When it comes to mystery shopping many consumers—and businesses—imagine the same thing: a random person getting the chance to critique a store they already shop at to get free stuff. However this is just one of the many misconceptions about a practice that can be a valuable tool for businesses everywhere.
In this blog we’ll dig into the strategy behind mystery shopping and debunk the top 10 myths people believe about it. Are you ready to do a little retail discovery? Let’s jump right in!
The Strategy Behind Mystery Shopping
Although the image described above is a bad stereotype there’s some truth to it. Mystery shopping is intended to be a scientific strategy for evaluating a business’s customer experience (CX) with various touchpoints locations and scenarios. By hiring an evaluator who employees aren’t familiar with a company can simulate a realistic situation and see how staff react under what they believe are normal circumstances. To put it simply when employees don’t know they’re being observed the results are likely to be more accurate.
But it’s not all retail shopping and cashing in on reimbursements. To demonstrate further here are a few examples of specific scenarios that secret shoppers might test:
- Restaurant Scenario: An evaluator is tasked to dine at a restaurant and return an order to assess how staff handles this customer service request.
- Credit Union Scenario: To test ease of appointment scheduling professionalism and wait times a mystery shopper attempts to get a quote on a loan.
- Call Center Scenario: This evaluator calls into customer service to request technical support on an item they purchased online. They’ll evaluate communication skills and conflict resolution.
This is just a small list of potential testing formats. However it’s easy to see why a mystery shopper’s perspective would be beneficial. Businesses can gather and analyze data ask customers to leave reviews and follow up with service calls… but owners and executives can’t be everywhere at once. A mystery shop allows them to check various aspects of their CX get the perspective of an expert and generate strategies for issue resolution and overall improvement. That’s why it’s such a long-standing strategy used by businesses around the world.
The Top 10 Misconceptions of Mystery Shopping
Of course just because it’s a popular protocol for evaluating CX mystery shopping has had its fair share of bad press. Many consumers and business executives get it all wrong and that can lead to less than optimal results. If you’re looking to bust any myths you have about the practice you’re in the right place. Let’s take a look at the top 10 misconceptions we’ve found—and discover the truth behind them..
1 - Mystery Shoppers Are Just Random People
One of the biggest misconceptions about mystery shoppers is that anyone off the street who wants to earn a quick buck can do it. All they have to do is browse the store complain about a few things they think could be better and cash in. In a culture that values the hustle and ever-present “side gigs” this is an easy myth to fall into.
In reality professional mystery shoppers are highly-skilled individuals with experience in evaluating customer service. They’re detail-oriented and good with communication. They follow specific guidelines and objectives provided by their clients. When they’re done with a shop they carefully generate detailed reports and provide objective accurate and actionable feedback. While many people are well-suited for this kind of work real mystery shoppers must be driven perceptive and meticulous—not just critical consumers—in order to produce valuable results.
2 - Mystery Shopping Is a Scam
Similarly mystery shopping itself can seem like a scam for those looking to start a career in this line of work. Because of fraudulent job postings underhanded businesses and “too good to be true” offers there are a lot of bad vibes out there. Nobody wants to be swindled when they’re just trying to make an honest living.
While scams do exist legitimate CX evaluation companies never ask shoppers to do anything unreasonable. For example they would never ask shoppers to pay upfront fees or wire money to them. Neither will they unfairly reimburse them for no reason. Trusted companies like CustomerOptix and IntelliShop work with reputable business standards and provide fair compensation for completed evaluations.
3 - It’s Just About Spying on Employees
Another major misconception people have is that mystery shopping is designed only to “catch employees doing something wrong.” In reality the goal is to gather objective insights about the overall customer experience—and that includes the behavior of staff members. If employees offer high service quality keep a clean shop and adhere to company policies mystery shoppers will commend them for their work.
Alternatively if there are problems on the floor—like long-time wait staff not knowing whether a popular menu item is gluten-free—then mystery shoppers can identify these details and recommend changes to staff training. It’s all about improvement not punishment.
4 - Mystery Shopping Is Only for Retail Stores
One thing that many businesses get wrong about mystery shopping is that it’s only for traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores. However this practice is used across virtually every industry—including banks hotels self-storage facilities automotive services and even government offices. Furthermore as demonstrated it can be used to evaluate a wide variety of touchpoints and scenarios.
