MYSTERY SHOPPING

When mystery shopping first came onto the scene, many used it as a tool to prevent theft by employees at banks and stores. That was in the 1940s when private investigators posed as employees to uncover if anyone was stealing or undermining the company.

That is probably why many still argue that mystery shoppers are nothing more than spies. Such an argument worked 80 years ago since that was its very purpose. Try that self-same argument today, however, and you’ll not get far.

That is because the job of a mystery shopper has moved far beyond the simple role of catching out employees. That isn’t even a function that they fulfil today. Instead, you would hire mystery shoppers to evaluate all areas of your stores.

Their job includes monitoring the general aspects of your stores, including the quality of your customer service and how you display a particular product on the shelf. They can even check if there is wheelchair access into a store. No detail is too small or insignificant for them to observe. Mystery shopping is also not limited to any particular research. Instead, you would build each mystery shopping exercise on specific research objectives. And it’s all done for the sole purpose of improving your store.

That is why they play such an important role today. They enter your store with a more critical view than your average shopper and note all the fine details.

A primary role of mystery shopping exercises involves a deeper look at the level of your customer service. While you might pride yourself on your service, you will only know if it’s up to standard once a mystery shopper has been to your store.

Customer service encompasses a wide range of aspects, depending on what you want to test. It could include the level of product knowledge, the ability of your employees to answer questions about a particular product or even solve shopper needs. Remember mystery shoppers pose as customers.

That said, customer service also includes the level of respect that your employees display to your customers. For example, their tone of voice, attention to customer needs, and even general disposition when approached is all monitored.

And don’t forget that it can also include the attitude of your employees to each other.

This is particularly popular amongst suppliers. When walking into a store, a mystery shopper will have a set of questions they need to answer.

These questions aren’t always ones that they need to ask your staff, though. They also include questions that they need to answer.

A few of these questions revolve around their observation skills. And they can focus on your stock on shelves. Such questions include, but are not limited to:

• Do you have adequate stock on your shelves?
• Are your stock levels well maintained?
• Is the stock on your shelf old?
• Does the product layout comply with the planogram for the category?

Asking and answering these questions can help you find out more about your store than you think. For example, in observing the stock levels on your shelves, you’ll be able to determine if you’ve employed the correct stock replenishment procedures.

ADVANTAGES:

1. There is less risk of being associated with your permanent staff. If your employees find out that a mystery shop is currently on the go, it can contaminate any data you collect.
   
   
2. A mystery shopping agency has both the right infrastructure and skilled staff who are ready to go at any time. That makes using an agency highly convenient.
   
   
3. An agency that specialises in offering mystery shopping services will continually refine its model as the industry changes. That means you don't have to worry about whether or not they are up to date with industry standards.

ADVANTAGES:

1. Mystery shopping will become a part of your core culture.
   
   
2. You’ll have complete control over the research objectives as well as how the mystery shopping exercise is conducted.
   
   
3. In keeping the mystery shopping capability in-house, your team can focus exclusively on your research project.

Undertaking any mystery shopper exercise is a curious endeavour. Why? For one, you don’t simply walk into a store, look around, and then walk out to report what you found.

If you want your exercise to be a success, you need to plan for it. And not just a general plan that outlines what you want to do. You need to plan every single step you’re going to take in detail.

That’s where the nine-step consumer research process comes in.

A well-organised consumer research process produces valid, accurate and reliable data that you can use as the basis for taking action in your business. Here is a breakdown of the nine-step consumer research process:

Once you have decided on what your research objective will be, it’s time to collect any secondary data that you can find.

Secondary data has already been collected and has the same or similar research characteristics as your new intended consumer research project. Secondary doesn’t necessarily have to be a past recent study and could include different forms such as sales data, industry standards and others.

This secondary data can also originate from two different locations. It can either be an external source or an internal source. By external, we mean it includes any source not created by your company. Examples could thus be any independent research, syndicated sources, governmental departments and others.

Conversely, your internal sources would be any data that is collected within and about your company. Company reports are one such example of an internal source. It can also include data collected in previous studies similar to the one that you are conducting.

Once you have briefed all the relevant people, it’s time for them to enter the field. That doesn’t mean you can now relax while they do all the work, though. You have a responsibility to ensure that they do the work.

One way of checking that they are doing their work is to contact the stores or companies that the field workers will visit. However, that would be inefficient.

A better solution would be to use a comprehensive mobile software solution that confirms that the mystery shopper was indeed at the correct locations while answering the relevant questions and in the correct format.

DotActiv’s mobile software solution, built on Android, automates store visit cycles, tracks users using GPS and guides workflows with pre-built customisable questionnaires.

Your work is not complete once the data comes in. You could argue that it’s only the beginning. It’s now time to prepare and clean the collected data. That nomally means loading all of the answers into a central database. Once in your database, your data can then be analysed and drawn into reports.

In most instances, you will also need to clean your data. That involves conducting checks to ensure that the data collected was accurate and that there are no duplications. It’s also important to check that all data entries are in the correct format. While it can be a laborious exercise, regardless of your sample size, it’s needed.

For example, if your data is not clean, when you run it through whichever statistical programs you use to test its reliability, it will come up short. If it comes up short, your data is essentially invalid, which negates the purpose of your project.