There are doubts and ambiguities caused by the fact that Mystery Shopping is a relatively young research method both in the world and here, so some companies are in doubt about organizing in-house research. I will deal with this issue separately (for students reading this who may not know: in-house research is research that a company conducts within its own company without involving a professional agency in the implementation process).
Mystery Shopping research in-house. Yes or no?
It probably happened to you that when you yourself visited a competitor’s facility in the country or abroad, you got some interesting idea about what you can improve or change in your own company or at the point of sale. It’s that famous “a-ha” effect that can help to easily solve a seemingly big challenge you had or introduce an innovation that can differentiate your company in the future. Certainly, and this is the most common case, it is easy to spot the weaknesses of competitors in this way.
It is understood that in every company, people from the top management , but especially from the marketing, sales and human resources departments, visit their shops and the shops of competitors. I always encourage it to be continued even though it is not true Mystery Shopping .
It also happens that these habits lead companies to do Mystery Shopping research on their own. Although they know that they will not do everything as methodologically foreseen, some companies still decide to do it for three main reasons:
- lower costs,
- additionally trained employees and
- (unrealistically) high grades.
Costs are certainly a very important factor in decision-making and we all know that. However, if the results are irrelevant or wrong, however low the costs are – they are actually high. Not only because of wasted money, but also because of the decisions that can be made based on such data, which can cause the loss of additional money or bad reputation.
It is true that with training and proper training, every individual will be well prepared for the job of secret shopper. However, company employees (or competitors) can never represent the average “normal” customer, because they have too much professional knowledge for a valid assessment. Also, they should evaluate their colleagues, which also cannot be methodologically acceptable because it gives unrealistic results.
Certainly, in-house surveys often yield higher average scores than when done by a professional Mystery Shopping company like Intelligence . While it’s nice to see good grades and growth on the charts, it can also be dangerous if you want a realistic picture of the situation. You will agree that it is logical that a realistic assessment of the situation on the ground will be better given by average buyers, who are trained to be secret buyers, prepared with a special work scenario, who express assessments by filling out a professionally designed questionnaire and have all the necessary logistics, than company employees with the same task.
What information do mystery shopping research companies need to structure a preliminary plan and prepare an offer?
It often happens that there is not much time for preparation and a meeting, and that offers are needed urgently. The most important information that research companies need are the following:
- What do you want to find out from the research? We know what can be found out and we will always suggest it, so don’t worry about details, but concentrate on what “bothers” you the most and be as detailed as possible.
- How many facilities do you have and where are they located. If it is also a competitor’s facility, then please provide us with competitors with available data or submit data that you consider to be not strictly confidential.
- Socio-demographic description of the average customer. Of course, you don’t have to go into details, but only provide basic parameters that help us understand who the customers are and prepare a preliminary customer base for the future project.
Based on this information, it is possible to form a preliminary plan and offer.
Of course, it happens that companies want to use an already existing scenario with a questionnaire, which is structured on a global level, if it is an international company, or the scenario and questionnaire are defined by another professional company or similar way. The following information is then required:
- collection method,
- number of waves per year and wave duration,
- number of visits and number of facilities,
- locations of facilities,
- questionnaire length and
- specific project description.
What affects the cost of a Mystery Shopping survey the most?
Although there are many factors that can affect the price, in many cases they are: the number of visits in one wave, the duration of the visit and the wave, the length of the questionnaire, the cost of the purchase (if any) and the profile of the mystery shopper.
Should we insist on as many questions as possible in the questionnaire?
Although companies often (rightly and understandably) strive to obtain as much information as possible from the field, a large number of questions can cause less relevant answers, so you should not concentrate on the number of questions, but on the essence of the research. We can have 30 questions whose relevance can be questioned, and 100 questions so that the relevance is good. That is why you should forget about the quantity and in this case focus only on the quality of the questionnaire and scenario.
Should the Mystery Shopper deliberately provoke workers, spy and monitor?
No! A mystery shopper doesn’t do these things.
First of all, it is important that the employees are aware that the secret shopping project is being implemented, but they are certainly not informed when it will be, who is implementing it, or who the secret buyers are. Spying and stalking is not what secret shoppers do. Their role is to look at the situation objectively, and through a professional analysis, the performance is checked, i.e. company performance. Based on such objective and relevant analyses, the company’s management can make decisions that will improve that performance, so the role of the secret buyer is by no means spying or unjustified provocation.
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Miljan Premović, executive director of Intelligence doo
The article was published in the August issue of the largest domestic B2B magazine InStore