoppers at our availability to conduct shops. Over the years, I’ve learned that they truly come from all walks of life – we have the traditional stay at home mom, college students (who better to conduct liquor and tobacco compliance shops), lawyers, small business owners, nurses, and engineers. Shoppers range in age from 18 to 85; some do the work on a part-time basis while others make this their full-time work.

Because of this, mystery shopping has been able to serve many more industries than it once used to, and has been one reason we’ve been successful in B2B mystery shopping.

Everyone knows the value of good customer service, and shoppers want to be a part of making that happen. The next time you think of the shoppers that come into your business, don’t look for what you perceive as the traditional shopper – you may be surprised at who it is!

Plant a Shopper, Watch Your Business Grow

This was a tag line we’ve used to roll out our Plant a Shopper program, which we started a few years back. This is a great program to use in banks, park districts, fitness centers, and similar industries.

At its most basic level, you can “plant” a shopper into your customer base where they remain for a period of time. During this time, they will act as a normal customer and evaluate various touchpoints of your business. At the end of the period of time, they will provide a more thorough, overall summary of their experience.

Let’s look at a couple of examples to see how this plays out:

* Banking: we would start with a non-customer who will visit a branch to say they’d like information on opening a checking account. This first visit evaluates the experience as a potential customer and how smoothly the account opening process goes. They will keep the account open for a period of time during which they will make transactions both inside the branch and at the drive thru, and perhaps call the customer service line to resolve issues. They may even track if promotional calls or emails are utilized and how this is perceived as a customer. Finally, at the end of their timeframe, they will talk with a Personal Banker and explain that they’d like to close the account to see how it is handled. Does the baker attempt to ‘save’ the account or simply start the closing process?

* Park Districts: many park districts would like to evaluate their instructions or guest presenters at various events. However, sending in a shopper once or even twice during a class schedule may not be enough to get a true picture. Shoppers will start by registering for the class or program to see how it is handled, actually take the class, and at the end provide a full summary regarding their experience.

* Fitness centers: some facilities have a reputation for providing misleading information when customers join, and others are known for making it all but impossible to cancel your membership. Find out exactly what your company is saying and doing to gain new customers and retain them. Shoppers can go in as a potential customer to get information, then not make a committment at that point, but do so if follow up is done. From there, they can be members for a short period of time, and, like a bank evaluation, go into the facility to say they would like to end their membership to see how it is handled.

This is a great program to use when you’d like to see the full lifecycle of a customer. It can give you insight into areas that may need improvement, and may even help tweak your traditional mystery shopping programming, as you could find that what you’re measuring may be fine, but there are areas you haven’t considered in the past that are “falling through the cracks” and need to be addressed.

At any rate, mystery shopping has evolved into a flexible method of covertly evaluating businesses through the eyes of a customer. Utilizing a Plant a Shopper evaluation is just another way to view your service levels.

What’s Legal in Recorded Mystery Shops?

We’ve seen an increase in the number of clients choosing to conduct video shops and/or recorded telephone call shops across many industries. These types of shops are excellent tools for training purposes, and allows clients to see (or hear) the interaction for themselves.

When clients start either program, they need to be aware of the consent laws for each state they do business in. Some states are one-party consent, meaning that only one of the parties involved in the conversation – in this case, the shopper – needs to give consent for the interaction to be recorded. In two-party states, all parties need to give consent.

The list of states that are considered two-party states, where all involved need to have consent in order to be recorded, include:

* California
* Connecticut
* Florida
* Illinois
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* Michigan
* Montana
* Nevada
* New Hampshire
* Pennsylvania
* Washington

The remaining states are, at this time, one-party consent. How do you go about ensuring that you are following the laws of your state when moving forward with video and/or audio recorded shops?

1. Review your employee paperwork. Is there a disclosure in the handbook or other paperwork that employees sign stating that they are aware that they can be recorded at any time? If so, you should be okay.

2. Does your call center have a recorded disclaimer? You’ve likely heard the statement “This call may be recorded for quality assurance and training purposes” when calling on various businesses. If your company has this in place, it’s a good disclosure to customers and a reminder to employees that they can be recorded.

3. Decide how to incorporate the disclosure into your new hire paperwork for future employees. You may need to create a consent form for current employees and hold staff meetings to alert them of the new process; however, make sure if you are mentioning that one of things that may be happening includes recorded mystery shops that you are presenting it in a positive light, just as you would when rolling out a traditional program.

Recorded shops bring mystery shopping to an entirely new level; considering this type of shop on an as-needed basis can really help pinpoint issues, gain information that can help in training procedures, and reaffirm the importance of utilizing a mystery shopping program within your company.

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