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Mystery Shopper - Essential resource in your market research
A Mystery Shopper is a very important resource for companies to improve the quality of their customer experience.
Mystery Shopper = Mystery Shopper.
Another translation that works is "Incognito Customer" and it is an anonymous person who is sent to make contact with the company to verify the quality and performance of their services, as appropriate. From this anonymous visit, the company using the Mystery Shopper tool can redefine sales, management and service quality strategies in order to increase profits.
Thus, by using Mystery Shopper, companies can evaluate customer satisfaction and then take actions to innovate and increase their customer base.
However, the Mystery Shopper must evaluate his or her visit based on many criteria. They must be attentive to details and after that visit, answer a questionnaire that has been previously and strategically designed, which they must give to their recruiter for analysis. These reports are an invaluable resource for companies to improve the quality of their customer experience.
Types of Mystery Shopper
Using Mystery Shopper as a research tool has been increasingly adopted by companies worldwide in recent years. The evaluation that this experience provides, has differentiated some types of Mystery Shopper, let's see the most common ones according to the modality or by the type of service that each establishment offers.
PRESENT
This is the most common type of Mystery Shopper, carried out by the Incognito Customer in the chosen establishment in order to check the quality of service.
ONLINE
The Mystery Shopper Online has reached the same level of importance as the one performed in face-to-face establishments due to the growth of e-commerce and other online businesses.
ON CALL
It is usually one of the most useful types of Mystery Shopper for companies that use call centers extensively.
SPECIFIC
Mystery Shopper can also be much more specific, such as a Mystery Guest as a guest or a Mystery Diner as a mystery diner.
Mystery Shopper PRESENT
It is the most common type of Mystery Shopper who performs the Incognito Customer in the chosen establishment with the purpose of checking its quality of service. The visit can last from 10 minutes to an hour depending on the type of indicators, purchase intention or the type of business to be evaluated.
The performance of the staff in general, based on pre-designed criteria and indicators established by the business.
This type of visit is most appropriate for businesses where a Mystery Shopper can visit the establishment posing as an ordinary customer without causing any suspicion from the staff. The list of businesses for which this type of Mystery Shopper is a useful tool is usually in the areas of: retail, restaurants, gas stations, banks, hospitals, gyms, hotels, convenience stores and similar services.
Mystery Shopper ONLINE
The Mystery Shopper Online has reached the same level of importance as the one performed in face-to-face establishments due to the growth of e-commerce and other online businesses. With this tool, online business owners can easily access the quality of service provided at the stages of the user’s interaction with the store, such as how quickly the business reacts to requests and how competent the employees are with the goods and services. As well as seeing, how they interact with customers through social networks or websites.
At the same time, the Incognito Shopper can also evaluate the convenience of using a website to obtain information about the goods or services, the range of products and information of value for their purchase. Companies that opt for this tool are: travel agencies, insurance companies, automotive agencies, real estate and telecommunications.
Mystery Shopper On Call
It is usually one of the most useful types of Mystery Shopper for companies that use call centers extensively or companies that provide services exclusively by telephone or in areas where telephone conversations with customers are an integral and important part of the service, so they require a high quality evaluation and maintenance.
This type of evaluation is carried out by a Mystery Shopper who calls the company to evaluate the level of service, supported by telephone surveys, and learn all the details of performance. During the call, the Shopper can check how easy it is to call the company, how long it takes to answer a call, how the employees greet each other, their competence, their skills in talking to the customer and if they are able to solve the customer’s problems during the conversation.
This type of Mystery Shopper is most in demand in call centers, hotels, travel agencies, information technology companies, communications, consulting firms, insurance companies and medical services.
Other more specific types of Mystery Shopper
Mystery GUEST
A Mystery Guest is a Mystery Shopper who gets to experience every aspect of a hotel’s value proposition through the eyes of a random guest, thus evaluating the areas of the hotel that are of most interest to the owners.
An example would be if the hotelier is concerned that the equipment in the dining room does not provide the same service at closing time as it does at opening time, so the Shopper will arrive 30 minutes before closing time to check it out.
These variants of Mystery Shopper behave like ordinary guests and are provided with only the necessary information about the hotel so that they do not miss the target while approaching the evaluation.
Mystery DINER (mystery diner or mystery guest)
The Mystery Diner is a type of Mystery Shopping in which the evaluator enjoys a meal at a restaurant.
The person poses as a guest and performs an evaluation of different aspects of the restaurant from the customer’s perspective to ensure that the requirements of a dining experience are met. When the experience is over, this Shopper makes a complete report of all the information he/she was able to gather about the restaurant experience, thus being an excellent tool to improve customer service.
Mystery Patient
A Mystery Patient is a person with the objective of evaluating and providing information about the medical attention given, making visits to hospitals, clinics and health centers; detailing about the experience of this service, highlighting specific areas of the medical treatment that require improvements and changes.
Mystery Market (mystery shopper)
A Mystery Market is a professional who works mainly in the supermarket sector, also known as a “mystery shopper”. Its primary purpose is to audit all processes that involve the end customer, employees or external companies that perform work in the facilities, for example, aspects such as the cleanliness of the place, organization, supply and expiration of products.