Mystery Shopping Considerations

While the benefits of mystery shopping are obvious, as the field has grown, so have the number of fly-by-night operators entering it. Many of them provide little, if any, training to their employees, and after negotiating a fee from a client commensurate with professional service rendered, pay those who actually do the mystery shops little more than minimum wage. The end result is a poorly planned and executed mystery shop, with limited value to effectuate positive organizational change.

Videomysteryshopping.com, a partnership between a market research executive with close to 20 years experience, and a licensed private investigator who has conducted surveillance and undercover operations for over 10 years, offers the following tips to those considering hiring a mystery shopping service provider:

• Hire only an established mystery shopping service provider, duly licensed and insured, as required by state law.
• Ask for, and check, the references of a mystery shopping service provider before hiring them.
• Inquire about the training provided by the mystery shopping service, and wages paid to those who actually do the shops, confirming the same by pretext if necessary, by posing as a candidate for employment via the telephone or online.
• A contract for mystery shopping services should always specify that the information used to plan and execute a mystery shop, as well as the fruits of the same, are owned by the hiring business, propriety in nature, and subject to non-disclosure.
• Once hired, ensure that your mystery shopping service provider has a complete profile of your customers and matches their characteristics exactly.
• Establish specific questions to ask in advance of a mystery shop, quantitative and qualitative measures, areas of concentration, and limits on decision-making authority.
• Demand compliance with professional guidelines and the highest ethical standards from your mystery shopping service provider.
• In the case of traditional mystery shops, a confidential detailed written report should be completed and forwarded to you within a pre-determined period of time.
• Telephone mystery shops should be recorded, where permitted by law, and include both a written report and copy of the audio recording.
• When video mystery shopping services are utilized, the complete unedited tape or DVD (except when DVR equipment is used) should always be provided to you, not a copy.