Mystery Shopping

What’s it all about?

Key points

Mystery shopping is a research technique.

• it collects information about organisations through individual employees

• the researcher does not declare his/her presence

and

• the respondent is unaware at the time of the interaction that it is in any way different from a normal customer contact

Legals

Mystery shopping is therefore subject to:

• the Market Research Society Code (sub-contracted)

and the

• Data Protection Act (sub-contracted and DIY / peer)

Best Practice

Research relies on the confidence of those involved that it is conducted:

• honestly

• objectively

• without unwelcome intrusion

and

• without harm to respondents

Mystery Shopping Types

There are three types of mystery shopping:

• Own Organisation

• Competitor Organisation

• Regulatory Organisation

Mystery Shopping Outputs

Each has a distinct focus for its outputs:

• Own > staff training and development

• Competitor > management benchmarking

• Regulatory > monitoring standards and compliance

Mystery Shopping Disclosure

On this basis, the audience may differ too, for example:

• Own > senior management, line manager, team and / or individual employee

• Competitor > senior management

• Regulatory > government, trade or professional body and senior management

Informed Consent

Whenever mystery shopping involves:

• recording

• monitoring

and

• observation

subjects must be informed about this before it takes place

Mystery Shopping a Competitor?

You are without consent, so:

• never record them

• never waste their time

• nor disrupt their work

• and report a cohort only e.g. opticians in Nottingham

Mystery Shopping Yourself?

Once you have advised your team that service delivery may be checked from time to time through mystery shopping, you need to share:

• the objectives and intended uses of the results

• whether these may be used in relation to terms

If you are using audio or video to record a mystery shop, the Data Protection Act applies, so staff must be aware of specific uses – planned and potential.

Recording a Mystery Shop?

who accesses what and why

Individual employee recording and record sheet performance management

Employee’s line manager recording and record sheet performance management

Employee’s team anonymised record sheet staff training

Senior Management all outputs strategic planning

Consultant /coach /mentor all outputs strategic planning

It’s a good idea to share a disclosure checklist like this to explain your purpose and audience.

How may we help?Zero-credit is a full-service research agency, specialising in financial services. We also train clients to conduct research that includes:

• market analysis

• trend spotting

• customer experience

• consumer behaviour

• outcomes evaluation