Any possible customer interaction is an opportunity for analysis and improvement and thus can be evaluated with a mystery shop.
5 - Results Are Too Subjective to Be Useful
Even if you’re open to the idea of mystery shopping another popular myth is that feedback from these evaluations is based purely on personal opinions. This stems from a lot of the other myths we’ve seen already—that mystery shoppers are just ordinary consumers with big opinions.
But that’s just plain false. Most reputable programs use structured evaluation forms with standardized questions to ensure integrity. They combine qualitative and quantitative data to give an authentic picture of a business’s CX as possible. Plus because professional mystery shoppers are experts at CX they do their best to provide objective improvement-oriented information. All these factors combine to ensure that the data collected is consistent measurable and actionable.
6 - It’s the Same as Customer Surveys
Customer surveys are a valuable method for gathering feedback about a business’s CX. However they often reflect a customer’s memory or feelings immediately after the shopping experience and they aren’t terribly reliable in terms of hard data.
That’s because they’re filled out by laypeople—customers who just wanted a good experience. Mystery shopping on the other hand offers real-time objective observations of the full experience. Evaluators take a careful look from initial interaction to checkout and conclusion capturing operational details that survey-takers might miss.
In reality it’s good to use both methods and combine the data from mystery shoppers and customer surveys.
7 - Mystery Shopping Is Expensive with Minimal ROI
While it’s clear that mystery shopping can provide a wealth of information many businesses may wonder whether it’s worth the investment. After all hiring a team of evaluators to check every location touchpoint and scenario can add up—and small businesses must be especially careful with their budgets.
Thankfully you don’t have to go all in on your CX evaluation program at once. Plus CustomerOptix’s CX On Demand program is affordable flexible and scalable. You can schedule a mystery shop from a skilled evaluator in as little as 10 minutes. Then if you like what you get you can schedule recurring shops at regular intervals to check on progress identify issues as they arise and monitor the effectiveness of new initiatives.
Put simply a mystery shop doesn’t have to break the bank. And it provides real actionable insight that can boost your bottom line both immediately and over time.
8 - It’s Only for Identifying Problems
Another important factor to this strategy is that it’s not just about finding something negative. By design mystery shopping has the capacity to uncover problems. More importantly it can identify small issues and work towards solutions—before they get out of control or cost your business a lot of cash.
As shown a mystery shopper can also point out positives about the way you run your business. In fact they can show you where your company stands out from the competition as well as what great things customers are saying about your offerings and employees. This allows you to capitalize on your successes and even motivate staff.
9 - Mystery Shopping Can Replace Traditional Training
While less common this myth is a potentially devastating one. Some businesses believe that mystery shopping alone can solve training issues. That’s because these executives likely also think that this strategy is all about finding out which employees are slipping up or punishing those who step out of line.
In reality mystery shoppers should support employees not cause anxiety. With a CX evaluation program businesses can steadily improve their training protocols and empower their employees to perform better at work. This boosts motivation in a positive way and optimizes the customer experience.
10 - All Mystery Shopping Companies Are the Same
This is the ultimate mystery shopping myth—and it’s not remotely true! Whether you’re looking to start your career as a shopper or putting together your own CX evaluation strategy it’s important to do your research about who you might work with. Weigh perks costs and reviews. Compare companies side by side when you can.
Or get the best experience right away by choosing CustomerOptix. Our nationwide network of skilled evaluators can be deployed at a moment’s notice to dig into your CX and provide actionable data-driven insights. It’s designed with small and growing businesses in mind so you can get access to high-end resources on your schedule—and your budget. Learn how it works and sign up now. Or check out our shopper portal to become part of our awesome team.
The Truth About Mystery Shopping? It’s a Powerful Tool—When Done Right
As we’ve seen mystery shopping is far more than just a secret mission to critique stores. It’s a strategic data-driven approach to improving customer experiences across industries and touchpoints. Despite what these common myths say it’s not about catching employees off guard or collecting subjective opinions from ordinary consumers. It’s about gaining valuable insights that help businesses grow succeed and thrive in a competitive marketplace.
Whether you’re evaluating customer service compliance or operational efficiency a well-executed mystery shopping program can uncover both strengths and areas for improvement.
How will you reshape your perception about this powerful strategy?
