What Makes a Good Mystery Shopping Company?

Mystery shopping companies are similar in the basic mechanics of how they function. They have a chunky, complex, software platform that matches mystery shoppers by location and appropriateness to the specific assessments. Then it collects a tone of data and enables the clients to drill into it from a myriad of different perspectives.

 

mystery shopper 

 

All mystery shopping software allows the client to benchmark their organisation geographically and by management level. All mystery shopping software allows filtering of images, recordings, documents and the written word.  All mystery shopping software scores the overall customer journey and splits it into actionable sections and questions.

 

However, there is a difference when it comes down to who is driving. Mystery shopping software is just the vehicle, and it doesn’t matter how enormous the database of shoppers is. Often used as a selling point, the database is only as good as the people available, reliant on the diligence of the scheduler, who is in charge of assigning them, and dependant on thoroughness the client brief that they need to follow.  

 

mystery shopper

 

The mystery shopping questionnaire surveys themselves need to be orchestrated by a person who understands human behaviours and language on a level that is deeper than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. ‘The structure of a question presupposes the answer’. In other words, a poorly written or structured question, will give an output that lacks useful insight or worse, deliveres skewed or false output.

 

The final output relies on the quality controllers. These are the incredibly patient people who check and edit the surveys submitted by the shoppers. They have to ask themselves: Has the shopper followed the brief? Did they understand the questions? Have they been able to impart useful insight that goes above and beyond the obvious? Have they delivered their feedback in an objective, kind and positive way even if the experience was less than perfect?        

 

Mystery shopping is expensive because it is labour intensive. Make sure you chose a mystery shopping company that is willing and able to look under the surface and understands the complexities of human behaviours.   Ask the company you are making you enquiry with to tell you the life experience and qualifications of the person designing your surveys. How much do they understand the industry you are providing insight for and how well do they understand the human condition!

 

If you would like to find out more about how our mystery shopping company can help your business please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our friendly team. 

Share:

Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook

Related Posts

Mystery Dining Assessments – How Does it Work?

If you’re thinking about running some mystery dining assessments but you’re not sure what that looks like. Read on! Mystery dining assessments run in a similar way to mystery shopper, but they are usually run by hospitality specialists like Silent Customer.  A brief is created for the mystery diners so they know what they must look out for and feedback on, and a detailed survey, with up to 100 questions, is created to reflect that.

Read More »

What Makes a Good Mystery Shopping Company?

Mystery shopping companies are similar in the basic mechanics of how they function. They have a chunky, complex, software platform that matches mystery shoppers by location and appropriateness to the specific assessments. Then it collects a tone of data and enables the clients to drill into it from a myriad of different perspectives.       All mystery shopping software allows the client to benchmark their organisation geographically and by management level. All mystery shopping

Read More »

Why Use Mystery Dining Companies for your Hospitality Business

Why use mystery dining companies for your hospitality business? I have lived in my hometown of Henley on Thames for 20 years. In that time, I have got to know every pub extremely well within a 5-mile radius. Although tenants come and go, many of them know me in person and what I do for a living, not least because Silent Customer assessed Brakspear pubs with our mystery dining services for over a decade.  

Read More »

Guide to Secret Shoppers and Mystery Shopping

Guide to Secret Shoppers and Mystery Shopping So you want to find out what is going on in your service led business while you are not around? Thinking about taking on a mystery guest company but don’t know where to start?     What is mystery shopping? Simply, mystery shopping is where a member of the public acts as a secret shopper and covertly visits a business to give their unbiased feedback. This feedback is delivered on a

Read More »

What is Mystery Shopping?

What is Mystery Shopping? In this blog, Janet Wood, Founder and Director of Silent Customer, answers questions about mystery shopping and what makes Silent Customer stand out in the Hospitality industry.      What Do You Do? The most common question I get asked is: ‘What do you do?’. My answer to this is with another question: ‘Do you know what mystery shopping is?’. 16 years ago, when I started Silent Customer, I was told

Read More »

What Does A Secret Shopper Do?

Mystery shopping companies have always struggled with the editing of poorly written reports. Indeed, by way of trying to raise these standards, Silent Customer gives feedback and grades our mystery guests on writing style, objective feedback, grammar, and spelling. We check all submitted reports twice. So, what about using AI as a tool for mystery shoppers?

Read More »

Reputation Management

Mystery Visits

Phone & Online Audits

Free Training Tools

Free Training Tools

Intercepting Complaints

Check-backs and complaint handling go hand in hand. Intercepting a problem before a customer tells you, or Google, not only prevents negative word-of-mouth but can increase revenue through loyalty and positive PR.

Use our fun PEP talk sheets to support your front-line teams in learning how to avoid complaints.

Engaging Conversations

Building a natural and genuine rapport with guests can be the most positive and memorable part of their dining experience. Whilst the food and the environment can be remarkable by itself, making a customer feel that they are more than just a table number, has a far wider reach in terms of spreading positive word-of-mouth.

Use our fun PEP talk sheet to support your front-line teams in learning how to have engaging conversations.

Positive Body Language

Being able to communicate positivity, and with enthusiasm, encourages customers to reciprocate in the same manner. However, most of us are unaware of how we are perceived by others and, whilst we may think we are coming across as welcoming and friendly, our body language could be telling a different story.

Use our fun PEP talk sheet to support your front-line teams in understand the importance of self-awareness.

Relevant Recommendations

Team members need good product knowledge to be able to describe and enthuse, but often don’t know what many of the dishes taste like. A lack of upselling is also often due to a lack of confidence in knowing where to start a conversation that leads to a recommendation.

Use our fun PEP talk sheet to support your front-line teams in learning how to upsell.