Have you heard about mystery or secret shopping before? Do you know how it works? If the answer is no, then you have reached the right place!
Many people are familiar with the concept of mystery shopping, but little do they know about the procedure behind this popular term.
Today we will enlighten you with its complete process breakdown to answer your question – how does mystery shopping work? If you are ready to learn, then please continue reading.
What is Mystery Shopping?
It is the new method of testing the quality of services in any business. Mystery shopping tests the quality of customer service, products, food, employee performance, equipment and facility maintenance, and more.
It is applied in grocery, retail, petro-convenience, restaurants, and hospitality.
The Complete Mystery Shopping Process Breakdown
Mystery shopping seems easy to work – you hire a mystery shopper, they conduct a surprise inspection, and you get the results. But this is not true. Then, what is the answer to – how does secret shopping work?
While it is the gist of the entire process, it requires a little more effort and time than just that. Let’s learn how below.
Step1: Identify the Objective
Mystery shopping starts by identifying the objective of the mission. You ask questions like – why do you want to opt for mystery shopping, is there any particular field you want to be inspected, what is the aim of the surprise inspection, and what are the things you want the mystery shopper to focus on?
These questions help us align the objective of our mystery shopping mission which takes us further to step number two of how does mystery shopping work.
Step2: Design the Questionnaires
Now that we know why we want mystery shopping software or service, we must design a questionnaire for the mystery shopper. This questionnaire is merely a tool for the mystery shopper to conduct a thorough inspection without forgetting any essential details.
The questionnaire, sheet, form, or checklist must be designed by keeping the objective of the process in mind. If the service has opted to check customer satisfaction, the questionnaire must include only relevant questions.
Step3: Measure the Performance
Moving on to the third step, this is the only step most people answer when asked how does secret shopping work.
In this step, the mystery shopper is sent to do his fieldwork. He disguises himself as a potential customer to measure all the services and to answer all the questions in the questionnaire designed previously.
Step4: Review and Analyze the Data
This is the step where the questionnaire is completed by the mystery shopper and presented to the company with a thorough analysis.
The data received is reviewed to find loopholes in the system that require the business owner’s attention.
Step5: Act and Repeat for Better Results
To finally finish the answer to your question – how does mystery shopping work, step five is explained. The mystery shopping service user uses the result to take quick actions and solve the issues that have come to attention.
However, the process doesn’t end with one mystery shopper visit. The entire process is repeated regularly to ensure that the business flows smoothly.
